Free to Smile Foundation
One surgery forever changes a child. It’s a gift they’ll cary with them the rest of their life. See how you can change a life: www.freetosmile.org/change
We are a team of doctors and volunteers compelled by compassion to serve the impoverished and underserved children suffering from cleft lip/palate deformities around the world. The Free To Smile Foundation delivers comprehensive, high-quality surgical and dental services to impoverished and underserved children and adolescents. Our volunteers and partner organizations provide free surgical, dental
08/17/2024
It’s was another great year! So great to see so many familiar faces and friends! For those who weren’t present but supported this event- we appreciate you so much!
Zimmerman, Boltz & Co.
Paragon Management Associates, Inc.
Benesch
Hamilton Capital
Codrea Financial Services
Whiteboard Marketing
myDentalCMO
Just Smiles Family & Cosmetic Dentistry
Oral Implants and Reconstructive Dentistry
Stoner Periodontic & Implant Specialists
Dr. Fred Alger Periodontics & Dental Implants: Fred Alger, DDS
Old Fort Banking Company
TEAM DDS, Inc.
Equitable Mortgage
Thomas Law Group
Fixari Family Dental
Practice Impact
Integrity Payroll & Hr Solution Cc
3C Technology Solutions
Heartfelt thank you to everyone who attended our 2024 kiDDS Foundation Golf Outing and for your incredible generosity in donating to our cause. Your participation and contributions are making a profound impact on the lives of children in need. We are deeply appreciative of your support and commitment, which helps us continue our mission to provide vital resources and opportunities. Together, we are creating meaningful change and fostering brighter futures for those we serve. Thank you for being a crucial part of this journey. Be on the look out for more pictures from the event. We look forward to seeing you next year!
08/16/2024
We have to toast and cheer all of those who came out to support kids and dental missions worldwide!
Priest Dental Codrea Financial Services Seth Conley FreetoSmile Jason Codrea Friendly Dental Care Zimmerman, Boltz & Co. KiDDS Foundation
08/15/2024
🇪🇹 ETHIOPIA
Today you can see some of the awesome work we are doing in Africa. Dr. Stavan Patel and Dr. Tesfaye with performed a Furlow palatoplasty together. Dr. Tesfaye was also joined by Free to Smile surgeon Dr. .glade.7 for multiple VPI cases and all three surgeons are performing cleft lip and palate surgeries as well.
The speech team had some time to play and interact with some of the ortho kids. We have one left, but it has been a great week!
08/14/2024
The longest running and arguably the best looking golf group to ever assemble at Little Turtle Golf Club! TWO more days!!! ⛳️
Our eagerly awaited golf outing is only one week away. ⛳🌟 Join us on the course to raise donations and champion our mission. Your involvement creates a significant impact. Looking forward to seeing you on the green!
There are so many reactions we see from the kids we work with. Speech therapy is so uniquely awesome in its own right. The kids are a little older. They so badly want to talk like and sound like their peers. Can you imagine knowing how something should sound, but not being able to properly pronounce and annunciate the words we use everyday? 💡😃…once they get it and start to learn to, through speech therapy- we get some of the most heart warming responses from these kids. To see how they react to successfully learning new techniques is moving. Thank you Shelly Biby Geddes for taking your life skills and talent into the mission field. By training other therapists and teams you are leaving a lasting impact that will touch many more generations to come!
08/05/2024
…..
SELFIES
because we never want to forget the people we smiled with, laughed with and connected with during mission week.
📸 photo credit: July GUAT mission team
VPI surgery is something we have been able to incorporate and provide to kids as the continue their cleft journey. Every child doesn’t need this surgery, but after listening to this you can see how important it is for those that do.
We won’t ever understand the hope these children have to speak and have their words sound “normal” sound the same as all the “other kids”.
It’s a pretty cool thing to see them move through speech therapy. It’s like watching a butterfly 🦋 emerge from its cocoon. It’s a beautiful thing.
08/01/2024
There is still time to donate and help a child receive a life changing surgery and dental care!
We are so thankful to the KiDDS Foundation for their continued support that is helping us conduct 9 missions this year to Guatemala (6) Africa (1) India (1) Pakistan (1). We could not do our work without their support!!!
We are counting down the days until the 2024 kiDDS Cup. Looking forward to reuniting with our amazing golfers, honoring our generous sponsors, and celebrating our dedicated volunteers. Let the countdown begin!
07/30/2024
15 YEARS
Celebrate with us!
