Volunteers open ‘DOoR’ to good dental health

Program brings healthy smiles to professionals and patients

Story by Jonathan Koch & Francis Silvaggio | Photos by Francis Silvaggio

RED DEER — Volunteer health professionals and Alberta Health Services (AHS) staff have opened the “DOoR” to healthier futures for central Alberta children with urgent dental needs.

AHS’s Dental Outreach of Red Deer (DOoR) program provides free dental treatment and prevention services to local children ages 5 to 18 with urgent dental needs such as pain, infection, visible decay or broken teeth.

“It can actually be life-changing for children who may be in pain,” says Dr. Kelvin Hill, a dentist who volunteers with the DOoR program.

Dr. Hill is part of a network of dedicated dentists and registered dental assistant volunteers who make this free service possible. A member of the program’s original steering committee, Hill has been volunteering on weekends for DOoR since the service launched in 2008. During this period, area dentists and assistants have volunteered for almost 2,200 hours, providing emergency dental treatment to more than 600 central Alberta children, helping 30 clients in 2024 alone.

The Sylvan Lake dentist says he donates his time to pay back and honour colleagues who helped him throughout his career — including the late Dr. Mona Billey and Dr. Barry Fleming — whose efforts were instrumental in bringing DOoR to fruition.

“We don't do it by ourselves, there are always people helping us,” says Dr. Hill. “Helping other people along in their journey is where you really feel like you're accomplishing something.”

Dental assistant Deborah Bone-Dyck has been a DOoR program volunteer for 15 years. She says the program is necessary to catch children from families who require urgent dental care, but don’t have the means to pay for it.

“Dental care is very important, and these poor kids, they fall through the cracks, and they don't get the care they need,” says Bone-Dyck. “There's a need for it, and I like helping people that need help. It just makes me feel good."

A team of AHS staff dental hygienists and assistants support the volunteers, children and families who come to the clinic at Johnstone Crossing.

Tannis Brown, an AHS registered dental assistant (RDA), says prevention is a big part of the DOoR program, with team members travelling regularly to area schools to identify candidates for urgent dental care.

“We have kids that are struggling in school, they have chronic pain, and they are never really telling their parents that they're suffering because they really just want to keep it to themselves," says Brown. “When we're in the schools and we see children with abscesses, broken teeth, or if they suffer from chewing or if they're woken up at night, we give them the information for DOoR and we hope the families call us.”

This intervention is critical for patients like 10-year-old Xam, whose dental pain was causing him to lose sleep.

“He was crying a lot when it was really giving him pain,” says his mom, Ivee, who arrived in Red Deer with her two young sons about a year ago. Without dental benefit coverage, families might lose sleep about not being able to access the dental care their children need.

Instead, Ivee is grateful for the care her son recently received through the DOoR program.

“It's kind of a big relief,” she adds.

For Dr. Hill, the most rewarding part is the thanks he receives from parents for the care their child couldn't have received otherwise. Bone-Dyck agrees and encourages central Alberta dental professionals to volunteer for this vital service that brings healthy smiles to the faces of children in need.

“You only have to volunteer once a year if you want to, but I like to do it a few more times, because it definitely makes a difference in people's lives, and I've never had a family not be appreciative to us,” adds Bone-Dyck. “They are so thankful and grateful."

Dental professionals interested in volunteering for the DOoR program can email Door.Program@ahs.ca or call 403-356-6302.