Morgan Dental Care participates in Dentistry from the Heart
At Morgan Dental Care of the Portland Maine area, Valentine’s Day 2009 was a very special day. It was the day that the Morgan Dental Care team participated in Dentistry from the Heart, a loose, but growing organization of dentists dedicated solely to providing dentistry for free to people in need.
“The whole team of Morgan Dental Care of the Portland Maine area volunteered to give up their Valentine’s Day to provide dental services for those in “need”, said Dr. Ted Morgan, owner of Morgan Dental Care. “With the help of our three hygienists, my associate Dr. Amanda Rockwood, our team of assistants and administrative people, the doctors of Southern Maine Oral Surgery and donated materials and supplies from Patterson Dental Supply Company, we were able to help over 80 people and give away about $15,000 worth of dentistry. The way the team had it organized, it all ran very smoothly and we were able to maximize our time giving care”.
After coverage on NBC’s Channel six news, the office was inundated with inquiries about the event from all over the state. “We had a few days right after we were on the news that the phones just wouldn’t stop. We ended up receiving hundreds of registrations and had to select from those the ones that seemed most in need of our help,” said Dr. Rockwood. “It wasn’t easy to turn so many away, but it made us realize how much this was needed. The gratitude expressed by the people we did see made it one of the most rewarding days of my career. We will definitely do this again.”
The only requirement to receive free care was that a registration form had to be turned in a week before the event, along with a brief medical history. “The dental needs were mostly obvious; we just left it up to the people to decide if they were in financial need enough to warrant free care. We felt that people wouldn’t take up time in our schedule that day unless they truly couldn’t afford treatment and I think everyone respected that.”
When asked ‘why now?’, Morgan responded “We had already considered doing this after hearing about it last year, and then when the economy went into a slide it just seemed that this was the right time. It was a great feeling to be able to do something concrete to help people who are struggling right now. After what we saw last week, this will be an annual event at Morgan Dental Care, your Portland Maine dentist.”
The date for the next Dentistry From the Heart event to be held at Morgan Dental Care, will be posted on their website, GorhamDentalCare.com.
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