News By Readers
Successful 'Dentists with a Heart Day' assists area citizens
By James Griffin
Several groups worked together for the benefit of Mesquite and east Dallas area community members in need at a special “Dentists with a Heart Day” on Feb. 16.
Meeting at the Mesquite offices of Dr. Byron McKnight and Dr. Ken Taylor, who donated their services and facility for the day, were dentists Ron Bosher, Nathan Hodges, Sloan Hildebrand, Melvern Harrell, a Baylor Dental senior student, three hygienists, and 30 volunteers.
In a very successful effort, this team served 50 patients, providing them with free dental services that would normally have been worth a total of $40,000.
Coming together for the event were Mission East Dallas, which is a local indigent care facility, the Dallas County Dental Society, and volunteer staff from around the metroplex. Precision Prosthetics, a lab out of Denton, was onsite to do partials, dentures, and other prosthetic services. In addition, teeth were cleaned, filled, extracted, and the dental professionals even performed some trauma repair work for patients. The dentists and hygienists working at the event also provided dental education and hygiene instructions to the patients in attendance.
Also participating with volunteers or supporting the event through donating funds to underwrite the costs of supplies and lab fees were the Mesquite Rotary Club, and Rotary District 5810. In addition, the Mesquite Panera Bread and Chick-fil-A restaurants donated meals to support the dental personnel and volunteers.
The “Dentists with a Heart Day” successfully dealt with an existing patient backlog, enabling the Mission East Dallas Clinic to again accept new patients, and it also provided life-changing care to many patients in need who were referred to the event from the Christian Women’s Job Corps.
Meeting at the Mesquite offices of Dr. Byron McKnight and Dr. Ken Taylor, who donated their services and facility for the day, were dentists Ron Bosher, Nathan Hodges, Sloan Hildebrand, Melvern Harrell, a Baylor Dental senior student, three hygienists, and 30 volunteers.
In a very successful effort, this team served 50 patients, providing them with free dental services that would normally have been worth a total of $40,000.
Coming together for the event were Mission East Dallas, which is a local indigent care facility, the Dallas County Dental Society, and volunteer staff from around the metroplex. Precision Prosthetics, a lab out of Denton, was onsite to do partials, dentures, and other prosthetic services. In addition, teeth were cleaned, filled, extracted, and the dental professionals even performed some trauma repair work for patients. The dentists and hygienists working at the event also provided dental education and hygiene instructions to the patients in attendance.
Also participating with volunteers or supporting the event through donating funds to underwrite the costs of supplies and lab fees were the Mesquite Rotary Club, and Rotary District 5810. In addition, the Mesquite Panera Bread and Chick-fil-A restaurants donated meals to support the dental personnel and volunteers.
The “Dentists with a Heart Day” successfully dealt with an existing patient backlog, enabling the Mission East Dallas Clinic to again accept new patients, and it also provided life-changing care to many patients in need who were referred to the event from the Christian Women’s Job Corps.
Copyright © 2013 - Star Local News