[Programs for supervised professional practice and for rural oral health promoters in Guatemala]

The experiences of the programs of Supervised Professional Practice and for Rural Oral Health Promoters conducted by the School of Dentistry of San Carlos University in Guatemala are described. The first of these programs was designed to have students practice the profession during an eight-month academic period in hinterland towns under periodical supervision by their professors, and the second resulted as an unexpected offshoot during the initial stages of the program of Supervised Professional Practice in a northwestern district of Guatemala. The history and progress of both programs are described, some results are presented, and the salient features of university-community interaction, as exemplified by these programs, are discussed in terms of a theoretical model designed by one of the authors.