Ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for Feb. 20 at new Laredo Health Department Dental Clinic

What: The City of Laredo Health Department is hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Dental Clinic that provides dental care for patients of all ages and will serve as the primary clinical training site for two newly established dental residency training programs based in Laredo.

When: 9 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 20

Where: The Dental Clinic is located at 2600 Cedar Avenue

Who: Dr. Hector F. Gonzales, director of the City of Laredo Health Department, will provide the welcoming remarks. Other officials invited to take part in the ceremony include:

  • City officials: Mayor Raul G. Salinas, City Manager Carlos R. Villarreal and Deputy City Manager Cynthia Collazo.
  • Webb County Judge Danny Valdez
  • State elected officials: Sens. Judith Zaffirini from District 21 and Richard Raymond from District 42, and Rep. Ryan Guillen from District 31
  • Leaders from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio:
    Dr. William L. Henrich, interim president, and Dr. William W. Dodge, vice dean of the Dental School
  • Dr. Louis Garcia, UT Health Science Center assistant professor and director of the Dental Clinic and the Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency program.
  • Dr. Minerva Garcia, The Lamar Bruni Vergara Trust Distinguished University Chair in Oral Health at the UT Health Science Center and director of the pediatric Dental Residency Program.

Details: The Dental Clinic is a partnership between the City of Laredo Health Department and the UT Health Science Center. The UT Health Science Center Dental School provides training for its dental residents at the Dental Clinic through two residency programs, the Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency Program and the Pediatric Dental Residency Program. Through this local training, dental care is also being provided for Laredo’s uninsured and unmet dental care needs, especially at-risk children.

Support has been provided by the City of Laredo, the University of Texas Health Science Center, Health and Human Services Commission, the A.R. “Tony” and Maria J. Sanchez Family Foundation and Methodist Healthcare Ministries.


The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $668 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 23,000 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.



Share This Article!