Pacific Dental Services (PDS) teamed up with the Smile Generation to present the ninth annual Smile Generation Serve Day on Saturday, August 17. More than 700 PDS-supported dental practices and volunteers throughout the United States provided 3,000 patients with more than $6.5 million of oral healthcare. Treatments included same-day crowns, implants, root canals, oral surgery, and scaling and root planing. Since its inception in 2011, more than 18,000 patients have received more than $32 million in donated dentistry through the program.
“Service is at the core of who we are as an organization,” said Stephen E. Thorne IV, founder and CEO of PDS. “Participating in the act of service changes our hearts and minds about what matters most in life. Our success enables us to create opportunities to serve through improving oral healthcare locally, nationally, and internationally. We’re humbled to be able to provide donated dentistry each year to thousands of people in need during Smile Generation Serve Day.”
Many of the patients treated during this year’s Smile Generation Serve Day are affiliated with After Innocence, Special Olympics International, or the Dental Lifeline Network.
“Smile Generation Serve Day is a great event that allows our volunteers to serve more patients in need,” said Fred Leviton, CEO of Dental Lifeline Network, which provides dental care for people with disabilities, people who are elderly and medically fragile, and veterans. “Many of these people received life-changing services they otherwise would not have access to, and we’re so appreciative of all the PDS-supported dental practices that opened up their offices to change lives in their local communities.”
“Smile Generation Serve Day is a game-changer for dozens of our exoneree-clients. Pacific Dental Services-supported dentists across the country welcomed our exonerees into their offices, providing extensive pro bono services, and helped these deserving individuals take an important step in rebuilding their lives after wrongful convictions,” said Jon Eldan, executive director of After Innocence, a nonprofit organization that serves prison exonerees nationwide.
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