From There to Here
Christina’s Smile has undergone some dramatic transformations since its inception at Dr. Garza’s private practice in Austin, Texas. There he treated many disadvantaged children for years until he came up with the idea of Christina’s Smile and began branching out across the country.
Dr. Garza initially held five free clinics in dental offices in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, he developed a partnership with the Senior PGA Tour and built a 48-foot mobile clinic to travel to the same cities as the golf tour. Ten cities were visited that year, and the success of the partnership paved the way for relationships with the PGA and Champions tours. A second trailer clinic was added to the fleet in 1998 and a third was added in 2007.
The clinics these days don’t always travel where golf tournaments are played, however. A new Christina’s Smile logo – unveiled in late 2008 – illustrates the organization’s relationships with a variety of partners, from Roadway to golf tours to Patterson. A new website launched in 2009 with an updated look and includes tour dates across the country and a variety of ways to get involved.
Though Dr. Garza has been helping treat kids for many years, the need to treat children with poor dental health is as great as when he started. As many as 6.5 million children in the United States enrolled in Medicaid had untreated tooth decay in 2005 and were twice as likely as children with private health insurance to have untreated tooth decay.*
The numbers might seem daunting, but Dr. Garza emphasized that any amount of care that the children receive helps. Just one decay treatment can make a difference for a child with rampant decay and untreated dental disease, he said. “We encourage anybody and everybody to do as much as possible. Sometimes that may involve doing a little bit, but a whole lot of little bits adds up to lots of little bits.”
While 20 or more cities visited each year might sound like a lot – and it is, from a planning and implementation standpoint – Dr. Garza said that he and his small staff would be treating patients every day if they could, even after 20 years.
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