One Month at Community Oral Care, How was It?

Around one month and a half ago, my father, my siblings, and I started a non-profit organization called Community Oral Care that offered free denture cleaning services to anyone that desired to have their dentures cleaned. For a while before deciding to start this program, my family was brainstorming ideas on how to get involved in the dental field as high school students. Last summer, we had volunteered at Tufts Medical Center, as it was related to the dental field. But we still wanted to get even more connected to the dental field specifically. We were passionate for dentistry. But why?

Growing up with a father as a dentist, it was natural for me to have aspirations for the dental field. That was the life I knew, the life that I experienced day in and day out. As I grew, the familiarity of the dental office grew as well. The goggles and the masks, the shining lamp that shone too bright in my eyes, and the small scaling tool that occasionally scratched my gums were at first just random objects to my younger self, but as I became older, I learned their functions and importance to dentists like my dad. With this new knowledge, I became more immersed into an area that had previously been just a place called “work”, and this started my interest for the dental field.

Now going back to a month and a half ago, my family was discussing for ideas to get plugged into dentistry in some way. We could help out at our dad's dental offices, but was there a more unique way to get involved? My dad would be a great resource, but volunteering again seemed a bit redundant, a bit unoriginal. Then, we stumbled upon the idea of denture cleaning. My dad had seen plenty of neglected and dirty dentures over the years as a dentist, and cleaning them, especially for elderly people that generally didn't focus on the cleanliness of their dentures, seemed like a great idea. But charging them for this service seemed unreasonable, so my family decided to start a non-profit organization to offer our services for free.

My siblings and I officially started cleaning dentures on April 20th at a nursing near my dad's office. I personally knew very little on what to do, but with my dad coming to help us three out, I trusted that the denture cleaning would be in safe hands. That isn't to say that I wasn't nervous; I still felt anxious about making a mistake, such as not cleaning a denture thoroughly or accidentally dropping one. I also dreaded interacting with strangers, as I am extremely shy. But when I got there, my attitude changed. The first nurse we met was really kind and showed us to our work station, even providing some supplies that we had forgot back at home. There were three floors in the nursing home, and we started with the three denture patients on the first one. The nerves were setting in as I walked sheepishly to my first patient ever (I won't write any names here due to personal reasons), and to my surprise, they enjoyed my company! The person I cleaned dentures for actually cracked jokes and eagerly complied to my instructions. It wasn't so bad after all! As my siblings and I continued to move up the floors, I became more and more confident in my abilities not only to clean dentures (which isn't that hard, by the way) but also in my socializing skills. These people at the nursing home were very willing to talk, and though some didn't say much, the majority were really nice people who provided me a positive experience.

Since then, I've cleaned more dentures, and the process has become like a regular routine. Yet, the interactions with these denture owners is what sticks with me the most. Sometimes, the stories they tell me aren't the most interesting, or the jokes they tell me aren't that funny. But that's ok. These very people are the ones who helped me enjoy my passion, and their positive feedback has only increased my desire of being a dentist.