On a sunny Thursday morning in March, Samoy Delop held her daughter’s hand tightly as they walked toward a dental appointment in North Philadelphia, hoping for help.
Just weeks earlier, the family had relocated from New York to Philadelphia. Still settling in, Delop had found part-time work on weekends and was navigating health insurance for her family when her daughter began complaining of tooth pain. Dental care, she knew, could be expensive and without coverage in place, the uncertainty weighed heavily.
“I was worried,” Delop says. “My insurance doesn’t cover dental, and I know those things can get really expensive.”
When she asked her daughter’s school for a recommendation, staff directed her to a nearby clinic operated by Temple University’s Kornberg School of Dentistry. Located within the neighborhood, the clinic was close enough for Delop to quickly schedule an appointment for the very next day, unsure of what she would find when she arrived.
To Delop’s surprise, the dental appointment wasn’t inside a traditional medical office at all. It was located within William D. Kelley Elementary School, a neighborhood school where children’s voices echoed across the schoolyard and colorful student artwork lined the hallways leading to the clinic, creating an atmosphere that felt bright, calm and welcoming.
Instead of a cold or unfamiliar medical office, Delop found a space embedded in the rhythm of the community around it, designed to invite rather than intimidate.
“When we walked into Kelley, they told me they would take care of everything and that I didn’t have to pay for it,” she says. “I wanted to break down. It felt like heaven.”
In that moment, the stress she had been carrying began to lift. What started as a painful and uncertain situation became something else entirely: relief, access and the reassurance that her daughter would receive the care she needed.
At the pediatric clinic inside of William D. Kelley Elementary School, Kornberg student dentists are part of the rhythm of the school day, building relationships with children and families and discovering firsthand the barriers many patients face when accessing care.
Reimagining care in schools
Stories like Delop’s reflect the larger problem Kornberg set out to address.
According to Amid Ismail, Laura H. Carnell Professor and Kornberg’s dean, school-based health clinics, including dental services, were far more common throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Many of those programs eventually disappeared in the 1980s, leaving families to navigate dental care on their own.
In their place, fragmented solutions emerged, often limited to screenings or preventive services that required families to seek additional care elsewhere. For many, that next step never came.
“Children were being seen, but not fully treated,” Ismail says. “And if parents are busy or facing challenges, that follow-up doesn’t always happen.”
Three years ago, Kornberg partnered with the School District of Philadelphia to bring cohesive care directly inside Kelley, located in North Philadelphia near Temple’s campus.
Today, the pediatric clinic serves both Kelley students and families from surrounding North Philadelphia communities. Operated by Kornberg faculty, staff and students, the clinic features four fully equipped dental stations, including a treatment space designed specifically for children with autism and other disabilities.
The clinic at Kelley was designed to close the gap between screening students and ensuring they actually receive treatment.
“We wanted to go back to a model where care is part of the school,” Ismail says. “Not something separate, but something integrated into students’ daily lives.”
“We wanted to go back to a model where care is part of the school. Not something separate, but something integrated into students’ daily lives.”
—Amid Ismail, Laura H. Carnell Professor and dean of the Kornberg School of Dentistry
The pediatric clinic serves both William D. Kelley Elementary School students and families from neighboring North Philadelphia communities.
Meeting patients where they are
Inside the clinic, that vision takes shape in real time.
On any given day, students move between classrooms and appointments, passing a space that feels less like a traditional dental office and more like a natural extension of the school itself: bright, open and familiar.
That sense of comfort is intentional.
“Access is one of the biggest barriers we see,” says Eileen Barfuss, who directs the clinic and serves as an instructor clinician scholar at Kornberg. “Not just insurance, but transportation, fear and whether a place feels welcoming.”
By placing the clinic directly inside William D. Kelley Elementary School, many of those barriers begin to fall away. Students walk past the space every day. They see the dental team in the hallways. Over time, what might otherwise feel intimidating becomes routine.
“They know us,” Barfuss says. “So when they come in, it’s not scary. It’s just part of their day.”
Consistency also shapes the experience for Kornberg students training inside the clinic.
Rather than seeing patients during isolated visits or short-term rotations, student dentists become part of the rhythm of the school day, building relationships with children and families over time and gaining firsthand exposure to the barriers many patients face when accessing care.
