On Saturday, June 11th, more than 400 Aspen Dental offices participated in the 8th annual Aspen Dental Day of Service, providing care to more than 3,000 United States military veterans and their families, with nearly $1.8 million in donated dental services.
More than 2,000 Aspen Dental doctors and dental care team members volunteered their time to break down barriers to care and treat the most urgent dental needs – to help get veterans out of pain, from fillings and extractions to hygiene and basic denture repairs.
“Each year, Aspen Dental care teams across the country unite to give back to our nation’s military veterans during the Aspen Dental Day of Service,” said Arwinder Judge, DDS, chief clinical officer of Aspen Dental. “We founded the Healthy Mouth Movement in 2014, and over the years have provided free dental care to more than 33,000 veterans and their families, with more than $26 million in donated dental care. It is our way of giving back and honoring those who have served our country.”
Millions of Americans struggle to access dental care every year, and veterans are no exception – in fact, U.S. veterans are ineligible for dental benefits through the Veterans Administration unless they’re 100% disabled, have a service-related mouth injury, or were a prisoner of war. What’s more, during the COVID-19 pandemic, dentists have reported increases in teeth-grinding, cavities and gum disease, largely attributed to pandemic-related stress and changes in health habits.
This year’s Aspen Dental Day of Service success builds on the ongoing impact of Aspen’s Healthy Mouth Movement, a community-giving initiative launched in 2014 to deliver free dental care to veterans in need in communities across the country.
Since the launch of the Health Mouth Movement, doctors and their dental care teams from nearly 1,000 Aspen Dental-branded offices have donated more than $26 million in dentistry services to nearly 35,000 military veterans and people in need, around the world.
For more information about Day of Service and the Healthy Mouth Movement, visit HealthyMouthMovement.com.
ABOUT ASPEN DENTAL
Aspen Dental was founded in 1998 in New York by Bob Fontana with a simple goal in mind: to break down the barriers that doctors and patients face when it comes to dental care. Today, more than 20 years later, with nearly 1,000 Aspen Dental locations nationwide, the mission of the company remains the same – to bring better care to more people. Aspen Dental is the largest group of branded dental offices in the world. For more information, visit aspendental.com, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
ABOUT TAG – THE ASPEN GROUP
TAG – The Aspen Group was built on the simple idea of bringing better health care to more people. TAG and the independent health care practices it supports operate more than 1,100 locations in 45 states through its four health care support companies: Aspen Dental, ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, WellNow Urgent Care, and Chapter Aesthetic Studio.
Combined, the companies serve more than 35,000 patients a day and more than 8 million patients each year. TAG is headquartered at 800 W. Fulton Market in Chicago.
For more information, visit teamtag.com, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.