by How DSOs are supporting their communities
Editor’s note: When it comes to supporting the community and helping to ensure that patients have access to essential dental care, ADSO members are first in line. Efficiency in Group Practice recognizes those who make community giving a priority. This month: Aspen Dental Management, Inc. and Dental Associates.
All too often, people lack the necessary transportation to see a dentist, as well as the financial means to pay for dental care and treatment. In response, Aspen Dental offices across the country have helped support the community giving initiative, Healthy Mouth Movement (HMM). The initiative was launched with the support of Danica Patrick, the celebrated racecar driver who has lent her celebrity to help turn up the volume on the conversation about the often-overlooked issue of oral health. Since 2014, nearly 12,000 patients have received free dental care through the HMM, which has spanned more than 34 states and resulted in more than $6.6 million in free dental care and oral health education to people in need
The Healthy Mouth Movement delivers care in two ways. The Aspen Dental MouthMobile – a fully-equipped dental office on wheels – visits communities where care isn’t readily available to provide free services in partnership with local non-profit organizations. In addition, every year hundreds of Aspen Dental practices open their doors on a select Saturday to provide a free day of care. In its inaugural year, the HMM served close to 3,000 patients with the assistance of nearly 2,000 Aspen Dental volunteers.
Many of those patients were veterans, a patient population that resonated deeply with the Aspen Dental volunteers because veterans do not receive dental care benefits through the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs unless they are 100 percent disabled or have a service-related injury to their mouths.
To further strengthen its commitment to veterans, in 2015 Aspen Dental partnered with Got Your 6, a collaborative campaign that works to empower veterans and strengthen communities nationwide by uniting veterans’ organizations and engaging civilians to bridge the civilian-military divide. Got Your 6 – meaning I got your back – focuses on six key pillars of veteran reintegration, including leadership, health and education.
Last summer, Aspen Dental dentists and teams from Maine to Washington – and hundreds of practices in between – volunteered their time and talents to give back to veterans in their communities on one big Day of Service on Saturday, June 25. As part of the Healthy Mouth Movement, this marked the third annual Day of Service, where nearly 400 participating Aspen Dental offices donated more than $2.1 million in dentistry in one single day, empowering more than 4,000 veterans with a healthy smile.
Thousands of stories were shared that day, but one story about Allen Williams, a veteran who has selflessly helped those around him all his life, was particularly moving as the Aspen Dental team in Waterloo, Iowa, surprised him with a healthy and beautiful new smile.
For more information visit www.aspendental.com/about/healthy-mouth-movement
The Giving Tree
For Dental Associates’ Howard Dental Center in Green Bay Wis., 2016 was a year of giving back to the community they serve. The clinic coordinated a food drive for The Giving Tree, a food pantry dedicated to providing basic items to families in need in the Howard-Suamico School District. It collects and distributes food and clothing donations in an effort to provide its students with the resources to grow into enthusiastic learners and become productive members of the community.
Patients and staff were encouraged to donate nonperishable food items, and on September 29, the Howard Dental Center staff brought the food to the pantry. In total, the clinic collected eight boxes of items for the local pantry. Along with the food donations, the clinic donated $500 to The Giving Tree’s efforts.
Dental Associates’ 14 clinics across Wisconsin regularly find ways to give back to the communities they serve. For instance, each year in February, in support of Children’s Dental Health Month, clinic teams travel into their communities to give interactive presentations to children about oral health. In 2016, Dental Associates team members visited more than 100 elementary schools, preschools, daycare centers and YMCAs to teach 14,255 children how to care for their teeth. Dental Associates’ Howard clinic opened last August and is the company’s 14th dental center.
http://www.dentalassociates.com/dental-associates-news/dental-associates-hosts-food-drive-giving-tree/
