MESA, Ariz. – A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH) has teamed up with AJ’s Fine Foods for Smile Forward, an ATSU initiative that provides funds to those in need of dental care.

Throughout the month of March, customers have the opportunity to donate to Smile Forward at all Arizona AJ’s Fine Foods locations.

Program funding is provided through the generous support of donors, civic organizations and corporate partners. Smile Forward has granted services to hundreds of individual patients, community programs serving children, women at risk, and medically-compromised patients equating to more than $170,000 in services since 2005.

“ATSU thanks Bashas’ Family of Stores for allowing us to feature Smile Forward at their AJ’s Fine Foods store locations,” said Jack Dillenberg, DDS, MPH, dean, ATSU-ASDOH. “Funds raised will allow us to continue supporting the oral healthcare needs of underserved individuals in our community.”

Donations can be made at check-out in any increment, and 100 percent of proceeds raised will go to fund Smile Forward patient care.  Patients receive treatment at two University-affiliated clinics: ATSU-ASDOH Clinic in Mesa or Dental Care West located in Glendale.

MESA, Ariz. – On Feb. 15, A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH) in partnership with Arizona Dental Foundation (ADF), hosted its eighth Give Kids A Smile® event providing dental treatment free-of-charge to more than 360 Phoenix-area schoolchildren on its Mesa campus.

Approximately 240 ATSU-ASDOH students provided critical treatments that included sealants, fillings, stainless steel crowns, pulp therapy (root canal) and extractions to the Valley’s youth, who many, have never been to a dentist.

Several ATSU-ASDOH faculty dentists as well as University alumni dentists, community dentists, endodontists, hygienists and staff volunteers helped lead the student-driven event.

The American Dental Association began the Give Kids A Smile® program in 2003 as a way for members to join with others in the community to provide dental services to underserved children. ATSU-ASDOH Give Kids A Smile® is one of 1,700 events benefiting approximately 450,000 underserved children nationally.

Children miss 52 million hours of school annually due to oral health problems, according to The National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research. Fortunately, Give Kids A Smile® offers a long-term solution in helping to lower that number so that our youth are happy, healthy and able to function productively on a daily basis.

“The students were so eager to make a difference,” said ADF Executive Director, Ginger Froncek. “It has been amazing to watch young ATSU-ASDOH student volunteers move through their education and on to their own practices.”

Initiatives like Give Kids A Smile® strengthen the mission of ATSU in aspiring students to become high-quality, community-minded leaders to serve those most in need.

Photos from the event may be found on ATSU’s official Facebook page.

MESA, Ariz. – A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH) hosted its second annual Day for Special Smiles in late November, providing dental care to people with developmental disabilities, including athletes from Special Olympics Arizona. An astounding 45 patients needing extra dental attention were given oral healthcare free of cost.

Day for Special Smiles is an expansion from the pilot program that was launched in 2011. Fall 2012 marked a full-fledged launch by 30 ATSU-ASDOH students, key faculty members, and generous organizations and donors. ATSU-ASDOH students organized screenings where individuals with developmental disabilities were evaluated and recommended for the Day for Special Smiles initiative.

Unique initiatives like this are especially critical for this population as dentistry is not a covered service. Most patients have Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, so many do not have the financial means to get care. As a result, these individuals suffer from untreated oral diseases.

It was the interaction with one of the patients, Quincy Jones, that particularly touched Abrahim Caroci, D4, clinic director, Special Olympics Special Smiles Arizona.

“His happiness and positive attitude, despite the fact that he was in pain and in need of extensive dental care, touched my heart,” said Caroci. “Interactions such as this are a constant reminder of the many challenges the underserved face every day and the pain a special smile can be hiding. It also reminds me of the role we can play to improve their overall health and quality of life.”

Special guests included Cindy McCain, chair, Hensley & Co., ambassador, 2013 Special Olympics World Games in Pyeongchang, Korea; Steven P. Perlman, DDS, MScD, DHL (hon.), founder, Special Olympics Special Smiles, an oral health Initiative for the athletes of Special Olympics International; Tim Martin, president and CEO, Special Olympics Arizona; and Larry Clausen; executive director, Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council.

“We are excited by the win-win situation of this event. Our students get a great opportunity to meet and treat our special patients in a real-life service learning model, and folks who really need it the most get some very necessary dental care,” said Maureen Romer, DMD, associate professor, director, Special Care Dentistry.

