UTHealth School of Dentistry’s Inaugural Give Vets a Smile Program

Coming on the heels of Veterans Day, The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston partnered with UTHealth School of Nursing and the United States Veterans Initiative of Houston to provide local veterans with free dental care and flu shots on Friday as part of the inaugural Give Vets a Smile program. The goal of the event was to address the challenges veterans often face with acquiring the necessary dental care they need to maintain good oral health, providing approximately 50 pre-selected veterans with everything from teeth cleanings to fillings and extractions performed by dental professors and students.

After reaching out to the community for support, the programs received medication from Walgreens to provide to veterans, food and in-kind donations from UnitedHealthcare Community Plan and an electric toothbrush from Proctor and Gamble as a raffle prize.

UTHealth School of Dentistry and its partners expect to continue the program on an annual — if not more frequent — basis.