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Local dentist running toothbrush fundraiser until April 10

April 8, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Oral hygiene often ranks low on the list of priorities for people struggling financially or living in poverty.  

To help individuals already grappling with food insecurity improve their dental health, Smile Corner Dental launched a toothbrush fundraiser for the Orangeville Food Bank and is matching all monetary donations, dollar for dollar.

Owner of Smile Corner Dental, Dr. Shveta Chugh, said she saw that the food bank was requesting toothbrushes on Facebook, as they were seeing a shortage, and she wanted to help.

“For us it was very surprising, I never thought about it… we always assumed that food banks have it or never realized that there would be a shortage of that,” she explained.

The toothbrushes are being purchased at the low price of roughly 85 cents each, so a small donation can make a large impact. The donations can be made online by e-transferring money to smilecornerdentistry@gmail.com.

Dr. Chugh noted that oral hygiene is heavily linked to physical health.

“The maintenance of your health, begins from your mouth,” said Dr. Chugh. “It’s the entrance of all your systems.”

The fundraiser runs until April 10 and Dr. Chugh says her target is to fundraise for 700 toothbrushes.

As of Monday, there were around 300 toothbrushes that have been donated by the public that will be matched by Smiles Corner Dental.

Dr. Chugh said she’s challenging other dental offices in Orangeville to start up their own toothbrush fundraisers and try to top Smile Corner Dental’s total donation.

Dr. Chugh purchased Smile Corner Dental in October of 2019 and tries to do some form of community outreach each year with a fundraiser.

Going forward, she told the Citizen she plans on making the toothbrush fundraiser an annual event.

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