Working inside the school gives Kornberg students a unique view of how familiarity can change patients’ attitudes toward dental care.
Christina Cha, CST ’24, a rising fourth-year dental student at Kornberg, sees that happen every day.
“A lot of the kids who aren’t even patients see us walking around in scrubs and ask what we’re doing,” she says. “Then they say, ‘Oh, I want to get my teeth cleaned.’ Just having that exposure makes them more motivated about dental care.”
Crystal M. Edwards, KLN ’98, principal of William D. Kelley Elementary School, has witnessed the clinic becoming a trusted resource for students and families since it opened in 2023.
For Ismail, moments like those reflect the clinic’s broader mission: making high-quality dental care more accessible and approachable for children and families.
“We want our students to understand their patients,” he says. “Not only the procedure, but the person sitting in front of them.”
Barfuss says the experience helps students see dentistry differently, not simply as treatment delivered in a chair, but as long-term community care rooted in trust and consistency.
From exams and cleanings to fillings and extractions, the clinic ensures that students receive comprehensive dental care.
And when additional care is needed, families aren’t left navigating the system alone.
“We don’t just hand them a referral,” she says. “We help them make the next appointment.”
In one case, a teenager arrived in significant pain after multiple attempts to find care elsewhere. Within days, the clinic team diagnosed the issue, coordinated follow-up treatment and helped the student return to school pain-free.
“When he came in, you could tell he was hurting,” Barfuss says. “By the time we finished, he was back to being a kid.”
A new normal
Over time, consistency has helped transform dental visits from a source of anxiety into something far more familiar.
Just ask 8-year-old Jhakur Thompson.
A third grader at Kelley, Jhakur has been coming to the clinic since it first opened.
Asked to rate the experience, he gives it a 5 out of 5.
“I like it,” he says.
He remembers one visit when a loose tooth was causing discomfort. The clinic team treated the issue, and he returned to class without pain.
“It didn’t hurt,” he says. “And after, I was good.”
For Jhakur, the familiarity matters. He recognizes the faces. He trusts the people providing his care. And that trust shows up in the simplest ways, like walking into appointments without hesitation and walking out with a positive experience.
Kornberg students who work at the clinic inside William D. Kelley Elementary School get a unique perspective on how familiarity can change patients' attitudes about dental care.
A community-centered model
The foundation of trust extends beyond the clinic itself.
To Crystal M. Edwards, KLN ’98, principal of Kelley, the clinic reflects something much larger happening inside the school.
“We are excelling in North Philadelphia,” she says. “There’s excellence all around us every single day.”
As principal, Edwards sees the clinic as one part of a broader ecosystem designed to support students and families.
“If children need dental care, it’s here. If they need food, it’s here. If they need support, we find a way,” she says. “We are doing the human work to keep people healthy.”
Since opening in 2023, the clinic has become a trusted resource for students and families across the School District of Philadelphia, beyond William D. Kelley Elementary School.
“Everybody loves it,” she says
Students who once approached dental visits with hesitation now greet providers in the hallway, calling out to them by name. The clinic’s presence has helped normalize care, transforming what can often be a source of fear into something students feel comfortable navigating.
Edwards still remembers waiting months for dental care as a child because her family lacked insurance.
Now, she sees something different for her students.
“They don’t have to wait,” she says.
Looking ahead, she envisions growth.
“My hope is that this expands and that other schools have the same opportunity,” she says.
At Kelley, that vision is already taking shape.
“When families walk through our doors, everything they need should be here,” Edwards says. “The dental clinic is a critical part of that vision.
“It means we have our pulse on humanity.”
Bringing care to rural communities
Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry is expanding its community-based care model beyond Philadelphia with a new dental clinic and education center opening this fall in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, bringing care to underserved rural communities while providing clinical education to future dentists.
This center will host 10 third-year and 10 fourth-year dental students who will pursue their final two years of education at the facility. While there, the students will provide comprehensive care to patients from Schuylkill as well as Carbon and Luzerne counties.
Several government agencies and private foundations have provided funding to help support operations at the clinic and education center, including the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Tamaqua City Revitalization and Improvement Zone, and the Morgan Foundation.
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