Support FTS monthly and receive this special release t-shirt as our gift. Link 🔗 in bio!
We’ve been very fortunate to providing life changing cleft lip and palate surgery and dental care to kids around the world.
We are expanding and need your support. Here is a snapshot of what we are doing:
1. JULY: NEW LAUNCH 🇬🇹
The Moore Center- Guatemala City Guatemala
We’ve completed dozens of dental missions, but last week we hit a record for patients treated in a week…150+. We are very excited about this!
2. AUGUST: NEW LAUNCH 🇵🇰
General Hospital- Karachi Pakistan
We’ve never served patients in Pakistan, so this will be a first for us! This initial launch will start by providing 20-30 cleft surgeries with the potential to return 2x a year and add dental services to our mission efforts there.
3. SEPTEMBER: NEW LAUNCH 🇬🇹
Village of Hope- San Lucas Guatemala
This privately funded orphanage cares for neglected and trafficked children ages 2-15. This will be our first trip there and first trip to an orphanage of any kind. We will provide dental treatment and care to the children and workers there.
4. NOVEMBER: NEW LAUNCH 🇮🇳
GNRC Hospital- Kolkata India (West Bengal)
We have never hosted a mission in India. This project has been in the works for 2+ years. Our team will provide 30 kids with a life changing surgery. There is potential to return to India up to 4x/year and also add dental services to this project. This would allow is to provide nearly 160 surgeries and dental care to 300+ kids annually. To say we are a bit excited about this is an understatement.
5. RECORD # OF TRIPS 🇬🇹x6 🇪🇹x1 🇵🇰 x1 🇮🇳x1
Tulip Hospital- Antigua Guatemala
CURE Hospital- Adddis Ababa Ethiopia
We will complete a total of 9 trips this year. The previous mark was 5 (2003) so you can see we are moving into year 15 with some great momentum.
SUPPORT FTS💰
VOLUNTEER w/ FTS👨🏽⚕️👩⚕️🧑⚕️
FOLLOW and LIKE FTS 🙋🏽♂️🙋🙋🏻♀️
SHARE FTS W/ FRIENDS🧍🏻♂️🧍🏼🧍🏽♀️
07/22/2024
This is just 1 of 5 milestones and first’s we will encounter this year. What a great way to celebrate our 15th anniversary.
#1- July: NEW mission: 150+ kids served
#2- Aug: NEW mission: Karachi PAKISTAN
#3- Sep: NEW mission: orphanage
#4- Nov: NEW mission: Kolkata, INDIA
#5- 9 total missions in a calendar year (previous high was 5).
3 missions down…6 to go!
07/19/2024
JULY 2024
This was our first trip to . It was two organizations coming together with a team comprised of people who had never met. We all left feeling like family. The relationships and bonds created will last a life time. To our NEW friends at the Moore Center and to our amazing VOLUNTEERS, thank you for all you did, for being who you are. We are blessed to be connected with you all.
07/12/2024
It’s the thought- it’s the little things. It’s a big deal to those who it will help.
Thank you .lining for the note and supplies!
To the Free to Smile Foundation:
Hello, my name is Brendan. I just graduated from Covenant Day school in Matthews, NC. For my senior project I decided to hold a donation drive for your foundation. We collected toothbrushes toothpaste, latex gloves, dental floss along with several other items. I would love to help out with your foundation later on in my career as I am aspiring to be a maxillofacial surgeon. I hope these donations help and that every kid gets the second chance they deserve.
05/17/2024
For those that have been there since day one.
For those that left kids at home to serve.
For those who sponsored a child.
For those that help secure a grant.
For those who are out in country NGO’s.
For those that have made NoNo’s.
For those that have share about us on social.
For those that have told others about us.
For those that have given us a 5star review.
For those that have checked an extra suitcase.
For those who have helped secure supplies.
For those who have sponsored a fundraiser.
For those that choose to love those they never met.
For those who continue to put others in front of self.
For everyone who has crossed our path.
For all our past, current and future FTS family.
We say THANK YOU!
…for BEING THE CHANGE!
…for CHANGING A LIFE!
…for being a part of OUR STORY
05/03/2024
TEAM DINNERS…..
05/01/2024
CELEBRATING 15 years of smiles 🩵💙🤍
05/01/2024
15 YEARS OF SMILES
and we are still GrOwING and headed to those areas we are needed most. What better way to celebrate than to announce the new sites we are adding!
05/01/2024
15 years of smiles…and we are still GrOwING and headed where we are needed most.
