Dentists Wearing our “Community Crown”

We at Dental Card Services are in the business of helping dentists make more informed practice decisions that help keep their businesses strong, improve their practice lifestyle, and enhance their patient experience. However, we love to hear about how dentist find ways out of the office where they can impact the places and people who share their community. This is the first of a series of “Dentists Doing Good Deeds” and in our opinion, wearing the best kind of crown.

Today, we would like to celebrate Dr. James Herron. Dr. Herron is a dentist in Charlotte who has a thriving practice and plenty of patients who diligently come see him every year for cleanings, dental fillings, and root canals to name a few. However, as he explained in an interview with WCNC news on March 2, 2018 there are thousands of people in Charlotte who don’t have dental insurance, can’t afford self-pay, and often can’t even afford the transportation needed to make it to a dental appointment. Dr. Herron recently teamed with 70 volunteers in conjunction with Project L.I.F.T and Team Smile and the Carolina Panthers to make a small dent in that severely underserved population by offering a day long dental clinic for Charlotte Mecklenburg school children.

Dr. Herron and his team were able to see over 250 children that day, many of whom had never been to the dentist. Teeth were cleaned, cavities were filled and even root canals were performed. Dr. Herron reported there were children seen that day that had a cavity in every single tooth. He also mentioned the long reaching effects lack of oral care can have on children. Tooth pain causes them to lose focus in school, lose sleep and even more seriously, miss school altogether. He mentions kids often can’t eat the nutritious foods they need due to tooth pain. Often there can be fear of the dentist, especially in children and even more so in those who have never been. To help with this fear and to provide entertainment and encouragement, several members of the Charlotte Panthers football team and dance team were on hand to play with the kids, sign autographs and even simply give them hugs. The kids all went home with gift packs including free toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss-vital oral care components many of these kids have never owned.