05 March 2026

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Continuing a Legacy of Service in Her Community

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For third-generation dentist and 2020 TCDM alumna E. Ahono Gildersleeve, DDS, caring for those in need is more than a professional obligation – it’s a family tradition.

“Coming from a family of dentists, service was always emphasized,” she recalls. “My parents were insistent that I volunteer and give back to the community, even if it meant spending one day a month at a free clinic. For us, it's an essential part of what it means to be a dentist.”

That call to service was reaffirmed in 2023, when Remote Area Medical (RAM) – a nonprofit that delivers free medical, dental, and vision care to underserved communities – reached out to Dr. Gildersleeve’s late mother, G.H. Keikilani Hewlett, who served as office manager for her father’s dental practice in Butler, Pennsylvania. The family had long been connected to community care, and Dr. Gildersleeve was excited to participate in the pop-up in Butler.

“I think I enjoy this work because it’s a unique service not everyone can provide,” she reflects. “These patients are our neighbors and our community. And when people live outside a metropolitan area, access to care becomes scattered.” She saw this firsthand when she and her father, Donald Brockley, DMD, volunteered at the RAM clinic. “I treated a patient who had slept in her car because she was so desperate for care,” she recalled. “It was a pretty big experience, one that stays with you.”

That first experience with RAM reminded her why dental clinics are so critically important. “There’s such a profound need for quality care,” she explains, “not only abroad, but right here in the U.S., in regions like Appalachia and the Rust Belt.”

At her five-year TCDM reunion, Dr. Gildersleeve reconnected with Alan Rosenthal, DDS, Assistant Dean of Global Health and Community Outreach and Assistant Clinical Professor of Dental Medicine at TCDM, who oversees the school’s dental missions to India and the Dominican Republic. Their shared commitment to serving underserved populations sparked an idea: Why not give students a domestic volunteer opportunity – one that was drivable from Touro?

That vision became reality on November 8–9, 2025, when four fourth-year TCDM students joined Dr. Gildersleeve at another RAM pop-up dental clinic in Butler. Over two days, the clinic provided triage screenings, cleanings, fillings, and extractions. With mentoring and oversight from Dr. Gildersleeve and her father, the D3 students served as student dentists, performing fillings and extractions, while the D2 students assisted. The clinic served 368 patients across medical, dental, and vision services, providing an estimated $282,750 in care.

“We were busy both days and treated many patients in the Western Pennsylvania community. Some patients traveled from as far as Ohio or south of Pittsburgh; others were local. The TCDM dental students were amazing – so hard-working, devoted, and they provided high-quality treatment to so many patients.”

Dr. Gildersleeve intends to not only repeat the clinic in the future but also expand participation. “I’d love to bring even more friends and colleagues next time,” she says. Dr. Gildersleeve believes that her mother would have been proud to see the family tradition carried forward, making the experience even more meaningful.

“My father, my grandfather, and my mother all believed in helping the community,” says Dr. Gildersleeve. “Being able to continue and expand that legacy means the world to me.”

Source: https://dental.touro.edu/