Freedom Day USA starts with a smile

Dr. Kent Mosby and his dental team at Advanced Family Dentistry celebrated and thanked veterans on Thursday by offering free services for Freedom Day USA, where hundreds of dental offices across the country give back to those who served our country.

Freedom Day USA began in 2013 in West Virginia by Dr. Robert Martino, who owned the state’s biggest dental chain, with the idea to give back to members of the military, their family members, and veterans. It is a 501c public nonprofit charity.

This was the first year Dr. Mosby’s team was partaking, and they wish they had heard about it sooner. There were about 11 patients for the day, set up through the local Veteran’s Administration clinic, and staff were available to do anything that was needed for patients free of charge. They are hoping that next year they will be able to expand Freedom Day USA offerings in our area by teaming up with other offices.

“Next year we want to try to get every dental office that wants to be involved and get all of our local veterans taken care of. We are planning on starting a few months in advance and getting a bunch of dental professionals volunteering their time to help more than just a few people,” explained Lindsay Von Beheren, hygiene coordinator.

“We have Dr. Mosby here to do whatever type of work they need. If they need a couple teeth pulled because they have an infection and are in pain, we will do that. If they need a crown or fillings — we will do as much as we can in that time. And then, we also have a hygienist, and she is volunteering her time to take care of the vets who want cleanings and stuff like that,” Von Beheren said.

Advanced Family Dentistry is managed by Fortune Management, which sent an email to the office with information about Freedom Day USA. It has a personal reason for accepting the call to help those who have served our country. Dr. Mosby’s son, Jack, was recently in the Marines, where he served for five years. Von Beheren served five years as a civilian contractor for the Department of Defense, where she spent time in Germany. And Jay Langston, who was the hygienist on staff who volunteered her time, served in the Navy for four years.

“We just never knew about it until a few weeks ago,” said Von Beheren, “and so as soon as we heard about it the doctor said, ‘Reschedule our paying patients, let’s get the vets in today.’”

Vernon Slaybaugh was there on Thursday to have his teeth checked. He served for four years in the U.S. Navy from 1955 to 1959. The VA has Eligible Wartime Standards for determining VA pension benefits, and regulate that those serving during the Korean conflict between June 1950 to January 1955, or the Vietnam era between February 1961 to May 1975, would qualify for benefits. Slaybaugh’s service times don’t qualify him for pension benefits.

He explained the importance of Freedom Day USA’s services. “It’s a very nice and thoughtful thing that we have people that give back to the people that served the people in a military way. In the VA system there’s a lot of people that don’t have dental coverage, or eye coverage. There’s several things you just don’t have. It’s according to what you were involved with in the service and how much time you put in. I only put in four years in the Navy. I worked flight decks on three carriers with two different squadrons that were photo squads. We mapped the Vietnam area before the war, so I guess we were getting ready for the war. I was all over the world on carriers with planes flying in and out, people getting killed here and there, it was a little bit dangerous up there on flight decks.”

He credits his bad teeth to living in California where Mexican food is a staple, and said he had broken at least three of his teeth by eating beans that weren’t cleaned carefully enough and contained rocks.

“With no dental coverage from the VA, and I wasn’t making much money at the time, I couldn’t replace those lost teeth like I should have. I was driving truck then, and it’s hard to get stuff done like going to the dentist when you’re on the road all the time, so my teeth got crooked and I ended up with a mouth full of bad teeth. That’s my story.”

A representative from the local VA clinic had contacted him to let him know about Advanced Family Dentistry’s free services and suggested he call to see if they were able to help him.

As the dentistry team ended up its busy afternoon, about $12,000 in services were completed, with the most complex procedure being the surgical extraction of eight teeth from one patient.

To find out how to become involved with Freedom Day USA, visit freedomdayusa.org.