A dental office is giving back to the community the best way it knows how.
For the third consecutive year, Academy Dental is participating in Dentistry From The Heart, a one-day event providing adults and children with free dental care.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing to do for the community,” said Dr. Van Gyn, the owner of Academy Dental. “It’s a real feel good day.”
Last year, approximately 120 people lined up at the Fort Street office and another 80 patients at the Sooke Road office.
“We have people lining up at 5 a.m. People will wait in line for four to five hours and you don’t want to not see them,” Gyn said, adding four dentists worked at full capacity and managed to see everyone who lined up for care last year.
“They were very appreciative. These are people who can’t really afford to get dentistry done.”
Office manager Joanna Peitler heard about the idea from a workshop in Toronto and decided to bring it to the Island.
“This event is much more personal because we can see the immediate results of our efforts,” said Peitler.
“Dental care is quite often at the bottom of a long list of priorities. We love to see their smiles and know that we can help in some small way.”
On Monday (April 27), it is a first-come, first-served basis and dentists, who volunteer their time, will do everything from surgical procedures to treating infections and fillings to fixing cavities.
Gyn hopes in the future, other dental offices will consider joining the event as well.
“We were hoping more offices would take this up. So far, we haven’t seen any. We have a fairly large dental community and certainly there is room for a lot more of this,” he said.
Dentistry From The Heart takes place on Monday at 1195 Fort St. from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.