HOT PURSUIT
It’s definitely not hard to catch the cautious smiles radiating from the face of the Smile Fairy. After all, she is the fairy who smiles.
I caught up with the Smile Fairy all decked out in her lovely pink tutu last week at an elementary school in Owatonna. It’s just one of about 50 dental pep rallies she’ll be conducting in January and February. The majority are in February as part of National Children’s Dental Health Month. As usual, she was bubbling with excitement and her most common trademark—smiles.
Once the rallies are done, Holly Jorgensen, who is the executive director of Let’s Smile, Inc., will hit 27 schools throughout southeast Minnesota from March until May with a school-based dental program. She will provide dental care with pop-up clinics right in the schools.
In 2024, Jorgensen performed 1,205 dental encounters, including 461 new patients, in the schools and the clinic located in Community Pathways in Owatonna. The encounters consist of screenings and cleanings. Nearly one-third of those needed follow-up dental care of something more serious.
Jorgensen has assembled a team of dentists who volunteer their time to perform dental care. Dr. Richard Dresser helps on Wednesdays while Dr. Tim Holland, Dr. Kurt Erickson and Dr. Jon Fabian help on Fridays.
“My goal this year is let’s get these kids healthy,” Jorgensen says. “Some children have so many concerns that they need to come back three or four times.”
There is no charge for the families to get care through Let’s Smile. The nonprofit organization only gets small reimbursements for Medicaid patients.
She founded Let’s Smile in 2013 after seeing a lack of access to care for low-income families. Jorgensen is quick to point out they are not in direct competition with other dental offices as Let’s Smile accepts only families on Medicaid or those with no insurance. The problem she found was that dentists were not accepting Medicaid patients any longer.
Her efforts aren’t going unnoticed. Just last week a pair of state organizations awarded Let’s Smile with the 2024 Minnesota Seal of Quality Award.
For Jorgensen, the motivation to help kiddos with their teeth comes easy. “It needs to be done,” she said. “We are in a healthcare crisis. Someone needs to do it, and why not me. I love these kids. I feel it’s a huge honor to help these families.”
Most often Jorgensen finds families simply don’t have access to dental care, so they let things slide until something actually hurts and they end up in the emergency room. “We want to identify those concerns earlier. We are always looking for any areas of concern,” she said.
A major problem leading to dental concerns is diets, Jorgensen said. More people are drinking and eating sugary beverages and foods. There is also a lack of home care for brushing and flossing daily.
Jorgensen appreciates the community support through grants and donations that Let’s Smile receives. Last year she operated the clinic on a budget of $358,000. Let’s Smile is governed by a board of directors, which she said a few board members will be forced to leave due to term limits at the end of the year. She is actively looking for anyone who may want to join the board.
Children deserve dental care because it helps them develop healthy habits and prevent tooth decay, which can then lead to a host of other problems.
Jorgensen and her crew at Let’s Smile get my seal of approval for going in hot pursuit of addressing oral health disparities in unserved communities. Now isn’t that something to smile about?