Season of Giving: FDA’s Favorite Dental Charities

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…to give back! Healthy smiles are one of the best gifts, and we believe that everyone should have access to oral health care.  That’s why we work with Dental Lifeline and Dancing with the Dentists to help people in our community receive the dental care they need.  If you haven’t heard of these two wonderful organizations, let us help you learn more about great work being done in oral health!

Dental Lifeline is a national charitable organization that was founded in 1974.  Its mission is to improve the oral health of people with disabilities or who are elderly or medically fragile.  Through its flagship program, Donated Dental Services (DDS), oral care is provided to people who cannot afford necessary treatments and cannot receive public aid.  With its network of 15,000 dentists and 3,500 labs nationwide, the DDS program has provided $378 million in donated therapies and transformed the lives of 120,550 people.

Our beloved Dr. Knock envisioned Dancing with the Dentists and drew from his local dental network to build a ballroom dancing competition that generated funds for several local charities.  Our very own Dr. Brunacini and his wife, Jenny, won the coveted Mirror Ball Trophy in Season 1!  Dancing with the Dentists Season 4 will take place in 2022, and will feature 10 courageous dental professionals on the ballroom floor, showing off their moves to raise money for The Root Cellar and Dental Lifeline.  A fun competition that also makes a real impact, Dancing with the Dentists raised over $40,000 for charity at their last event!

We have also worked with Dentists Who Care for ME and look forward to continuing to support their great work when they are able to hold the next event for their services.

Giving back and caring about our community has never felt more important. 2020 has been full of challenges, to say the least.  This holiday season, we also look forward to supporting our local business community.  As a locally-owned small business, we feel grateful to be a part of such a conscientious and kind community.  We’re all in this together!

We wish you a wonderful and safe holiday season!  Thank you for being a part of the FDA Family!

*Image courtesy of www.shutterstock.com

 

Season of Giving: FDA’s Favorite Dental Charity

‘Tis the season…to give!  One of our favorite parts of the holiday season is the opportunity to give back to those in need.  We believe that everyone deserves a healthy smile and access to oral health care. That’s why we’ve partnered with Dental Lifeline Network and their Donated Dental Services (DDS) to help people in our community receive the dental care they need.  This is a program we support at Falmouth Dental Arts and have also contributed to through Dr. Knock’s always amazing Dancing with the Dentists.  In the spirit of the Season of Giving, we wanted to share more about this incredible organization with you this month.

Donated Dental Services provides free, comprehensive dental treatment to the country’s most vulnerable people with disabilities, and to those who are elderly or medically fragile. These are people who cannot afford necessary treatment and cannot get public aid. The program operates through a volunteer network of more than 15,000 dentists and 3,700 dental labs across the United States. Since its inception in 1985, the DDS program has surpassed $330 million in donated dental therapies, transforming the lives of 117,000 people.

In Maine, the program has had an amazing impact.  Some numbers for you:

  • 177 volunteer dentists
  • 36 volunteer laboratories
  • $3.5 million in donated treatments
  • 1,161 dental patients treated since 1999

If you’d like to contribute to Donated Dental Services, they are always in need dental professionals to volunteer their time, and rely on financial contributions to make more treatments possible.  To make a donation, you can visit their website. Your donation will help provide comprehensive care to those who need it most.

Thank you for being a part of the FDA family and for helping us celebrate the Season of Giving!  We hope you have a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends!

 

*Image courtesy of www.shutterstock.com

Dancing with the Dentists Season 3

You’ve heard the rumors, you’ve even heard some of the tales… well it’s back again in 2018! That’s right everyone, Dancing with the Dentists Season 3 is May 11th!

Now in its third year, Dancing with the Dentists brings dentists from the Maine community together with a night of dancing, excitement, and fun! Falmouth Dental Arts has a strong tie to this event as it was conceptualized and developed by Falmouth Dental Arts’ own founding dentist, Dr. Glen Knock.

But that’s not the only reason to attend: the evening was developed first and foremost for a good cause and will benefit two local nonprofit organizations: The Root Cellar and Dental Lifeline. Both organizations assist those unable to afford dental treatment by providing donated dental services. All profits from the event will go directly to those two organizations – Dancing with the Dentists Season 2 raised over $40,000, making a huge positive impact on their operations.

The Italian Heritage Center in Portland will serve as the competitive stomping grounds for the event, with the competition kicking off at 5:30 pm on Friday, May 11, 2018. The dental dancers and their professional counterparts will show their best moves to the crowd and a panel of local celebrity judges. Shannon Moss of Code Gratitude and former news reporter/anchor will host the evening.

