Dallas County Dental Society Foundation

Give Kids A Smile, an American Dental Association (ADA) program, brings dentists and other volunteers together to provide screenings, treatments and education to underserved children throughout the United States. It is held each February across the United States in celebration of National Children’s Dental Health Month. GKAS events are intended to be touch points for children who do not receive routine dental care.

In Dallas, underserved elementary school age children in local public school programs receive oral care screenings, demonstrations and goody bags as part of Give Kids A Smile®, This virtual event in Dallas is supported by the Dallas County Dental Society (DCDS) Foundation, Dallas Independent School System (DISD) and the ADA. In 2020, over 1100 underserved DISD students were offered this service, with 140 private dentists, hygienists, dental assistants and dental students donating their time.

Senior’s Smiles, a program aimed at nursing homes with volunteer dentists and hygienist volunteering their expertise and time. In coordination with the Dallas Dental Hygienists’ Association, the DCDS Foundation provides oral health education to the elderly in our community.

Imagine how different your life would be if you lacked a very basic asset — your smile. Though most of us take our smiles for granted, many are not so fortunate. Simply greeting someone with a smile can be daunting for women with missing or damaged teeth. The cause of the damage varies, but its impact remains the same: women who suffer from an impaired ability to smile are hindered in both professional and social settings. To address this problem, DCDS Foundation founded HOPEFUL Smiles™ in 2006 to offer restorative dental care to qualifying Attitudes & Attire® clients.

Attitudes & Attire® clients must have impaired smiles or severely, damaged anterior teeth that limit their employ-ability or health. They must be committed to their personal growth and sobriety, if addiction has been an issue in their past, and be actively seeking or maintaining employment or obtaining continued education. (See https://attitudesandattire.org/ for more info.)

DCDS Foundation teams up with Texas Dental Association Smiles Foundation to bring their Texas Mission of Mercy’s (TMOM) mobile clinic to Dallas over Veteran’s Day weekend. DCDS Foundation’s primary role is to encourage a network of caring dentists, dedicated community members and generous donors/sponsors to provide free dental care to North Texas veterans. Pre-screenings of approximately 250 veterans in dire need are completed in volunteer's dental offices prior to the TMOM weekend to determine dental work needed and prep the veterans.

DCDS Foundation has assisted with the TMOM clinic in Dallas seven times, twice focusing on serving our U.S. veterans and their families. In 2018, over 600 veterans were provided with a total of $625,000+ worth of services.

DCDS Foundation hosts TMOM clinics every two years. The 2020 event was displaced by the pandemic, so the next event is scheduled for November 2022.