Third-Year Student Wins RBHS-IDEA Grant

Growing up, Kinga Dabek ’25 attended Polish school on Saturdays in addition to her regular classes. She learned about her culture, language, and history. She will soon return there to give back as a dental student. With the prestigious RBHS-IDEA: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Advocacy Innovation Grant, she will roll out a project that will guide her community on improving oral health and accessing dental care.

Dabek’s project is called “Longitudinal Changes in Oral Health Behaviors Associated with Educational Intervention in Secondary Language Schools.” She developed it with her brother, Patryk Dabek, an economics and biology double major at Yale University, and Eileen Hoskin, associate professor of professional practice and director of operative dentistry.

“Unlike other students that present to me with an idea for dentistry-related research, Kinga was never deterred and has worked on this project tirelessly for the past year,” said Hoskin, Dabek’s co-PI and mentor. “She is extremely smart and driven to complete what she has started.”

From 200 participants, including teachers, parents, and children, at two Polish schools, the project will gather data on their oral health knowledge and brushing habits through quantitative surveys and focus groups. While collecting these, the team will teach participants how to build healthier habits and see if this educational intervention alters their brushing record. Moreover, they will investigate barriers to care and share resources with participants.

“People aren’t always aware of the different programs that would be available to get low-cost health care,” noted Dabek, “especially dental care, because here in New Jersey, there are fairly good programs, but a lot of times these programs are not advertised.” Consequently, many people in her community, she observed, end up having larger dental problems due to unaddressed issues.

She hopes to alter that trend. “As a child of immigrants and a first-generation graduate student, doing this work to uncover barriers to dental care will highlight the gaps that I can fill as a provider in the community I grew up in,” said Dabek.

She also hopes to start a dental partnership with her community that will last beyond this study and can continue through Smiles of Solidarity, a nonprofit the Dabek siblings launched at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. “We can work as an outlet for the kids to get an insight into the different opportunities that there are in dentistry and the dental workforce,” she said.

Once this grant-funded project is done, the team will pen a publication and explore implementing their pilot program in other parts of the state.

“I hope,” said Dabek, “that the public health intervention being spearheaded through this study will be one of many in my career.”