Holidays Will Start Early

With Free Dental Service

 

“We started because we wanted to give something back,” said Dr. Carol Galliano D.D.S. He was talking about his four-year-old Dentistry With a Heart program which is a day of free dental care that he and his staff provide to the needy each year.  

 

“Starting out we mostly had our own patients in mind,” he explained.   “I mean, just in case they had someone in their family or a friend who was going through a tough time.   We were thinking of a divorced mom who had a bunch of kids and who could not afford to have her teeth professionally cleaned and examined.”  

Dr. Carol Galliano D.S.S. and his staff will provide $15,000 of free dental care to the needy on Friday, October 29.

 

Dr. Galliano and his staff told patients that if they knew of someone who could not afford dental care they should tell them about Dentistry With a Heart. The first year Lamar Outdoor Advertising contributed a billboard.   In other years Dr. Galliano’s wife Karen, who is the office manager, arranged to have an announcement placed in the weekly bulletin published by their church – The Chapel at the Oaks.      

 

“This year the date is Friday, October 29,” explained Elizabeth Oliveaux, one of the three dental hygienists who will participate.   “We take all comers on a first-come-first-served basis starting at 8 a.m. and ending around 2 p.m. The staff works for free that day, and last year we treated sixty patients.”

 

Oliveaux said the hardest part is limiting the service to a single extraction or a cleaning.   “Some people need so much help,” she said.   “It is hard but we have to limit it to one free service or we would not be able to help so many.”   Everyone gets one extraction or one filling or a cleaning at no charge.

 

Dr. Galliano is not the only dentist providing free service to the needy.   “I actually got the idea from a magazine article about a doctor in Wyoming who was doing something similar,” he said.   “And Dr. Michael Casadaban is a dental surgeon who works with us each year.   He does the extractions for Dentistry With a Heart.”

 

Members of the Greater Baton Rouge Dental Association also operate a community clinic for non-profit agencies such as the battered women’s program, according to Dr. Galliano.   “Most members of our association see one or two patients in their office for free who are in pain and who are referred by one of the agencies” he said.   “We just decided to donate about $15,000 worth of free service all in one day.”

 

Everyone who plays a role in Dentistry With a Heart seems to agree after four years that the program gives them a good feeling because they are helping people who are truly in need.   “It has just become something nice we do that starts the holiday season off on the right foot,” said Dr. Galliano.  

 

Anyone requiring additional information about the program may call 296-0212.