JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
Smiles Charitable Dental Clinic, located at 170 Smith Lane in South Pittsburg, received a state grant from the Tennessee Department of Health for their services to the community during a presentation on November 15.
A dentistry founded in 2012 and partnered with the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics; Smiles is one of many dentistries across the United States that provides charitable dental care for those in need within the area. Executive Director Bobbi Hubbard led the presentation. A meeting that included city and county officials such as Marion County Mayor, David Jackson, as well as newly elected mayor of South Pittsburg, Shawn Henson. Other attendees included patients for Smiles, members of Smiles dentistry and officials from the Tennessee Department of Health, such as Amanda Abels, who was the programmatic lead for the grant given from the department.
Hubbard began the meeting by having everyone introduce themselves before continuing to the presentation. Bobbi detailed the history and ideas behind the beginnings of Smiles such as its start in 2012 by Rebecca Long who helped Bobbi, alongside Norma Harvey, another founder and major contributor, and explained how they established the dentistry itself as a means of helping the community by giving those in need a place for all to go to.
“She had this idea to raise money to help people in need. Norma Harvey worked for Community Action and worked with many low-income families. She had a gentleman that had cancer and had a bad tooth. She said, ‘We just don’t have any resources in this area for dental care.’ So that’s what we decided to do,” explained Hubbard. Tennessee, along with much of the country, is currently in a shortage of dentists, with more rural and even low-income areas in particular facing the most amount of shortages, with many areas not even having any at all. Leaving the residents to drive further distances from home just to receive proper dental treatment for their oral health. Ralph Alvarado, Commissioner of Health for the state even acknowledged that the major cities of Tennessee are also facing issues of shortages for dental offices. An issue that the state is continually at work to resolve.
“Most of our counties have had a designation of having a shortage of dentists. What we had is an investment from the state, I think almost $95 million dollars and a five-year pilot project to try to find ways to recruit more dentists, have more dental students and dental hygienists,” explained Alvarado. He also explained that the University of Tennessee has been a partner with the state in helping to resolve the shortage of dentists within the state, and that, 
so far, they are currently on their third year of that pilot project.
The Practice and Transformation Grant was given to the team at Smiles as part of the Tennessee Healthcare Resiliency Program. Representatives travel to various dentistries across the state to help spread awareness, as well as reward the dentistries with additional funding to further continue their operations of serving the general public. The grant given to Smiles was worth $968,200.00. Which, as stated by Alvarado, goes a long way into helping fund the clinic’s needs for serving the community. Hubbard notes that they will be able to expand their dental rooms and purchase a van to provide transportation to their patients among other upgrades.
“For a small operation like this, a million dollars goes a long way.” And because of the state’s support and funding provided, Smiles Charitable Dental Clinic can continue with their goal of serving the community within Marion County and the surrounding area.
