Dentists in Northern Virginia Provide Care to 900 People during Mission of Mercy

March 19, 2015

Dentists in Virginia recently provided free care to almost 900 people during the Northern Virginia Dental Society’s Mission of Mercy event at the Northern Virginia Community College, Medical Education Campus in Springfield.

About 130 dentists volunteered their time to provide care to northern Virginia’s most vulnerable residents on March 13-14.

“I know I speak for our entire team of volunteers when I say how much of an honor it is to provide treatment to those in need,” said Dr. James Willis, the dental society’s community outreach chair. “There is nothing more rewarding than receiving the sincere, heart-felt gratitude of a patient who has received treatment at a Mission of Mercy event.”

Missions of Mercy are one- to three-day events at which dentists, dental hygienists and assistants, and other volunteers, converge in large-scale, temporary clinics to provide free services for the nation’s most underserved people. Last year, dentists provided care valued at more than $22 million to about 32,000 people at 24 Mission of Mercy events nationwide, according to the America’s Dentists Care Foundation.

The Northern Virginia Dental Society has hosted Mission of Mercy projects since 2003, according to the society’s executive director, Cathy Griffanti. Members of the society also established the Northern Virginia Dental Clinic in 1994 and a second clinic in 2010 in an effort to continually contribute a critically needed service to underserved Virginians.