When he’s not studying microbiology and practicing his root canals, dental student Joseph Ayitey-Adjin said he pulls on a mask and tights, moonlighting as Super Cavity Fighter, as he works to promote dental health with elementary school students.

Ayitey-Adjin, president of the Boston University Student National Dental Association, developed his alter ego over the past three summers spent volunteering with Project Whitecoat, a one-week Goldman School of Dental Medicine camp that serves underprivileged 9- to 11-year-olds.

BU’s chapter of the SNDA, a group for minority dental students, emphasizes community outreach throughout the year, with special programs planned for February, Black History Month.

Ayitey-Adjin, a third-year dental student, said the group focuses on reaching out to underrepresented communities to provide oral healthcare services and education.

“A lot of them are not as educated as they should be with oral healthcare,” he said.

In late February, Ayitey-Adjin said SNDA will help teach proper oral hygiene to a local underrepresented communities. Next month, the group will conduct a similar oral health education session at a local elementary school, where costumes and puppets will be incorporated to appeal to the young students.

SNDA instructs session students on the specifics of oral healthcare and emphasizes importance of good oral hygiene practices. In addition, the group gives out free oral toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss.

In September, SNDA went to Roxbury Community College where they, along with Tufts students, swabbed the inner cheeks of about 40 children and took bite indentations. Ayitey-Adjin said the children gave the mouth swab to their parents or guardians to put in a freezer, a “precautionary measure” that ensures a sample of the child’s DNA exists in case of emergency.

SNDA plans on having two to three community outreach programs this semester.

It is “a labor of love for them,” Goldman Minority Affairs Director Gregory Stoute, the group’s faculty advisor, said.

BU’s SNDA chapter, an offshoot of the National Dental Association, had been mostly dormant in the years preceding 2004 due to a lack of minority enrollment at the school, Stoute, former NDA president, said.

Ayitey-Adjin said before 2004, the chapter had four members at most. Now, he said fundraising and recruitment have increased membership to 25 paid members and about 35 active members.

Ayitey-Adjin said recruiting efforts have ensured that SNDA was “not just an African-American organization.”

In the past year, the group’s executive board has gone to classrooms to publicize itself.

“We wanted to give the organization a name,” Ayitey-Adjin said.

As part of Black History Month, the group selected four facts about African-American contribution to dentistry. Outlook, a Goldman publication, will publish one fact every Friday in February in its email newsletter.

In March, the group will host the “Impressions” program, which is designed “to reach out to all the undergraduates in the area,” Ayitey-Adjin said.

“We’re trying to gear it towards minority students,” Ayitey-Adjin said.

Thus far, Ayitey-Adjin said he has emailed BU, Northeastern University and Tufts University about the event. The group will meet with Goldman interim Dean Jeffrey Hutter to discuss whether he will speak at the event.