At the end of last week, Smiles Change Lives partnered with TeamSmile, a non-profit that provides underserved children a life changing dental experience. TeamSmile, which also works with professional sports organizations, uses the excitement and allure of high profile sports to reinforce the value of a life-long commitment to dental health care. Each child in their program is provided with free preventative care and education and, if necessary, dental treatment at sports venues all across the country.
On July 18th, TeamSmile hosted an event, sponsored by Kansas City Royals and Assurant Employee Benefits, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Over 300 kids from the Boys and Girls Club across the Kansas City area were bused in to receive free dental care. Though TeamSmile focuses on dentistry, two of SCL’s partner orthodontists, Dr. Joe Hannah of Hannah Orthodontics and Dr. Steven Hechler of Hechler Orthodontics, donated their Friday to help screen over 300 kids for orthodontic care.
Alexis Barclay, Director of Provider Services stated “we’re so happy to have Smiles Change Lives partner with TeamSmile so we can give an orthodontic option to so many deserving children in the Kansas City area.” Smiles Change Lives had over 8 volunteers help in assisting with the screenings and in total over 150 volunteers helped out with the day events. Even baseball legends John Mayberry and Dennis Leonard, and Sluggerrr, the Royals’ mascot, made a special appearance to interact with the kids. Overall, it was a very successful day and we are extremely grateful to work with such amazing providers and partner with such a wonderful organization.
