by Stephanie R. Ganter DDS, MS
Dental Chairman for TMOM Dallas 2022
Texas Mission of Mercy (TMOM) is a mobile dental clinic that travels around the state of Texas providing charitable dental care to Texans with limited resources and/or access to care. Since its inception in 2001, TMOM has treated over 42,000 patients with $26M worth of care.
THANK YOU to all who were involved in our Veterans TMOM event in Garland! TDA Smiles Foundation, DCDS Foundation and the Salvation Army partnered together to turn a Salvation Army Garland Gym into a 32 chair dental care facility. Our numbers for this year’s event are 288 patients treated with over $385,000 worth of care. Over 110 dentists volunteered as well as hygienists, dental assistants and community volunteers.
This TMOM event was special in that it provided a record number of pre-event removable units to our Veterans and their families thanks to the leadership of Dr. Michael Rainwater, President of the DCDS Foundation. He worked alongside our Pre-Screening Chairman and current Dallas County Dental Society President, Dr. Mary Swift, and our removable chairs — Dr. Travis Spillman, who serves as a director on the DCDS Foundation and Dallas prosthodontist Dr. Clara Bergeron. What a combined effort from a stellar removable crew! Big thank you to Dental Plus Lab and Griffin Lab for our outstanding removable units.
I can’t mention these results without also referencing the dentists and community volunteers who helped at our pre-screening events. For this TMOM, we had three pre-screening events hosted on location at the Salvation Army, DCDS Assisting School and The Dental Specialists office. In addition, The Grace Center Texas provided an additional two pre-screening days, plus their mobile dental van “Flossy” at the event, courtesy of Dr. Grace Smart.
Our Community Chairman and stand out rockstar, Ms. Terra McClelland, spearheaded our fundraising and donation efforts. TMOM events do not happen without people like Terra, and we are entirely grateful to her efforts to deliver fundraising from community stakeholders, including in-kind donations such as meals and refreshments from set up to clean up for all volunteers working this event. We can’t say thank you enough!
The staff at TDA Smiles Foundation is unlike any other I’ve worked with. Our fan favorites: Ms. Judith Gonzlez, TDA Smiles Foundation Director; Ms. Rachel Gutierrez, Marketing and Events Coordinator; and Mackenzie Keene, Programs Coordinator. Together, they collaborated with our Dallas TMOM team in fundraising, planning and promoting our Veteran’s Event.
This Dallas Veteran’s TMOM event was special because we said good-bye to our beloved friend, colleague and mentor Dr. Russell Owens. His wife, Mrs. Paula Owens has worked TMOM events alongside Dr. Owens managing data input and analysis. To celebrate the life of Dr. Owens, The Dental Specialists hosted a Casino Night Charity fundraiser with the blessing of Mrs. Owens. Donations exceeded $3500 in his honor. All proceeds from the event were given to TDA Smiles Foundations. Thank you to all who donated and attended this event during TMOM!
Thank you to the dental students from Texas A&M University School of Dentistry for attending. Dr. Wendy Steger, DCDS board member and dental school faculty, helped recruit and supervise the students at this event. It’s amazing to have dental students have the opportunity to provide quality care and give back to their community at the same time! Dr. Tommy Harrison, another champion of service and dental students, arrived from Houston with three dental students to serve at our Dallas TMOM as well.
Big shout out to our hygiene treatment area! Dr. Chris Miller led this wonderful group. We are grateful to all of the hygienists, faculty and hygiene students involved. Special thanks to Tyler Junior College and Texas A&M University School of Dentistry Hygiene programs for helping our veterans and their families!
As always, DCDS Staff members Jane Evans (who is also a Board Member for TDA Smiles Foundation), Rosemary Martinez, Ashley Hawkins and Angela Bush made great contributions from start to finish.
We are exceptionally grateful towards all of our dental leads that made this event a success: X-ray Leads, Drs. Mitra Bolouri and Gabby Dizon; Triage Lead Dr. Maheeb Jaouni; Emergency Management Lead Dr. Robert G. McNeill; Sterilization Lead Dr. Toby Glaser; and our Registration Lead courtesy of the Alliance of the American Dental Association.
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