Smiling Straight Dental Trust
“They provide access to orthodontic care to young people within the Palmerston North City and Manawatu District. They feel they address a gap in the health system by purchasing orthodontic services for young people whose financial circumstances would otherwise prevent them from accessing such services.
RAISING YOUNG PEOPLE’S SELF ESTEEM
The Smiling Straight Dental Trust attempt to raise young people’s self esteem and confidence by providing them with the opportunity to have their teeth corrected with braces. They believe it helps make a lifelong difference to young people and their families.
When teacher, Marc Paterson sees a bashful teenager hiding a shy smile behind a practised hand gesture, he doesn’t just think, ‘crooked teeth. He worries about a young person growing up wearing ‘an enduring badge of poverty’. His family was in a group of lucky New Zealanders who could round up $5000 to get braces for two children.
He was also aware that apart from a tiny group of children in State care, there was no Government help for low-to middle income families. So he set about doing something about it. At the same time, Mid Central Health Dental Assistant Mara Whitten had the same drive to find a way to help teenagers have their smiles fixed.
PHILANTHROPY AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
The result was the Smiling Straight Dental Trust, a combination of philanthropy and community service that impressed the judges of the 2009 Mid Central District Health Board’s Awards. The initiative won a prize of $2000 for excellence in addressing health inequalities. Paterson says it has not always been easy to attract donations and sponsorship for what some people still see as a cosmetic problem. The teenagers don’t see it that way.
Awatapu College year 12 student Karli Archibald-Richmond struggles to keep her hand away from her mouth when she talks or smiles. “It bothers me. My confidence is poor. And sometimes other people are mean about it.”
She recalled taking home her first recommendation from the dental therapist that she be taken to an orthodontist when she was at Intermediate School. She never got there – her family just could not afford it.
NO GIVE-AWAY
It’s not a give-away. Karli has had to work for it, and her family also has to make a contribution. Her part of the deal was to do 20 hours of community service. For a basketball fan keen to help others, that was easy, and she fulfilled her part of the bargain on the score bench at the New Zealand Basketball Secondary School Competitions.
Her family will be expected to pay $20 a week for 80 weeks to make a $1600 contribution to the 18-20-month project. That is negotiable from case to case. Neil Tobin at the Orthodontic Centre provides the Trust with a discount, but says each young person referred through the scheme will get every bit as good a service as any other including the option for coloured braces.
Each applicant has hoops to jump through. The family’s finances are considered and the need for dental work is assessed. The young person must show a positive attitude toward having and looking after braces, and the family has to be willing to budget and contribute.
But in some ways the Trust’s best selling point is instilling the spirit and practice of community service. It fits well with the goal to improve young people’s self esteem, and builds community connections. Paterson says while the Health Award helped make the hard work of setting up the scheme seem worthwhile, it is really all about smiles.”
