Introduction:

In the municipality of Popayán, department of Cauca, Colombia, there are more than 23 settlements, where nearly 4000 displaced people live in conditions of vulnerability and poverty, most of whom are outside the health system and lack of dental care.

Objective:

To apply the knowledge on oral health according to the level of academic complexity acquired during Odontology major to improve dental health of vulnerable and displaced communities living in poverty conditions in Popayán, Cauca, Colombia.

Methods:

Qualitative study, research-action type. The beneficiary population was formed by 1,515 people who underwent educational, preventive, curative and restorative procedures during five years.

Results:

The most favored population was the vulnerable one; the most attended were: female gender; children in ages from 3 to 8 years old, and adults of 36 years old and over. The dental procedure that was carried out the most in children was dental prophylaxis, and supragingival scaling in adults.

Conclusions:

The appliance of Odontology major´s curriculum focused in health promotion and in the contextualized learning from its use towards the development of the community makes it an entity with bigger social commitment. The community that receives the benefits becomes an active body in the processes of dental health promotion. Vulnerable and displaced populations show receptiveness to the oral clinical treatments offered to them.

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