By School of Dentistry - March 2, 2012

Two hundred and fifty adults and 29 children from the Inland Empire with outstanding oral health care needs received treatment at no cost Sunday, January 22, 2012, at the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry’s 22nd annual Clinic With A Heart.

 

Bundled up against the chilly morning air, Inland Empire patients await treatment.

Each of the 279 patients received a cleaning, a filling, or an extraction—and in the process an assessment of what else was needed to restore and maintain their oral health.

 

Three Clinic With A Heart volunteers triple team a patient. Dr. Edward Ko, SD’85, associate professor, Department of Restorative Dentistry, supervises the work of Joy Richardson, dentistry (class of 2013), assisted by an unidentified student volunteer.

Despite the temporary absence of Mary Hartwell, the School of Dentistry’s dental clinics manager, who since 1990 has overseen the annual event, her three administrative assistants, Robin Fierro-Navarro, Miriam Yanez, and Lydia Perez, and the rest of Ms. Hartwell’s regular team, carried on in her absence along with 474 other volunteers—a Clinic With A Heart record.

 

Clinic With A Heart volunteer managers, Miriam Yanez and Robin Fierro-Navarro, display the T-shirts given to each volunteer.

The 477 volunteers of the School’s 22nd Clinic With A Heart were comprised of

   45     LLU Faculty
   13     LLU Residents
   66     LLU Staff
   40     Fourth-year dental students
   48     Third-year dental students
   29     Second-year dental students
   45     First-year dental students
   30     Junior dental hygiene students
   39     Senior dental hygiene students
   11     Chaffey College dental assisting students
   30     Baldy View Regional Occupational dental assisting students
   11     Riverside City College dental assisting/hygiene students
     8     LLU School of Nursing students
   33     International Dentist Program students
   29     Visiting volunteers

The efficiently run event provided a record total of $45,455 in dental services.

 

Leif Bakland, SD’63, professor, Department of Endodontics, poses with a very satisfied Clinic With A Heart patient. 
 

Procter & Gamble Company’s subsidiaries, Crest and Oral-B, continue to support Clinic With A Heart, through their dental science liaison manager Desi Nuckolls, by funding the 500 custom t-shirts ordered from “Special T’s” for the volunteers, as well as contributing $1,000 for the needy kids fund and $250 for toothbrushes and toothpaste.