Dozens take advantage of free dental care

People tend to smile when they get something free, especially when they get a brighter smile because their dental visit was at no cost.

Seventy-six people from in and out of Sanders County took advantage of the MT West Dentist "Dentistry From The Heart" event in Plains on Friday. The event was a big success, said Kayla Lilja, the front office administrator at the Plains dentist office. The office is in the former Wildhorse Elementary School, which closed its doors five years ago. This the fifth year that owners Andrew and Elizabeth Ordelheide have put on a day of free dentistry. The Ordelheides' entire staff of dentists and assistants, including Dr. Jaye Sedlack, who's been with MT West Dentist since April 2017, volunteered their time and expertise to the Dentistry From The Heart project. Dentists from Missoula, Frenchtown and Washington, along with some of their staff members, helped with the event.

"Having the ability to do so, we want to do more as a business and impacting our community beyond only our patients has always been one of our long term goals," said Elizabeth Ordelheide, who became a dentist in 2012, four years after Andrew was certified. She added that all the dentists and staff volunteered for the unpaid day "because they simply want to, because they're good people, and they expect nothing in return."

The day resulted in MT West Dentist donating $29,360 worth of dental work, according to Lilja, who coordinated the event with Elizabeth throughout the almost nine hours of seeing patients. Last year, the staff performed work on 82 people at a value of $30,000, said Lilja. Though Elizabeth is a licensed dentist, she served mostly as an assistant, going from room to room of the eight dental chairs and helping people at the front desk.

People from age 18 to 81 showed up for the free dental work. People could sign up for either a cleaning, filling or an extraction, but they could get back in line for a second and third choice, said Lilja. Nearly 10 people returned during the day for a second type of treatment. One person received a cleaning, filling and an extraction, said Lilja.

"This day is meant for people who don't have insurance and can't get dental care," said Lilja. Registration began at 6:30 a.m. The last person was finished around 4:30 p.m. Most of the patients were Sanders County residents, but Lilja said people traveled from as far away as Polson, Ronan and Missoula to take part in Dentistry From The Heart. This is the second time the Ordelheides have put on the free dentistry at their present site, which has triple the amount of space as when they were located downtown Plains in a rented space.

Community members appreciate the Ordelheides' gesture, said Lilja. "I had three people hug me today. They love it," she added. Elizabeth said they'd like to continue the Dentistry From The Heart or a similar program annually.