On June 25th, Aspen Dental practices all across the United States offered veterans free dental service, giving many of them a much-needed cost-free service.
Aspen Dental started this initiative after reading some alarming statistics about veterans: of 21 million veterans that live in the United States, only 10 million are enrolled in any US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits. Even for those who do receive benefits from the VA, dental care is often excluded from their packages. Thus, Aspen Dental sought to fill the gap and pay it forward to some of the brave men and women who have served in the United States Army.
“We figure they’ve given us so much and we just want to give back to them,” said Aspen Dental’s Andy Palan. “With everything that they’ve done, we can’t say thanks enough.”
While Aspen Dental tried to tackle each veteran’s most urgent problem, some were able to get all of their dental issues fixed in one go. This included Donald Burket, a Florida veteran of the US Navy who served in Vietnam.
Burket had a laundry list of dental problems. His doctor put him on a special diet for his heart, however, the diet was further damaging his teeth. Dentists at Aspen Dental then took care of all of his issues, which made him and his wife Beverly absolutely ecstatic.
After receiving his much needed dental care, Donald and Beverly hugged the dentist, both of them crying with joy at how much he was able to change their lives without putting a strain on their resources.
Donald now has a new lease on life and declared that he feels like he’s won the lottery.
Aspen Dental has been helping veterans get their smile back annually for two years. With the success of the program, it seems as though it will continue indefinitely.
Andrew Thompson, a veteran from Wisconsin who had his teeth attended to on Saturday said of the program, “It was very rewarding, heart and mind, that these people are taking their time to take care of us.”
Sources:
WJHG
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