Smile — It`s Free - Cary Family Dental

WRITTEN BY TARA CROFT
PHOTOGRAPHED BY JONATHAN FREDIN
Smile — It’s Free
A SMILE has the power to light up a
room. But sometimes that smile needs a little
bit of work.
In the past three years, Cary Magazine has
teamed up with Dr. Allan Acton to offer the
Cary Smile Makeover. Three deserving women
each received a complete smile overhaul. This
year, though, Dr. Acton set his sights a bit higher.
Acton opened his Cary Family Dental office to the community one Saturday
in April to host Dentistry from the Heart.
He worked with the national nonprofit
organization to offer a day of free dental
care to more than 150 local people.
“With the Cary Smile Makeover we
were really able to transform one person’s
life with their smile. But Dentistry from the
Heart in some ways meant more to me, because we were able to affect so many people’s
lives,” Dr. Acton said. “Even if we weren’t
able to totally transform their smile, we were
able to get them out of pain or help them
save some money. I had some of my patients
who even stayed in line to save $350. That’s
a car payment.”
Attendees were able to receive a filling,
extraction or cleaning at no cost on a firstcome, first-served basis. The first person ar-
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rived at 4:30 p.m. on Friday to get in line. By
7 a.m. Saturday, the parking lot was packed
with more than 100 people — most of whom
lived within a 10-mile radius of the office.
Nine other dentists volunteered their
services, including a school friend of Dr. Acton’s who flew in from Colorado to participate. Dental students, hygienists and others
also staffed the event, with a total of 35 additional volunteers who made the day possible.
In all, $46,025 in services were given away.
“The mood was incredible. People were
very sweet to us. We got a couple thank-you
notes in the mail later thanking us for what
1. As the sun rises April 14 at Cary Family Dental, people line up to receive free dental care through Dentistry from the Heart.
2. Cary Family Dental’s Dr. Allan Acton hosted the free dental care event. Ten area dentists volunteered their time for the daylong
event. 3. More than 100 people were already in line when the clinic opened at 7 a.m. 4. Dr. Robert Niles treats a patient. 5. Some in
the line arrived the day before the event. 6. Patients received extractions, fillings or cleanings. 7. Cary resident Ruth Vojdani gives
an interview to hygienist Catherine Satterwhite following a free teeth cleaning. 8. Morrisville resident Julianna Patterson shows off
the T-shirt given to her while waiting in line. Patterson, along with her mother, Suzanne, arrived at midnight the night before in order
to be at the front of a long line.
we did,” Dr. Acton said. And some even
thanked a higher power: “I had one woman
who prayed with me.”
Some camped out to seek relief from
nagging toothaches they couldn’t afford to
fix. Others were simply grateful to receive a
long overdue dentist visit without worrying
about the bill.
Alex Causey, a native Caryite, arrived
at 4 a.m. to get in line for a filling. The day
came at just the right time for her — “I just
lost my dental insurance,” she said.
Joyce Williams hadn’t been to a dentist
in “six or seven years” and needed a cleaning.
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After taking her father to a separate Dentistry from the Heart event last fall, she jumped
at the chance to bring her own dental care
up to date.
Rene Portillo volunteered as a Spanish
translator to do his part — after receiving a
bit of free dental care himself. They were just
a small fraction of the people who left that
day with a smile.
After starting work at 7 a.m., Dr. Acton was scheduled to close up shop at 5
p.m. However he made time for one more
patient, a cancer survivor who had shown
up at 7 a.m. with her oxygen tank in tow.
“I stayed longer so I could see her and get a
tooth that had been bothering her for weeks
out,” he said.
Dr. Acton’s goodwill didn’t stop
when the final patient was sent home on
April 14. Cary Family Dental is participating in its seventh year of the Smiles for
Life program through June 30. The initiative raises money for children’s charities around the country by donating 100
percent of the proceeds of reduced-cost
whitening services. To date, Cary Family
Dental has raised about $65,000.
For more information, visit carydental.com.
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