Dallas County Dental Society Foundation held its fifth annual Charity Dental Summit in Dallas on March 2, 2024. This annual event brings together executive directors, lead dentists and key personnel from various charitable dental care providers to foster information sharing, communication and partnership opportunities that will enhance oral health in the local community.

Reflecting on the 2023 events organized by the DCDS Foundation, it's evident how fortunate we are to have such a strong network of friends and colleagues. Together with the Dallas County Dental Society and many volunteers from our community, the DCDS Foundation consistently strives to promote and enhance oral health.

TDA Smiles Foundation, DCDS Foundation and the Salvation Army partnered together to turn a Salvation Army Garland Gym into a 32 chair dental care facility. Our numbers for this year’s event are 288 patients treated with over $385,000 worth of care. Over 110 dentists volunteered as well as hygienists, dental assistants and community volunteers.

Dallas County Dental Society Foundation has partnered with the online platform Charitybuzz to help raise funds for our charitable activities. Charitybuzz is an internet company that raises funds for nonprofit organizations through online charity auctions with celebrities and brands. Auction experiences include music, entertainment, business, politics, sports, art, fashion and other industries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has stopped a lot of progress along the way, but one thing it cannot deter is the determination of dentists to provide dental care! The Give Kids A Smile®, (GKAS) program is held each February across the United States in celebration of National Children’s Dental Health Month, and members of the DCDS Foundation were resolute that the event in Dallas should not be cancelled due to the pandemic.

Approximately 1,100 elementary school age children in afterschool programs were invited to receive free dental screenings and oral care demonstrations as part of Give Kids A Smile®, an American Dental Association (ADA) program that brings dentists and other volunteers together to provide screenings, treatments and education to underserved children throughout the United States. The three hour event was supported by the Dallas County Dental Society (DCDS) Foundation, DISD and the ADA.

DCDS Foundation is a long-time supporter of Attitudes and Attire’s HOPEFUL Smiles program to assist women who are in critical need of restorative dental care. As part of their program, Attitudes and Attire provides work-appropriate clothing and accessories to all woman who attend their workshops. At this time, their inventory of accessories is very low and they need our help! Please consider going through your closet and pulling work-appropriate handbags or toiletries that you could donate.

DCDS Foundation teamed up with Texas Dental Association Smiles Foundation to bring their Texas Mission of Mercy’s (TMOM) mobile clinic to Dallas over Veteran’s Day weekend. DCDS Foundation’s primary role was to encourage a network of caring dentists, dedicated community members and generous sponsors to provide free dental care to North Texas veterans.

Highland Park United Methodist Church (HPUMC) has collaborated with the Methodist Church of Haiti for over 42 years. In the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake, when many medical facilities in the region were inoperable, local providers began seeing all types of patients in the two functioning buildings of the Siloe Clinic supported by HPUMC. As rebuilding progressed and community assets were evaluated, the need for dental care rose to the top of the list. In response, HPUMC has sent three dental mission teams to Haiti working out of the eye clinic buildings over the last three years.

The DCDS Foundation teams up with Attitudes & Attire, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting personal growth for women seeking self-sufficiency. This collaboration provides a program entitled HOPEFUL Smiles, which offers restorative dental care to qualifying Attitudes & Attire clients who complete self-esteem, self-sufficiency, and stability workshops plus volunteer a minimum of 20 hours prior to being assigned a dental provider.

Take a breath. You are safe. These are the words that greet clients at The Family Place’s new Ann Moody Place; a beautiful, caring environment that fully addresses the needs of The Family Place’s clients who have experienced domestic violence.

Imagine trying to get somewhere and you have everything you need for your journey except the confidence to get up and go. That is how most women in our Hopeful Smiles™ program feel. It’s not always easy to put on a happy face and smile when you don’t have a presentable smile.

A newly established Scholarship Program, conceived and developed by the Dallas County Dental Society Foundation (DCDSF) Board of Directors and Texas A&M University College of Dentistry came to fruition recently with Dr. Namrata Rathod being its first awardee. The scholarship was designed to assist students who have been accepted into the Public Health Residency program at TAMCD, and who express an interest in Public Health.

The Alliance to Dallas County Dental Society presented a dental health program at the Senior Source, a United Way agency. Community Dental Care partnered with the Alliance again this year.

The teachers and aids at Jack Lowe Elementary held a successful and well-organized career day for their students in February. There were, of course, the policemen with their shiny badges and a geologist with his fossils and charts. Due to one of our generous DCDS volunteers and a DCDS Foundation donation, there was a dentist and toothbrushes for everyone.