At iSmile Dental Arts, our team is firmly committed to our community. We know that our duty to provide necessary dental care extends beyond our patients. That’s why we love to go on mission trips whenever we can to reach out to people who need dentistry but can’t necessarily get it — like families and children in Antigua, Guatemala.
About Antigua
Antigua is a small city in southern Guatemala, and the need for quality dental care is great here and throughout the country. Some of our team members recently traveled to Antigua on a 10-day mission trip to provide dentistry, education, and tools for anyone who needed it.
10 days isn’t really much in the scheme of things, but we are so proud of what we were able to accomplish during our short stay in Antigua.
Antigua By the Numbers
Here are the numbers from this year’s trip.
- Gave 1,021 children free dental care
- Provided the equivalent of $176,460 worth of care
- Communicated positive oral hygiene practices in Spanish
- Handed out dental care packages that included toothbrushes, toothpaste, and various prizes for the kids
- Offered free dental care to teachers and members of law enforcement
The people we served were so kind and gracious, and we were also so happy to receive a personal welcome from the mayor of Antigua! This trip was especially meaningful, and we can’t wait to revisit the warm people of Antigua again.
Helping Smiles Thrive
The goal of mission trips like this one is to provide basic dental services to get people out of pain if they’re in it, and to help everyone be able to enjoy a clean, healthy smile. Most of the problems we see could have been easily avoided with routine dental care, like oral hygiene at home and a six month checkup and cleaning at the dentist’s office. It’s always a good reminder to encourage people back home to engage in the preventive dentistry that keeps smiles healthy for life.
With that in mind, when was your last visit to the dentist? If it’s been more than six months, you are overdue for an appointment. Come in for a checkup and cleaning before the year is up — we’d love to tell you more about Antigua when you do!
