All About Smiles for All 2019, Our Day of Free Dental Care

On Sunday, October 20, 2019 we hosted our 6th day of free dental care event called Smiles for All. With the help of volunteer dentists, hygienists, dental assistants, staff, patients, family and friends, we were able to provide over $60,000 in dentistry to 102 people in our community. The charity event provides a free cleaning, filling or extraction. Special thanks to our donors Bisco Dental, MicroDental, Crest Oral-B, CareCredit and to our patients for their support over the years. How do you organize over 120 volunteers and 100 patients in one day. Read on to find out!

Getting the word out. Nina, Isabel, Andrea and Cindy flyering to let our neighbors know about the event. Every Friday leading up to the event, we wore our shirts to encourage patients to tell their family and friends. We also added the event on Facebook, Yelp and other online event listings to spread the word.

Planning ahead. Dr. Al leading a Smiles for All staff meeting. Organizing over 100 patients and 100 volunteers, and 20 staff requires plenty of meetings and pizza

It was an in tents night. Setting up the tents, tables and chairs the night before the event.

Go time! Doors opened at 8am. The lobby of the building was turned into our registration area for patients, some of whom lined up as early as 3am for the event.

The Pool. Tents were set-up outside in the parking lot for a waiting area that we called the pool.

Exam time. After registration and a screening, patients received a dental exam. Shareef and Vishnu from the University of the Pacific SCOPE with patient. With every operatory in use, dental exams were done in the doctor's private office.

Treatment time: Dr. Halton Suen performing a tooth extraction. Patients can receive a cleaning, filling or extraction. Dentists came all the way from Oakland and Novato to donate their services..

Every year student from University of the Pacific's volunteer club SCOPE come to help with screenings and exams.

Volunteers from UCSF's Childrens Health Hut who provided children's screenings, fluoride varnish and oral hygiene education

Volunteers were partnered up with our regular staff

Dr. Al teaching volunteers how to perform health screenings.

Lunch time. A full volunteer is a happy volunteer.

Our San Mateo County Board of Supervisor David Kline came by to present us with a Certificate of Commendation

Plan Bay Area 2050 set-up a booth to survey participants of the needs in their community.

Familiar faces. Brenda (right) was one of our hygienists who came back along with other past volunteers who returned to help again.

Mrs Ruby Choi and Dr. Kelvin Choi taking a much needed photo break

Group photo at the end of the day. Over 100 volunteer dentists, dental assistants, dental students, patients, staff family and friends made Smiles for All possible.

Community Impact. In total we have now provided $310,000 in free dentistry to 600+ people in our community through our Smiles for All events.

Join us next time!