Our own doctors Dr. Knock and Dr. Brunacini both danced in previous seasons, in fact… Dr. Brunacini won Season 1 of Dancing with the Dentists! “It was such a great experience,” Dr. Brunacini commented. “I actually enjoyed the dancing and performing aspect of it, and couldn’t believe that I won!  The opportunity to raise money and awareness for the organizations while learning a new skill was a lot of fun.”

While we can’t guarantee it just yet, Dr. Karagiorgos has hinted at his own participation in the near future. “I am sad that the timing didn’t work out this time but I really look forward to strutting my stuff at the next Dancing with the Dentists event,” he said. “What a great way to be involved and serve our community! With Glen’s rich history of dance and Brian winning the inaugural competition, the stakes are high and the pressure is on. When it’s my turn to compete in the future I look forward to representing FDA and performing in a way that would make our staff and our patients proud.” We can’t wait!

Have we got your interests piqued? If so, make sure to buy your tickets online today. If you have more questions about the event, please ask us anything during your next appointment! We are happy to help support the greater Maine dental community by sharing this event with others and supporting a great cause.

Watch these new Dancing with the Dentists videos!

The fellas at No Umbrella Media in Portland did an amazing job with all the photography and video shoots for the Dancing with the Dentists event back in November. They recently finished the videos containing footage of the actual event and we would like to share them with you. They certainly did not disappoint!

One more big thanks to the two Nicks at No Umbrella for their tireless work!

 

Dr. Brunacini and his wife Dr. Jenny Fultz — Our Dancing with the Dentists, Season 1: Bonding Together Champions!

Dr. Killian MacCarthy and his wife Dr. Tarryn Strating MacCarthy — Runners-up

Dr. Douglas Delli Colli and his wife Dr. Nichol Penna — Second Runners-up

Dr. Joe Penna and his wife Dr. Demi Kouzounas — Third Runners-up

2013 was a Year to Remember

As we brought in the New Year a few weeks ago, we allowed ourselves a little time to reflect on all happened in 2013. Here are some of the reasons why 2013 was amazing at Falmouth Dental Arts.

  1. Dancing with the Dentists – one of our dreams was to sponsor an event that brought the local dental community together to raise money for charity. In the late summer/early fall of the year 2012, an idea of “Dancing with the Dentists” was born and just over a year later on November 16, 2013, the dream became a reality. The overwhelming support we got from so many people was truly amazing and humbling, and bringing together over 400 of our peers from the Maine dental community for a night of fun outside of our offices made for a magical and unforgettable time. In all, the event raised more than $25,000 to be donated to Maine Dental Lifeline. Dancing with the Dentists exceeded all expectations for its inaugural season and was certainly one of the highlights of our year, thank you to all who attended and supported the cause. And plus, our very own Dr. Brian Brunacini and his wife Dr. Jenny Fultz-Brunacini took home the trophy as the dancing champs of the night!
  2. Celebrating 275 years of combined staff experience – In 2013 our staff celebrated 275 years of combined dental experience between all of us! We take a lot of pride in our commitment to continuing education and constantly absorbing new knowledge so that we are positively providing you with the best dental experience we possibly can with all the cutting edge techniques and technology. Giving you the highest quality care possible and making sure you are more comfortable than you have ever been at a dentists’ office is something we pride ourselves on. We attended a few notable classes and workshops in 2013. One focused on dealing with gluten intolerance/sensitivity and celiac disease, and another course we took focused on the diagnosis of periodontal disease. Both were extremely beneficial.
  3. Our Facebook Page grew to 220 likes – We started the year in January 2013 with 75 “Likes” on our Facebook page and by New Years Eve 2013 we had grown to 220 “Likes.” This may not seem like a big deal, but it means a lot to us. We love keeping in touch with our patients and building relationships with you! This is another tool that allows us to do that when you can’t come in to visit us. We love engaging with you on social media and we are very active on our page, so if you haven’t had the chance to “Like” the FDA Facebook page yet, head over and do it now! We like to have some fun too…we promise it’s not all posts about teeth – check out our page to see for yourself!

The year 2013 had some incredible highs for FDA and we are very grateful. The greatest thing about our job, however, is getting to see you when you come in to visit us, whether it be for a regular cleaning or for more extensive dental work. Coming into our office every day and working with the most amazing team around and getting to help the best patients around achieve and maintain their dream smile is why we do what we do. Thank you for contributing to such an incredible year in 2013, and we can’t wait for what 2014 has to bring!

Falmouth Dental Arts wishes you and yours a very happy and healthy 2014!