A one-day volunteer service has inspired dentists in the Fredericton area to work to help people access dental care who can’t typically afford the necessary service.
‘Free Dental Day’ started four years ago, when an employee of Carriage Place Dental Centre returned from a dental mission to Peru. The rest of the staff at the clinic were encouraged to volunteer their services, and they started cleaning the teeth of people who find it hard to access regular dental care.
“We decided that we should do that together as a team,” explained Marilyn McKnight, a dental hygienist who’s worked at Carriage Place for the last eight years. “And then we realized there’s a need right here in our own city.”
The clinic held the event annually for three years, taking in up to 70 patients each time.
Free clinic clients are given access to a variety of dental services — from simple teeth cleaning and polishing to having teeth pulled.
“We get more hugs today than we do on any other day in our work,” McKnight said Friday, during the fourth Free Dental Day event.
More local dental professionals decided to get involved with smile-brightening project, and ‘Smiles for Fredericton’ was born.
The organization helps ensure that any dental office wanting to host a free clinic day can do so by connecting volunteers with sponsorship.
“The cost of doing dentistry is extremely expensive and that causes the price of our services to be very expensive as well,” explained Dr. Chris Godbout, a dental officer with the Canadian Armed Forces.
“To be able to go and help the community … to be able to take the time and see these people, it’s super important.”
Godbout began working at CFB Gagetown last year after completing his studies in Montreal.
He says larger cities can sometimes have community clinics which help those less fortunate receive the dental care they need, but without something like that in place in Fredericton, he’s happy there’s a way for him to give back.
“It just seemed like a wonderful opportunity to go out and help the community,” Godbout said.
Comments