2015 OneWorld Annual Report

OneWorld Gives Juan His Smile

“T he smile on his face, his tears of joy and his mom’s smile was a beautiful sight to witness,” said Antonia Moreno Gomez, OneWorld’s dental manager. “Juan’s mother was crying, hugging Juan and thanking all the dental assistants and dentists.” It’s a great ending to the kind of story that OneWorld Community Health Centers is happy to tell. In addition to being the new kid in school and facing all the usual difficulties of middle school, Juan was also missing his two front teeth. After he missed several days of school, saying he didn’t want to go because he was being bullied, his teacher sought the help of OneWorld’s Dental clinic.

“When we were told that the kids pushed him around and called him names, we knew we had to help,” Gomez said.

OneWorld dental staff explained Juan’s situation to the lab. Not only did they offer to make a partial implant for him at no charge, they had it ready by the next day – a process that usually takes two weeks. Juan returned to OneWorld to get his partial fitted by Dr. Joy Judalena. She rounded out his canine teeth, adding white fillings to make them appear normal – doing everything she could to give Juan a smile that the other kids wouldn’t make fun of at school.

Juan is now eager to smile at everyone and he’s doing much better at school. That’s great news for everyone at OneWorld who helped Juan, including Antonia and Dr. Judalena, who say they were honored to give him a new smile and be part of his “special moment.”

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