Local dental hygienists make smiles brighter with no-cost preventative cleaning clinic

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Dezarae Aldridge-Earl knows that the challenges some families face can sometimes put their dental care behind other priorities. She aims to help alleviate some of that stress with her new clinic, Dental Hygiene with Dezarae, and with an upcoming no-cost preventative cleaning clinic she’s hosting in partnership with mobile hygienist Sarah Robertson Smith of Muskoka Gentle Dental.

Gift from the Heart, a national, one-day event provides no-cost dental hygiene services to those who need it the most. It usually occurs on the first day of National Dental Hygienists Week (this year, April 8-14), but due to a scheduling conflict Dezarae and Sarah opted to postpone their local offering and host it on April 22 instead.

The theme of this year’s National Dental Hygienists Week is “Oral Health for Total Health”.

“Having a healthy mouth helps to keep the rest of your body healthier,” says Dezarae. “Lots of people don’t understand or realize that connection. Having an unhealthy mouth and periodontal disease can increase your risk for things like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and pre-term births.”

The no-cost cleaning day is “hygienists giving back from their hearts through their hands” and is for people who slip through the cracks, says Dezarae. “Their money goes to paying for the groceries or their mortgage and they don’t have access to other types of dental care.”

If you are interested in a no-cost preventative dental cleaning on April 22, email Dezarae at Huntsville [email protected] or Sarah at [email protected] – see the flyer below. Spaces are limited.

Dezarae in her clinic (Photo: Kelly Holinshead)

Dezarae understands that different circumstances can affect how well people are able to care for their families. “We didn’t have a lot of money when I was a kid,” she says, and that made her want to help people in similar situations.

After finishing school and then heading to British Columbia to work for a year, she returned to Ontario 10 years ago. She spent nine years in a local dentist’s office and then last year began laying the groundwork to open her own dental hygiene clinic.

“I enjoy making the connections with people. They become like family,” says Dezarae. “I thought there was an opportunity for me to help the community and to help increase access to preventative dental care. Fear and cost are typically the two reasons people don’t go.” Hygienists work on a separate fee guide which allows Dezarae and other independent dental hygienists to offer their services at a different cost than dentists who have their own suggested fee schedule.

Dezarae gives back in other ways, too. During National Dental Hygienists Week, for example, she’ll go to a local school to talk to students about good oral hygiene habits and the effects of their food and beverage choices.

And she strives to make the experience in her clinic as positive as possible for all ages. A T.V. provides distraction for those who need it, the decor is calming, and her ultrasonic cleaning equipment is quiet.

“I’m at the happiest I’ve ever been in my career and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” she says.