Dental volunteers needed for humanitarian trips in Appalachia

Global Dental Relief, a humanitarian organization that delivers free dental care to children around the globe, is celebrating its 20th year by recruiting volunteers to donate their time and skills closer to home.

Dental volunteers are needed in a clinic in Jenkins, Kentucky, to provide dental care to children in need in and around the area.

Volunteers will work for four days in an established clinic, built by nonprofit Smilefaith, to provide free dental care to families in the region.

Dentists, hygienists, assistants and general volunteers will deliver treatment and preventive care.

Trip dates are:

• March 16-21.
• March 23-28.
• Sept. 21-26.
• Sept. 28-Oct. 3.

According to the Global Dental Relief website, “Jenkins is a small bucolic community, situated in the southeast corner of Kentucky, close to the Virginia border. Historically Jenkins was a center for the Appalachian coal mining industry. Recent studies in the area indicate that more than 53% of children between the ages of 9 and 12 have untreated [caries].”

The cost is $650 per person, based on double occupancy. The fee includes three meals a day and five nights of accommodation in a guesthouse.

To learn more about the trips, visit globaldentalrelief.org/project-locations/Appalachia.

Global Dental Relief was founded in 2001 as the Himalayan Dental Relief Project by former Director of Colorado State Parks Laurie Mathews and Andrew Holecek, D.D.S. To date more than 2,600 volunteers have provided more than $35 million in donated care to more than 170,000 children.

To explore other international oral health volunteer opportunities, visit the ADA Foundation's website: ADAFoundation.org/internationalvolunteer.