Ordelheide Dental hosts day of care in Plains
<p>Volunteers helped patients throughout the day at last Friday's free day of dental care put on by Ordelheide Dental in Plains.</p>
PLAINS – Ordelheide Dental in Plains took time last week to give back to the community, hosting a free dental care day at their office in town last Friday.
The first annual event got off to an early start Friday morning with registration for the event starting at 6:30 a.m.
Volunteers and staff got an even earlier start on the day as they began setting up for the event at 5:30 a.m.
Boyer Street was cordoned off for the day to accommodate patients and volunteers at the dental care event.
A number of patients turned out for the free dental care day and Ordelheide provided care to 30 patients by the time they broke for lunch around noon.
More patients were scheduled to receive care during the afternoon and Kristi Scott of Ordelheide Dental was hoping the total number of patients would grow to 50 by the end of the day.
This goal was met as 55 patients received care through the course of the day.
Scott added the response to the event had been quite positive.
“Everyone has been very grateful and patient today,” Scott said.
Joining the staff at Ordelheide was an oral surgeon, Dr. Grant Wiswell and his assistant from Missoula to help with extractions throughout the day.
Though it was the first year of the event, Scott was looking forward to hosting other free dental care days in the years to come.
“The goal is to make it bigger and better moving forward,” Scott said.
A number of volunteers from the Plains Woman’s Club were on hand at the event to serve breakfast as patients registered and received care throughout the morning.
Other local businesses also contributed to the event with McGowan Grocery donating water, Rocky Mountain bank donating water and Gatorade, and Subway donating lunch for the event.
Additionally, the Plains V.F.W Post donated chairs and tables for the event.
Last week’s day of care was done in partnership with Dentistry from the Heart, an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing free dental care to those in need.
Scott was very pleased with how the event had turned out.
“Our team has been great today,” Scott said.