Students See Dentists at Denfeld for Free

Students at Denfeld Community School have the opportunity to get free dental work.

DULUTH, Minn.- The Duluth Community School collaborative at Denfeld Highs School is working on the brains, hearts and teeth of their student body.

Denfeld has partnered with Operation Grace MN since 2017 providing free dental work for students who may not have easy access to it.

For three days volunteers and dental hygienists parked their traveling office helping upwards of eight students a day with anything from a teeth cleaning to cavity checks. Denfeld says services like Operation Grace MN and the Adopt–A–Smile campaign are important because students can’t focus on learning when they have a toothache distracting them.

“We have an average value of care of about 450 to about 650 dollars a student, so it really does provide something that they can’t otherwise have,” Operation Grace MN director Nathan Pearson said.

Some students thought the service was weird at first, but Operation Grace spent the first day at the school talking to classrooms about why they were helping them out. After that, students started opening up to the free work saying they like how helpful an opportunity like this was.

I haven’t been to the dentist in a long time and we’re in the process of moving up here… and my dad can’t get us into the dentist right away, so I was like… I might as well go for free,” 9th grade student Briuanna Hiler said.

Those who are interested in helping students get access to free dental care with the Adopt–A–Smile campaign can do so by donating $10 a month to the Twin Cities based organization.