Dr. Harinder Dhanju

When Harry opened his dental clinic in Surrey in 1998, he realized that many of his patients were either single parents, on income assistance, or on old age pension and unable to afford regular dental treatment. As a former clinical assistant professor at UBC Dentistry, he knew that students had a difficult time getting real life experience with patients and saw incoming international dentists that were unable to gain valuable Canadian experience. He felt strongly that to progress the community he lived in, it was important to step in and help. In 2010, he formed Pacific Oral Health Society which is a socially responsible non-profit platform were dental professionals can learn and practice while providing patient care at a significantly discounted rate. Programs take place at the Pacific Oral Health Centre in South Surrey which is affiliated with UBC Faculty of Dentistry. Today, they have 20 members on payroll, plus 8 dentists, 20 dental hygiene students on rotation, and 6 post-graduate students who are specialists and attend with the head of the UBC Dentistry department. They also run the BC Oral Cancer Prevention Program as a second home-base for the Fraser Valley, seeing 300+ oral cancer screening patients annually at no charge. Harry is also the Founder Director of Indo Canadian Dental Association.