Generous organizations and donors who helped make the Day for Special Smiles possible include Arizona Dental Foundation, Arizona Department of Economic Security Division of Developmental Disabilities, Arizona Department of Health Services—Office of Oral Health, Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, Delta Dental of Arizona, Special Olympics Arizona, and ValleyLife.

“This was a rewarding day for the faculty, as well as the students involved,” said Denise Frances, DMD, associate director of Special Care Dentistry. “It’s wonderful to be able to offer dental care to this vulnerable population. Not only would the majority of the Day for Special Smiles patients have difficulty affording the dental care they received, many would be unable to find providers skilled to treat them.”

A photo gallery from the Day for Special Smiles 2012 is available at the official ATSU Facebook page.

Jack Dillenberg, DDS, MPH, inaugural dean of the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ASDOH-ATSU), was recently interviewed by Arizona Money Radio 1510 on July 19.  Dr. Dillenberg discussed ATSU, ASDOH and our relationship with Thunderbirds Charities during the interview. Listen to the interview.

Funding establishes pediatric dental suite for underserved children

MESA, Ariz. – The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation has announced that A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH) is a recipient of its premier Grand Slam Award given to non-profit organizations serving Arizona.

The $50,000 award establishes the Arizona Diamondbacks Pediatric Dental Suite at ATSU-ASDOH’s dental clinic in Mesa. The dental suite consists of two child-friendly rooms that offer a warm, nurturing environment for children to receive care.

“We are taking our young patients out to the ball park without leaving their dental chair thanks to the generosity of the Arizona Diamondbacks,” said ATSU-ASDOH Dean Jack Dillenberg, DDS, MPH. “Our pediatric patients will receive the best dental care in a fun environment with Baxter and views of center field.”

The pediatric dental suite will allow an increase in the existing clinic’s capacity by 19.9 percent from current levels as well as help ATSU-ASDOH students to improve their knowledge about the specialty of pediatric dental care.

A portion of the funds from the Grand Slam Award will go toward providing uncompensated oral care for children from low-income families. Children ages birth to 12 from working poor families receive care at ATSU-ASDOH’s pediatric clinic. Most of them are uninsured (93.77 percent) or have parents who are either unemployed or are struggling to pay their bills.

“We are proud of the new D-backs pediatric dental suite at A.T. Still University and are thrilled that this grant will assist families that are unable to afford proper dental care treatments,” said D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall. “The suite looks fantastic, and we know that it will put smiles on the faces of many young D-backs fans in the years to come.”

The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation established the Grand Slam Awards in 2002 to make a larger impact on community organizations by providing a grant for up to $100,000. The D-backs will award five local organizations with Grand Slam Awards throughout the 2012 season, including A.T. Still University ($50,000), Make-A-Wish Foundation ($50,000), Kitchen on the Street ($100,000), Florence Crittenton ($100,000), and Children’s Museum of Phoenix ($100,000). The grants are made possible by fundraising efforts by the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation and by contributions from the D-backs partnership group.

About ATSU-ASDOH

The first dental school in Arizona and the nation’s first truly public health dental school, ATSU’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health has been educating dentists and serving the state’s oral healthcare needs since 2003. The school and dental clinic use an educational model that matches an exceptional team of motivated, experienced faculty with students in pre-clinical and clinical phases of their training.

ATSU-ASDOH places special emphasis on patient care experiences through simulation, integration of biomedical and clinical sciences, and problem-solving scenarios to achieve clinical experience and includes a strong component of public health, leadership, and practice.

In addition to oral health issues and dentistry skills, students are encouraged to be caring, community-minded healthcare providers. Graduates are expected to become leaders in their communities and managers of public, not-for-profit, and private sector oral health organizations.

About the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation

Established in 1997, the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation focuses its efforts in three main areas of need: homelessness, indigent healthcare, and children’s programs of all types, including education and youth baseball field development. Through fundraising activities, the team’s charitable arm has raised and donated more than $30 million to the Arizona community. The cornerstone of giving for the foundation is the “Diamonds Back” Field Building Program, which has built or refurbished more than 30 youth baseball fields in Arizona since 2000. The D-backs became the first professional sports team to win the inaugural 2010 United Nations NGO Positive Peace Award, which names the organization as the most positive team in the world and recognizes organizations that positively impact their community through corporate responsibility.