Many children living in the United States lack the financial resources to obtain necessary dental services. With our national health care system under pressure and medical costs rising, many impoverished families simply cannot afford to receive quality dentistry except through free clinics. Christina's Smile Children's Dental Clinic is a unique alternative.
Christina's Smile, Children's Dental Clinic is a program that, in cooperation with the PGA TOUR/SENIOR PGA TOUR, delivers dental care to disadvantaged children in communities that host the tour visits. The two 48-foot semi trailers that house the clinic are moved and maintained by Roadway free of charge. Since 1992, the program has provided quality comprehensive charitable dental care to approximately 35,000 children, worth more than $15 million worth of dentistry.
The dental personnel are recruited from local communities to deliver quality dentistry to these children. The 120 children, who are identified by local charitable organizations, are scheduled in groups of 10 every 2 hours. The clinic operates from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the tournament week. Forty children are treated each day.
The clinics have raised the awareness of the plight and the needs of children in communities visited by the tour. This year over 2,800 children will receive approximately $1,000,000 worth of free, much-needed dental care at 21 scheduled clinics.
One of six children in a hard-working, south Texas family without resources to pay for dental care, Richard first encountered a dentist when he was 17 years old, and needed emergency treatment. He paid for this treatment with money he had been saving for college by working a summer job. This encounter with a straightforward, kind dentist inspired Richard to pursue dentistry.
After graduating from dental school Dr. Garza established a successful private practice, treating patients from all rungs of the economic ladder. His greatest rewards, however, came from treating children whose families had limited resources. He came to realize that many children grow up as he did, without the means to obtain dental care.
Dr. Garza's decision to go beyond the comforts of private practice and give underprivileged children a means to attain good oral health involved taking immense risks. In the 12 years since he began Christina's Smile he has worked many months without receiving a tangible salary, and has been away from his family for weeks at a time. By giving up his private practice and traveling the country with the Clinic he has demonstrated his commitment to children and to this important cause.
Since the creation of the Clinic approximately 35,000 needy children have received care, with over $15 million worth of dentistry delivered at more than 190 clinics.
