Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Dentistry From The Heart


This past Saturday my office held a day of free dentistry in conjunction with the non-profit organization Dentistry from the Heart.
We were so excited as an office to give back to the community and help out those who wouldn't normally be able to afford dental work. We had my good buddy from dental school, Spencer Wade, come down and help me out with fillings and extractions. We also had a hygienist, Kelsie Graham, volunteer to come in and help with cleanings. A huge thanks goes out to those two for their sacrifice and help.
We also had some friends of our current staff come to help with registration and organization with the crowd. In addition to all of those volunteers we had several dental assisting students come up and help with the sterilization of instruments, cleaning up and setting up the operatories and helping Dr. Wade and me with the dental work.
We provided the option of a cleaning, a filling, or an extraction. We advertised that we would be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and it was a first come, first serve basis. As I showed up to the office at 7:30 in the morning, there was already a line outside with people camping out to get some free dental work.
In all we saw 50 patients and provide approximately $20,000 worth of free dental work. It was an insanely busy day, but very successful for our first ever day of free dentistry. We definitely learned a few things on how to improve for next year as we plan on having this day once every spring.

Marieli, Paty, and Alicia helping at the registration desk.


A view of the line of people waiting for dental care. At one point the line wrapped around the building. We ended up turning people away after 10:00 because we had met our quota for the day.



Doug, Celeste, and Lindsay helping out front.



Spencer Wade and an assistant doing some fillings.



Kelsie Graham cleaning some teeth.



Yours truly sporting the shiny, bald head and being assisted by RanDee Graham.
All of the volunteers had a great experience helping out and we had plenty of very grateful recipients of dental work. My main motivation for doing this was to help out the less fortunate in Summit and Wasatch counties. As the Savior says in Matthew 25:40 "...Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." The feeling that comes from giving of oneself is better than any financial profit or gain that we gave up by donating all of that dental work.
We look forward to another day of free dentistry in 2011. For now, I need to recover from this one. Between this and putting my entire yard in last week, I am beat. Unfortunately I have scout camp this weekend too! I think I'm ready for a vacation.

1 comments:

ang said...

that is so awesome!!!!!! good job!