MB,

Some of the bigger communities have dentist and dental assistants that donate their time on certain days of the year( on a saturday). It is advertised for free by local radio stations and newspapers  that on a certain day that so many children can be seen by these volunteer dentists. It could be done twice a year and different dentist could possibly voluteer each time to make it less time consuming for each dentist yearly. How about a angency here in our community taking this upon themselves to sponser this project, or possibly a church? I think this is a wonderful idea you have come upon. I believe that with some of the lower paying jobs (mimimum wage) that some people have to work, makes it hard for them to afford proper dental care. This could be offered to single parent families, multiple children families, that have difficulty getting the proper dental care for their children.

I know the dentists would have limit what procedures could be done, but it would be good for general cleanings, and to identify serious dental care problems that parents may not be aware of. Then if there were serious problems maybe some of the donations could be paid to one of the dentists, to repair these problems.

This would probably be good to start out for just children only, then if it works out it could be built upon.  There would be materials or supplies that could be paid for by donations toward this project. This could be done by monitary donations or fund raisers like city wide rummage sales that could take donations of clothes and furniture and baked goods.

I know this would only work if some of the dentist in the area would see the need to volunteer. I think you have a wonderful idea and that it could be built on! I would like to see us all take responsibilty for some of our own in our community. Something else I would like to see here in Arkansas City is a food bank and clothes closet (am if not aware of one in this area). We have some in the northern part of the county. These are all things for us to think about.