Photo by Joshua Tilton / Contributing Writer
Story by Andrew Wigdor / Assistant News Editor and Joshua Tilton / Contributing Writer
Village Crest Family Dental will be providing free dental visits for MTSU students and members of the community on Friday.
The dental office will be open from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m., and visits will include both extractions and teeth cleanings as necessary. If you’re not in the area, but, closer to a Dentist New York, you will also get these opportunities up there too.
According to a press release from Village Crest Family Dental, Dr. Elizabeth Clay, Dr. Maryana Hilal and a team from the office will be providing the services. they will be able to provide general check-ups as well as give out advice to people on how to maintain and improve their oral health. This will include recommending certain toothpaste brands, suggesting people use something like Aline to straighten their teeth, foods people should avoid, etc. so be sure to book an appointment.
“We understand that many people in our community and across the nation haven’t been to the dentist for a long period of time. Some don’t understand the importance of dental health, but more often than not, they don’t have the financial means,” Clay said in the press release. “This event is a great opportunity for us to share our time and resources with those less fortunate and give back to the community.”
The press release states that about 108 million people in America live without access to dental insurance. This is one of the main reasons the event is held, as it is a part of Free Dentistry Day.
According to the Free Dentistry Day website, the service was created to “provide aid to the growing number of adult Americans who can’t afford dental services.”
Free Dentistry Day is made up of thousands of nationwide events held by offices such as Village Crest Family Dental. The website states that through this annual service, over 2,500 patients were provided with more than a 1,000,000 dollars of free dental work last year.
The event has been hosted at Village Crest Family Dental annually for the last eight years, and it has become very popular among the community.
“We’re very busy that day, and we get a mix of almost everyone,” Village Crest employee Ebony Sanderline said. “Try to get here before 7 a.m., since there’s usually a line to get in before then.”
Village Crest addresses potential language barriers during Free Dentistry Day by having Spanish speakers on hand and a dentist who is fluent in Arabic.
“Dental health is a vital part of a person’s overall health,” Hilal said in the press release. “Through this event, we hope to educate patients on the importance of dental health and encourage them to adopt an ongoing oral care regimen.”
Village Crest is located at 315 Sam Ridley Parkway in Smyrna. Though the free dental day is open to anyone, customers are served on a first-come-first-serve basis.
For more information on Free Dentistry Day at Village Crest Family Dental, call 615-220-3440 or visit www.FreeDentistryDay.org.
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I feel as if more places should do this at least once a year. There are a ton of people in the Middle Tennessee area that are in need of other things besides just Dental care. Being originally from Smyrna, I’ve passed this office hundreds of times and never realized that they had a free dental day. This is great for people who don’t have the money to afford dental care but are still trying to support there families and make sure they have great hygiene. I believe that if we as a community in Rutherford county were to have places do a day of free health checkups, dental work, and basic eye care it would improve health of everyone as a whole. Some families just aren’t as fortunate as other but they still need the same common care as everyone else gets at least once a year. A teeth cleaning, eye checkup and a physical could go a long way in helping them improve there lifestyle. Village Crest Dental deserves all type of praise and recognition for there good deed to the town of Smyrna and surrounding areas. More places should take note and consider hosting something along these lines to better our society as a whole.