Statements
Mission
Giving Smiles is a non-profit dental services charity which seeks to improve access to dental services that restore a smile for Middle Tennessee residents who are poor, have limited resources, or other barriers to care. We hope to bridge the gap in availability of quality dental care by bringing compassionate, affordable dentistry, oral health education, and preventive care to those in need with volunteer support and strategic partnerships with other community non-profit organizations.
Background
Dental services for the working poor in Tennessee are limited . Even basic dental care for adults is expensive for those with little or no income. Tennessee provides few safety net dental services for uninsured and working poor adults. Over 35% of Tennessee residents over 65 years old have lost all their teeth. Impoverished Tennesseans are three times more likely to have untreated dental cavities than residents above the poverty line. Too often poor patients who suffer painful tooth abscesses, delay seeking treatment, and go to emergency rooms where they are discharged with a prescription for an antibiotic but no referral for extraction of the infected tooth to drain the abscess. Patients tell me they extract their own teeth because they cannot afford to go to the dentist. Untreated dental and gum disease affects the total health of patients, for example, aggravating serious heart diseases, diabetes control, and pregnancy outcomes.
There are just a few nonprofit clinics in Middle Tennessee where adult patients can get dental care for free or a discounted fee. Their service hours and days are often very limited. The patients often must wait weeks or months to get an appointment, and sometimes only extractions are provided. The patients may lack transportation and access to these clinics if they are not nearby. Giving Smiles is the only non-profit, not school-based or church-based mobile dental service in Middle Tennessee that travels to communities in need. In addition, Giving Smiles has a three chair dental office clinic in Spring Hill TN to provide service to an area of Middle Tennessee that has no dental safety net providers. While Giving Smiles cannot help all those with dental needs , we hope to help touch the lives of those who can benefit the most.
Impact
2022 accomplishments: The TDH Disparities Grant allowed us to deliver services with improved support and supplies to enhance protection from future respiratory pathogens like Covid 19 that disrupted service in 2020 and 2021. Top goals for 2023 Expand delivery of dental services through increased utilization of the mobile dental clinic, dental "mission" events, and use of the dental office. Identify funding sources to improve sustainability. . Find a volunteer Director of Social Media to maintain and update communications with social media platforms such as the Giving Smiles website, videos, photos, and Facebook. Find volunteers, community, professional, and college student interested in dentistry and non-profit service of working poor. Find new charity partnership organizations and support existing partnerships for dental services.. Support and expand active volunteer involvement and participation. Expand the board of directors, including increasing diversity. Add members to the board of directors with non-profit experience and business skills. Improve our financial base: raise funds through donations and grants to support and expand services.
Needs
Needs for 2023: Updated social media platform and website. While the services of our dentist(s) are free there is an ongoing need for more funding for staff and supplies to support the dental practices of our new dental office and updated dental van. Expand our base of volunteer support, especially dental professionals. Add additional dental equipment and supplies through in-kind donations. Make connections and improve engagements with community organizations. Enhance communication of activities and involvement using the website and social media platforms.
CEO Statement
Giving Smiles is a nonprofit mobile dental van and dental office founded to provide dentistry to low-resourced residents of Middle Tennessee. Our goal is to provide dental services at no cost or a sliding scale based on income to those who cannot afford dental care. Volunteer dentists and staff work in a new three chair dental office in Spring Hill Tennessee or in a dental mobile clinic equipped with two dental chairs that travels to the area of need. We have the necessary dental supplies and equipment, including a portable dental x-ray unit, to provide high quality care. We also have several mobile dental chairs to pair with self-contained, complete portable dental equipment systems which can be set up in community buildings or facilities to serve more patients when needed. Dental education, toothbrushes, dental x-rays, dental exams, oral exams including oral cancer screenings, professional cleanings, fluoride treatments, sealants, local anesthetics, extractions and fillings are procedures and services provided. We also replace missing teeth with dentures and crowns and bridges. The patients also receive assistance in identifying other safety net providers for continued dental care in their community. Patients tell us they have waited many years to have their teeth fixed because they can not afford to go to the dentist. Every clinic day we get hugs and tears of happiness from the grateful patients we treat! A patient missing posterior teeth cannot eat properly contributing to poor health, and someone missing front teeth may be unable to find employment or will not smile. We hope to improve the health of all the patients we serve and replace the missing teeth with beautiful smiles!
Board Chair Statement
Since graduating from dental school in the 1980's I have worked to provide impoverished patients quality dental services. Initially, I worked in an inner city dental clinic on the South Side of Chicago and later while teaching I volunteered in a poor, rural Northern Florida county dental clinic consisting of a single dental chair in a mobile home trailer. After moving to Nashville I volunteered in the Cayce Homes housing project Dental Clinic for several months and performed screening oral exams on Metro Nashville school children. While working in private practice dentistry I volunteered at the Interfaith Dental Clinic, and I was a regular volunteer with the Hope Smiles free dental clinic in West Nashville, with Salvus Clinic in Sumner County, and as a volunteer with Remote Area Medical (RAM) missions in rural Tennessee. Whether the impoverished patients are from rural areas or the inner city they suffer from a high incidence of tooth loss and untreated dental caries and gum disease. The children we see tell us they often go to school with toothaches and the adults lose their teeth at a young age for lack of dental care.
But on dental missions to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, I realized the extent of dental decay and gum disease was far worse at home among the poor of Tennessee. The adults in Haiti often have one or two teeth needing treatment while frequently the poor patients in Tennessee have all of their teeth in need of fillings or extractions, and their poor oral health is contributing to poor overall health as well. At RAM dental missions in rural Tennessee, patients young and old stay up all night or sleep in their cars and then stand in line with hundreds of others in their communities to receive no-cost dental treatment. They tell me that it is the first time in their lives that they have seen a dentist, even though their teeth have been hurting for many years. They often had to wait a year or more until a Remote Area Mission came to their area.
This experience was the inspiration for starting Giving Smiles, a nonprofit mobile dental clinic and a comprehensive dental office in Spring Hill to serve those who cannot afford the cost of even simple dental care. Since retiring from my own private practice I purchased and refurbished a two chair mobile dental clinic van and bought additional portable dental equipment and supplies including, x-ray units, ProCart units, instruments, and portable dental chairs that can be set up in community buildings and facilities. In 2020 we opened a three chair dental clinic in Spring Hill Tennessee. Giving Smiles seeks to restore smiles and relieved dental discomfort in patients. We provide some emergency dental care, preventive care including fluoride varnishes, cleanings, sealants, x-rays, extractions, fillings, and opportunities for volunteer service. We restore missing teeth with partials, dentures and crowns. In this way we hope to work towards bridging the gaps and inequities in access to dental care and contribute to reaching out to those in Middle Tennessee who suffer from poor oral health and a missing smile.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Health Care - Public Health |
| Secondary Category: | Health Care - Community Health Systems |
| Tertiary Category: | Health Care - Community Clinics |
Areas Served
Middle Tennessee
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Maury |
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - Hickman |
