Community Service
Donated Dental Services
Dr. Pendleton has been an active volunteer with Donated Dental Services (DDS) since 1999. The DDS program (a branch of the National Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped) is a collaborative, direct way that the dental profession reaches out to individuals with special needs. This includes disabled, elderly, or medically-compromised patients who cannot afford necessary treatment or get public aid.
No Cavity Club
We want to see YOU on our No Cavity Club board! Everytime your child visits our office for their preventive care appointment and doesn’t have any cavities, they will have a picture taken of their beautiful smile to place up on our popular No Cavity Club board. They will also enter a quarterly drawing for a fun prize!
Hey… wait a minute… why should kids have all of the fun? We have recently introduced a No Cavity Club drawing for adults as well! All of that brushing and flossing can pay off in more ways than one! Each quarter we will also draw the name of one of our adult patients for a nice prize, such as dinner for two.
Toothprints
This is a recent technology we promote in our community to help in identification of lost or abducted children. The toothprint program uses preserved dental impressions as a way to identify the child.
This was developed by a pediatric dentist as a way of protecting his own children. The system uses a thermal plastic material that softens when heated. The child bites into the “soft wafer”, leaving the impression of the size and shape of the teeth, and position and relationship of the upper and lower jaws. After the impression is removed from the mouth, it hardens in about thirty seconds and is placed in a plastic bag, which is sealed and sent home with the child’s parents.
The impression not only records each child’s unique dental characteristics, but it also retains saliva that can be used as a DNA sample or a scent for tracking dogs.
Ideally, toothprints are taken around ages 3, 8, and 13. The mouth is constantly changing as development occurs. There are more adult teeth, and the loss of baby teeth, so it’s important to keep updated, accurate records.
We have worked on this community project with Kiwanis Club and the Western Springs Fire Department in the past.
