MANCHESTER — The Dental Lifeline Network – Maine’s donated dental services program is being recognized for exceeding $5 million in comprehensive dental treatment.
Through the DDS program, volunteer dentists and laboratories provide people with disabilities, or are elderly or medically fragile dental care that they could otherwise not afford.
To acknowledge the milestone, Saturday, June 15, has been proclaimed Donated Dental Services Recognition Day in Maine by Gov. Janet Mills.
Dental Lifeline Network – Maine was founded in 1999 in conjunction with the Maine Dental Association, and gets financial support from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Dancing with the Dentists fundraising event.
Since the program launched, more than 277 volunteer dentists and 110 dental laboratories have volunteered their time and resources to serve 1,444 people in Maine.
“Exceeding $5 million in donated treatment is an important milestone that showcases the life-changing difference volunteer dentists across the state have made in the lives of patients in Maine,” said Fred Leviton, chief executive officer of Dental Lifeline Network. “We hope celebrating this milestone will inspire even more dentists to participate in the Maine DDS program, allowing us to serve a greater number of people in our communities with disabilities, or who are elderly or medically fragile.”
Dental Lifeline Network volunteers have provided more than $392 million in dental treatment to more than 123,000 people in all 50 states and the District of Columbia since the start of the first program in Colorado 34 years ago.
