Like most doctors this past March, Dr. Joel Collins knew he’d have to take things one day at a time. What he didn’t realize was just how vital his practice, Conyers Smiles Dentistry and Orthodonti...

The number of uninsured Americans has steadily climbed since the COVID-19 pandemic began driving job loss — and thus employer-sponsored insurance — for many people. And a shortage of health profes...

Tom Holt has worked on health policy in Oregon wearing various hats for more than 20 years, but his first foray into oral health started only recently. Last year, Oregon Community Foundation (OCF)...

After 20 years in private practice as a dental hygienist, Karen Raposa went back to school to earn her MBA. As she was completing her degree, her youngest child was diagnosed with autism spectrum ...

When Oregon restructured its school system around seven years ago, George Mendoza was charged with aligning different segments — early learning, K-12 and higher education — to ensure children were...

Like so many doctors in this country, Sandra Garbely graduated school with a lot of student debt. Nearly 30 years ago, she joined the National Health Service Corps to help pay back her student loa...

Dr. Sridevi Ponnala has served as dental director at Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center in the Bay Area of California for the last 10 years. Educated and trained as a dentist in India, Ponnala earned ...

Like many Philadelphians, Dr. Janine Burkhardt uses the city’s subway system to get to work. But her time isn’t spent commuting — it’s spent providing dental care to individuals experiencing homel...

Molly Johnson is working with a team of community partners to improve oral health outcomes in Oregon’s Lincoln County, a region isolated — both geographically and in terms of access to medical care ...

Robin Vann is the national programs manager at America’s ToothFairy, which in a lot of ways makes her a real-life version of the actual tooth fairy. Going on seven years with the organization, Van...

Coronavirus has exposed stark truths about the nation’s long-standing health disparities. The virus is hitting low-income communities especially hard, highlighting gaps in health literacy, access to c...

Julie Smithwick is bringing health care to South Carolina’s hardest-to-reach populations through an approach she learned early on in her career: mobilizing community health workers.  Smithwick ...

Heidi Halverson only goes into the office three days a week. But she doesn’t take a break the other days — she runs her own company, Dental Hygiene at Home. As a dental hygienist with nearly 40 ye...

Drs. Loray and Harvey Spencer opened their dental practice, A Healthy Smile Family and Cosmetic Dentistry, in rural South Carolina nearly five years ago with a simple mission in mind: to make dent...

Dr. Ray Lyons has dedicated his dental career of more than 40 years to treating people with disabilities. His Albuquerque-based Special Needs Dental Clinic, part of the New Mexico Department of He...

A leader in Preventistry, Dr. Jim Thommes says he asks himself every day, “What ideas can I come up with... that will improve the oral health care of all?” Dr. Jim Thommes has witnessed the evo...

Five years ago, Jennifer Geiselhofer decided to redirect her 20-some years of experience to change how dental care is delivered in Denver. She founded Dental At Your Door to bring “portable, preve...

DentaQuest, the purpose-driven oral health company dedicated to improving the oral health of all, today announced the 2019 DentaQuest Health Equity Heroes, six individuals and a team, who are breaking...

Dr. Kathleen Barlow spends her weekdays caring for underserved populations as a dentist at a federally qualified community health center (FQHC) in Hillsborough County, Fla. And on weekends, she do...

Tee Lawton has helped New York’s South Bronx neighborhood for decades as a public servant. As Director of Community Relations at the Mount Hope Housing Company, he meets with community boards and ...

Dennis Borel has dedicated his career to lifting up disadvantaged populations, just “trying to make their worlds a little bit better,” as he humbly puts it. The last two decades have been with the...

Dr. Neetu Singh began her career as a dentist but quickly redirected her expertise to work in public policy after witnessing firsthand the disparities among patients seeking oral health care. Sing...

Alicia Murria credits Jacksonville’s erratic weather systems for her recent career shift from hygienist to nonprofit founder. It was there on Florida’s east coast, during the American Dental Hygie...

Crystal Terry and the Alabama Head Start teams strive to ensure Alabama’s low-income children and parents get the health care, education and social services they need every single day. As the heal...

Dr. Gregory Stoute’s 40-plus-year career in dentistry has taken him from conflict zones in Iraq to the prestigious halls of Harvard, working in all kinds of dental practices. And though his tenure...

Michelle Vacha has worked for more than a decade to provide holistic oral health care to Colorado’s low-income populations — a feat that’s required innovation and ingenuity along the way. In 2006,...

  Dr. Paul Glassman has seen firsthand how powerful Preventistry® can be. For the first 20 years of his career as a dentist, Glassman treated patients who’d missed out on preventive care along ...