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GIVE KIDS A SMILE
A program that both Dr. Reid and Dr. Perrett have been able to participate in is Give Kids a
Smile. This is a national program that is sponsored by the American Dental Association. Give Kids a Smile is an annual
volunteer initiative to provide free educational, preventative, and restorative services to children from low-income families.
This is a time when thousands of dental teams across the country take time from their practice to help uninsured, school-aged
children who aren't getting the oral health care they deserve. 
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Outreach
My wife Sally and I have been lucky enough to find ways to use dentistry to allow us to see the world. We have found
that dental outreach programs have been some of the most exciting and unforgettable vacations we have taken.
Our most recent trips have sent us to Venezuala and Nicaragua. I enjoy these outreach programs with my alma mater, University
of Missouri at Kansas City. It's great fun to go to these places with students from the school. These young people are great
ambassadors for the school, for dentistry and for our country.
While the political situations in these countries are questionable, we find that the local people we meet are much like
you and me. They love their families, there kids are everywhere and they are all trying to improve their health.
We tend to do many extractions at these clinics but we have developed mobile dental units so we can do more restorative
dentistry as well. In the towns that the dental school returns to each year, we have been able to do follow-up treatment of
the previous year and build relationships with the patients. It's amazing to see how much dentistry is valued in these out
of the way places.
I see these trips as one of the fringe benefits of the dental profession. It provides a way to see the world in a way
other than a tourist.
Doug Reid, DDS
Dr. Perrett does an annual March mission trip to Belize
I once read the concept of mercy described as a quality that makes us sensitive
to others pain and the desire to alleviate those that are hurting. Dentistry provides constant opportunity to treat pain.
The past several years I have begun to realize the severity of dental needs both around the world and here at home in Colorado
Springs. Severe dental infection affects every group of people however the poor suffer most. Dental outreach has been one
way that I am able to show mercy to those whose basic needs have not been taken care of.
The past three years, I have had the opportunity to go to the small Cental American country of
Belize and participate in a Medical/Dental mission. Our team works out of the Presbyterian Medical Clinic in the small village
of Patchakan. Many people in the village suffer from the effects of poverty, undiagnosed systemic disease, severe dental infections
and tooth decay. For most of the villagers, the only time they see a dentist is when one comes for a few days from the U.S.
It has been a great experience to go treat the Belizian people, they are always so gracious.
After returning from Central America, I realized that there are groups of people in our own community
that suffer similiar to those in a third world country. For the past year I have been involved with a local ministry called
the Mission Medical Clinic (MMC). The goal of the MMC is to provide health care to a group of 'working poor' adults in our
community (>200% below poverty level) who cannot receive help from the state. The dental clinic has been in operation,
and run with local volunteers, for the past year. My goal is to restore dignity and function to these patient's smiles.
Read more about the MMC at www.missionmedicalclinic.org
W. Bradley Perrett, DDS
A chance for Dr. Reid and Dr. Perrett to share their passion for dentisty in a charitable way.
