Anthony Zhang is a 4 year old little boy who recently immigrated to the United States with his 2.5 year old brother, Aiden, to be reunited with his mother, Selina, and father, Kevin. During their time of separation, Anthony’s oral health had rapidly declined to a painful and severe state; decay that had been building in his mouth, due to a lack of knowledge/resources for pediatric dental care in China, as well as being separated from his primary caregiver for an extended period.
During Anthony’s initial visit to KIND, he was seen by volunteer dentist Dr. Christine Isaacs, of Aloha Dental who recognized the severity of the oral health issues he was experiencing. In efforts to save as many of his original teeth with the least amount of trauma possible, she recommended immediate treatment via sedation services. KIND referred Anthony to Dr. Liz Crespi, of Sunrise Pediatric Dentistry, who is one of our volunteer pediatric dentists. She works closely with CarePoint Anesthesia for sedation services for patients like Anthony.
Dr. Crespi and the Carepoint Anesthesia team donated roughly 4 hours of their time and over $8,000 in services to care for 16 of Anthony’s teeth! His treatment included 4 root canals, 9 crowns, 3 extractions, and 6 fillings. Anthony’s family was willing to let us bring a videographer to their visit to help capture their story, and the stories of the KIND volunteers involved.
During Anthony’s appointment we found out that his family was in need of much more than dental care. Prior to Anthony’s appointment their home was involved in a fire and their family lost everything.
KIND saw an opportunity to help Anthony’s family with more than dental care, and held a flash pledge drive between the KIND Board, Carepoint Anesthesia, and Sunrise Pediatric Dentistry. We were able to raise over $2,000 for the family in 2 days!
We presented the majority of these funds through gift cards to Selina and Kevin at a donated family photo session by Donna Sweetin of Sweetin Photography, to celebrate Anthony’s new smile.
KIND would like to thank the Adams County Foundation for their financial support that enabled us to originally make contact with Anthony’s family, and makes it possible for us to serve more thousands of more children like Anthony every day!
And a BIG THANK YOU also goes to all our community volunteers that donated their time and services to help KIND, help a family in need!
© 2022 Kids in Need of Dentistry