Arizona Mission of Mercy

This is a topic that you are going to hear a lot about from us in the upcoming months. The Arizona Dental Mission of Mercy will be held on December 7th & 8th at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. This event is a huge undertaking that will provide basic dental care for the underseved members of our community. I am going to introduce the concept to you in this post and then over the coming months provide more details on the inaugural event being held here in Arizona.

What is Mission of Mercy? The national organization was founded in Virginia about 12 years ago. The “Mission” was for dentists and supporting staff to volunteer to provide a “MASH” style operation to provide dental care to community members who could not afford to go to the dentist. Since then, MOM’s has served over 100,000 patients and provided over $50MM in free dental care to those in need. MOM has spread to 22 other states – the event coming up in Arizona will be a first for our state and for the Arizona Dental Association. Click here for more information on the National MOMS organization:

Why do we care? The Mission of Mercy program is very near and dear to Dr. Jacqueline Allen. When Dr. Allen was getting her professional training and going through dental school she had the opportunity to work on and with underprivileged members of society in several different communities throughout the country. In addition, she had the need for significant dental work herself. What Dr. Allen found is that emergency dental services are quite difficult to come by for some people. Those dental professionals that stay late, make scheduling concessions and go the extra mile for their patients are people in your life that you appreciate and never forget.

So as Dr. Allen learned more about MOMS, it was a natural fit for her to want to do whatever she could to help bring a program like this to Arizona. Over the last two years, Dr. Allen (and Suzie, Savannah & Debbie) have traveled to 3 different states to volunteer for MOM events to gain experience to bring back to help make our inaugural event in Arizona a success.

PLEASE VOLUNTEER: I am going to close this post by asking each and every one of you who reads this blog to consider giving up a part of your weekend right before Christmas to come out and help us with the Arizona Dental Mission of Mercy. We need EVERYONE, not just dentists. We need volunteers for registration, sterilization, dental assisting, digital radiographs, handing out water, parking, facilities, data entry, etc. etc. Whatever your skills are you are NEEDED. Please register for the Arizona Dental Mission of Mercy December 7th – 8th in Phoenix, AZ.