America’s ToothFairy and Partner MGE: Management Experts Continue Support for Underprivileged Children

America’s ToothFairy and Partner MGE: Management Experts Continue Support for Underprivileged Children | Credit: © America’s ToothFairy

America’s ToothFairy and partner MGE: Management Experts continue to work together to help provide oral health education and dental care for underprivileged children across America.

The nonprofit organization America’s ToothFairy, which strives to increase access to oral health care for children in underserved communities, knows first-hand the challenges that safety-net clinics face to provide quality dental care and preventive services for low-income families and children living in areas where services are often out of reach.

Thanks to the support of many organizations and donors, the organization—founded in 2006— has helped its program members increase access to dental services and provide oral health education for more than 13 million kids and caregivers across the country, including *Naomi, a 15-year-old from Maplewood, Minnesota.

When she visited Community Dental Care (CDC), a member of the Dental Resource Program of America’s ToothFairy, the dental team immediately noticed subpar dental restorations on her 4 front teeth. Upon further examination they found decay on 4 of her molars, states America’s ToothFairy. Even worse, Naomi’s existing crowns had large overhangs that were impacting the health of her gums, and recurring decay was forming. The staff feared she might lose her front teeth.

The team at CDC reached out to America’s ToothFairy for financial assistance to help Naomi receive the best care possible despite her family’s significant financial barriers.

“Our program members have the systems in place to provide services for families that lack equitable access to dental care. What they often lack are the resources,” says Jill Malmgren, executive director of America’s ToothFairy, in a press release this week. “Our organization was founded with the idea that dental professionals can work together to improve the oral health of children who do not get the dental services they need to be healthy and whose oral health literacy is limited.”

MGE: Management Experts, an education and coaching program that aims to help dentists be more successful business owners, is one of the partners that plays a big role in efforts to help kids in need. MGE has held a charity auction to benefit America’s ToothFairy at its annual conference every year since 2019, raising a total of more than $326,000.

The funding from last year’s auction provided life-changing dental services for 12 children in need of restorative care—including Naomi—as well as superhero-themed oral health education kits. These kits were used to teach 10,000 kids and their parents how to prevent dental disease, according to America’s ToothFairy, which adds that most recently, MGE members raised more than $116,000 to support the mission for the fifth year in a row.

“We were very pleased with the results from last year’s contribution,” says Jeffrey Blumberg, MGE’s COO, in the press release. “Our members are moved by this worthwhile cause and looking forward to what we will accomplish together with America’s ToothFairy this year.”

Prevention and education programming are keys to good oral health for all children, and Malmgren adds, “Our superhero-themed kits were so popular that we are excited to offer them again this year for our members’ back-to-school outreach in addition to supporting the provision of restorative care for patients who would otherwise fall through the cracks.”

CDC’s Director of Development, Crystal Yang, adds that America’s ToothFairy’s charitable support helps their team provide oral health education and preventive services to many children who would otherwise not have received it.

*Patient’s name has been changed to protect her privacy.