Give Back a Smile Helps Domestic Abuse Victims with Free Dentistry

About 13 years ago, Wynn Okuda, a cosmetic dentist with a practice in Honolulu, Hawaii, sat down to lunch with his office manager, Julie Brum. Their lunch conversation focused on the extremely high level of domestic violence in Hawaii.

“Much of the domestic violence is cultural due to strong male-dominated societies, such as China, Japan and The Philippines,” Okuda says. Many people from those countries immigrated to Hawaii decades ago, bringing their beliefs and cultures with them. “The domestic violence carried over, although it’s illegal in the United States,” Okuda says.

Two years later, Okuda stood before members of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry at their annual meeting to propose a program to help victims of domestic violence. Their new program, Give Back a Smile, would be run under the banner of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Charitable Foundation . It would recruit volunteer dentists to help restore the broken and damaged teeth of victims of domestic violence. The program was officially launched in 1999. Raise money for this program and other programs.

“Ten years ago, charity and dentistry didn’t exist,” Okuda says. “Charity wasn’t popular with dentists because they’re individual businesses, and they’re caught in the nosegrind of running it.” Even the American Dental Association didn’t have a charity at that time. There was also a stigma attached to domestic violence, and nobody wanted to talk about it or deal with it.

Today, however, Give Back A Smile has proven that charity and dentistry go together like pizza and cheese. More than 400 volunteer dentists are in the program, currently treating 415 patients. Since the program began, 773 patients have been treated, for a total of $7,361,253 dollars in restorative procedures for survivors of domestic violence.

The stories of the patients of Dr. Mickey Bernstein, who practices in Germantown, Tenn. and is past president of the AACD, are typical of how Give Back A Smile works. One of Bernstein’s patients from the program is a man whose teeth were damaged by his domestic partner, a drug addict who threw a coffee cup at the victim and broke some of his teeth. A second patient is a woman who was shot in the face by a shotgun.

The crowns and bonding the man needs are fairly straightforward, and Bernstein could do the work in a couple of months if this weren’t a case of domestic abuse. However, the psychological effects of domestic violence also damage victims’ social interaction skills and reduce their trust in other people. It’s very common for them to miss or postpone scheduled appointments with the Give Back A Smile volunteer dentists. “Providers must be aware of and sensitive to the patient’s issues,” Bernstein says. “They have to be gentle, and they must understand the irregularity of appointments.”

The woman patient Bernstein is treating will take much longer, since her facial injuries are severe. She is also seeing a cosmetic surgeon, so Bernstein may not see her for months at a time as she undergoes those procedures. “A lot of her troubles are psychological,” Bernstein says. “There is a long time between her visits.”

“We take our smiles for granted,” Okuda says. “People don’t realize their value until they’re lost. These people’s teeth were broken. That’s a daily reminder of the trauma of the act, and people can’t get it fixed because cosmetic dentistry is expensive. So the person’s self-esteem goes down and down every day. When we fix a smile, it really helps a person’s self-esteem. They become whole again.”

People who seek help through Give Back A Smile can apply over the phone at 1-800-773-4227, on the website at www.givebackasmile.com , at some shelters and possibly even through a dentist. To qualify, applicants must have been out of the abusive relationship for at least a year, unless the abuser is incarcerated or deceased. “We must have verification from an objective third party, such as a professional counselor, social worker, doctor or minister, that the person has been out of the relationship for at least a year,” says Lisa Fitch, the manager for Give Back A Smile at the AACD. “It can’t be a family member or friend.”

Fitch says more dentists—and not just cosmetic dentists, but all practitioners—are needed to volunteer their services, and Florida, Texas and Oregon are in dire need. “We have a long waiting list [of patients],” she says. “Some people may have to wait up to a year, depending on location.” She encourages dentists who volunteer to ask the labs they work with to also volunteer their services. “We need lots more volunteers,” she says. Volunteers can call AACD or fill out a form on the website.

Monetary donations are also welcome. Fitch says they’re used to help transport patients to see dentists and specialists, to help pay specialists such as the plastic surgeon for Bernstein’s shotgun survivor and to manage the program.

“Dentists get in the profession because they are a caring group of people,” Bernstein says. “I enjoy helping people get on with their lives.”

Make a donation to Give Back a Smile through Razoo.

By Bridget Mintz Testa

Photo: Wynn Okuda, Give Back a Smile's co-founder