The Foundation for Endodontics will receive the 2018 Shils Fund Special Recognition Award at the Union League in Philadelphia in honor of its outreach program and support of Project Home on October 4. One of only two such awards granted annually by the Shils Entrepreneurial Fund, the honor acknowledges the foundation’s efforts to serve low-income patients who might otherwise face tooth extraction.
“The Foundation for Endodontics is honored that we have been selected to receive the prestigious 2018 Shils Fund Special Recognition Award,” said Mary T. Pettiette, DDS, president of the foundation’s board of trustees. “One focus of our mission is providing access to endodontic care to underserved patients. We hope that the success of this first domestic program will lead to many others, supporting our efforts to help patients retain their natural teeth.”
The foundation opened its endodontics operatory at north Philadelphia’s Stephen Klein Wellness Center, operated by Project Home, in April 2018 following the success of a similar project in Jamaica. The operatory is staffed by endodontic residents and faculty members from Einstein’s IB Bender Division of Endodontics, Department of Dental Medicine, including Philadelphia endodontist and past president of the foundation Louis Rossman, DMD.
“The dream of the foundation is to save natural teeth, treat infections, and restore self-esteem by providing access to root canal treatment for patients who otherwise would lose their teeth and suffer the pain and social consequences,” said Rossman.
Like the outreach program in Jamaica, the operatory in Philadelphia provides free root canal treatment to uninsured, low-income, and homeless patients, educating them on the importance of good dental care and what is possible to save their teeth.
“I’d like to thank our individual and corporate supporters for their generous contributions which help make foundation projects like these a reality,” said Pettiette. “In particular, Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc, Brasseler, and Henry Schein Inc, for making endodontic equipment available for use in the operatory.”
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