About

The SMILE Healthcare Pathways Program is a one-week residential summer program for high school students in 9th and 10th grade, designed to introduce them to careers in oral health and the broader healthcare workforce. Hosted at Meharry Medical College's School of Dentistry in Nashville, Tennessee — one of the nation's two historically Black dental schools and the oldest dental school serving underrepresented communities in the United States — the program places students inside an active dental education institution for hands-on exposure to the full spectrum of oral healthcare careers.

The 2026 program runs June 27 through July 2, with students housed at Fisk University, one of the country's most storied HBCUs, located walking distance from Meharry's campus. The curriculum covers four distinct career pathways: clinical dentistry (what it takes to become a practicing oral health clinician), preventive care and patient education, hands-on clinical support roles, and dental practice operations and management. Daily programming includes hands-on restorative dentistry and digital dentistry activities, science and anatomy foundations, nutrition and oral health, dental and healthcare school admissions overviews, and mentorship from dental professionals. The week concludes with a capstone project and group presentations. A White Coat Ceremony kicks off the program on the first evening.

SMILE is a partnership between Henry Schein, Inc., the National Dental Association, and other professional organizations committed to health equity and expanding diversity in the healthcare workforce. The program is explicitly oriented toward students from underrepresented backgrounds, with a mission to increase representation in dentistry and improve oral health outcomes in underserved communities nationwide.

For a 9th or 10th grader curious about dentistry or healthcare but with no clear picture of what dental school preparation actually involves, SMILE offers one of the most structured and institutionally grounded introductions available at the high school level — set inside a dental school that has trained Black dentists for over 150 years.