Healthy Smiles was able to provide free dental services to families on June 19th and June 27th at Mercy House in Orange, California. Mercy House is a local nonprofit that strives to make a difference in the community by providing housing and supportive services to various homeless populations, including families and children. 

By partnering with Mercy House, we were able to visit one of their locations with our team of hygienists and care coordinators to treat the children staying at their shelter. With our portable equipment, we were able to provide oral health screenings to 14 patients and half of those patients returned the following week for additional treatments, including x-rays, cleanings, and sealants. Our offsite dentists were able to create treatment plans after receiving the x-rays and images, allowing us to care for patients directly in the shelter.

One of the families we treated left a memorable impression on us. Zoe, Tyler, and Cadan all used to be patients at our Garden Grove clinic. However, after losing their house and means of transportation, visiting the dentist became an obstacle. The family has been in this situation for about 5 years now and is currently staying at Mercy House while they wait to receive government housing. At the shelter, we were able to set up a mobile dental station and treat all three siblings. Surprisingly, the eldest sibling, Zoe, was willing to see our hygienist despite having a bad experience at the dentist’s office when she was younger and refusing to go back for many years. All three of the siblings did a great job, even three-year-old Cadan, who was a model patient with a great attitude.

We are so happy that we were able to help treat patients like Zoe, Tyler, and Cadan. We are grateful to Mercy House for letting us come in and provide dental services to the families staying there. Due to our amazing staff, we can continue offering teledentistry services to 120 school and community sites in Orange County. We look forward to collaborating with Mercy House again in the future.