What better way to celebrate than to announce the new sites we are adding!
04/29/2024
Crazy to think we have been connected with TESS Unlimited for 15 years and counting. These things don’t happen overnight and they don’t happen through the efforts of a few. It’s man years and individuals efforts. Very grateful 🙏🏻
Mission Accomplished: 31 Families !
We're excited to share the fantastic news: our recent mission with the Free to Smile Foundation team is a success!
Thanks to their expertise and the support of our team and donors, we've completed 31 life-changing cleft surgeries for families in need.
This mission was all about teamwork and compassion in action. Each surgery performed represents a significant step towards brighter futures for these individuals.
Huge thanks to everyone who played a part in making this happen – whether through donations, volunteering, or spreading the word. Your support truly made a difference.
Beyond the surgeries, this mission is about restoring confidence, improving health, and empowering individuals to embrace life fully.
We're incredibly grateful for your involvement in this journey. Together, we're making a tangible impact, one smile at a time.
04/22/2024
We are in mission week as we get to do it with some of our favorite people!
Our teams use their vacation time and cover their travel costs to do this. This week is not possible without them. Thank you to all of our APR mission team members!
We are celebrating 15 years of smiles! Celebrate with us and become a monthly supporter of the Free to Smile Foundation as we continue our efforts!
$15/month for 15 months will help rewrite a child’s story and help provide dental care to their families.
link below 👇
We would like to introduce you to Dr. Robert Heller a Prosthodontist, Implant Specialist and Director of Midwest Implant Institute. There are very few out there like Dr. Heller when it comes to educating the dental leaders of tomorrow, his investment in others and his overall clinical skillset. He is truly one of the best! Dr. Heller has served patients in private practice with a focus on implant surgery and related prosthetics for nearly 25 years. Through the institute he has trained thousands of doctors to become dental implant surgeons.
During National Children’s Dental Health Month, Dr. Heller and team supported the Free to Smile Foundation by donating a portion of their proceeds to our dental mission efforts. They are the reason we will be able to provide over 150 cleft lip/ palate surgeries and provide dental care to over 300 kids and orphans this year. Dr. Heller has established a legacy practice and institute. It’s no surprise that we have a three other past MII graduates participating in our campaign this month. Dr. Hellers commitment to giving back is a core principle of what he believes and practices.
He is also a huge golfer, dad of four girls, and has welcomed a few new grandchildren this past year. Thank you Dr. Heller, Oral Implants and Reconstructive Dentistry and team for leading with intention and creating life changing results for these children we will see this year.
03/29/2024
Help us wish our director a happy birthday! Thank you for all you do for Free to Smile. We appreciate you!
We just love the gorgeous new space that Dr. Lisa Davison and her team have settled into!
They value patient care, being invested in the community and giving back. As a community-focused practice, they are truly able to get to know their patients and families, to provide the best care possible.
Invested in the community, local charity, and you, they committed to donating a portion of all patient visits during the month of February to the Free to Smile Foundation during our Donate a Smile campaign.
Davison Orthodontics strives to not only create beautiful smiles, but more importantly enrich the lives of those they serve!Your involvement in this campaign has done exactly that. Not only will it create beautiful smiles but enrich so many lives.
Most importantly the lives of the kids we will see this year! It will also be a lasting gift to these parents knowing their child will be forever free from this birth deformity. We cannot thank you enough for your support.
03/25/2024
Just another awesome practice doing some awesome things 🤍🩵💙
03/22/2024
Thank you Jennifer J Miller DDS and team for supporting dental missions and life changing surgeries.
03/22/2024
When you have amazing offices like this championing your efforts it inspires us to continue pushing to send the best teams, offering the best dental care and surgery to kids around the world! Thank you Davison Orthodontics and team!
03/12/2024
ⒹⒶⓈ
Donate A Smile: last month dental@offices from around the country joined with us to make an impact. Through our February Donate A Smile campaign we are able to reach more, love more and change more kids lives.
We will be spotlighting this special group of dental offices and introducing you to them over these next couple of weeks. Thank you to all who have participated! Your efforts have helped to launch a new
✅ dental site
✅ dental outreach site at an orphanage
02/27/2024
15 years and counting!
February is National Dental Children’s Health Month where we bring awareness to the importance of kids, oral care and our mission.
Free to Smile started in 2008 by founder .ro_nt and his wife Stacy. This is how it started. Dental trips to Cambodia and Tibet. It’s what we are about-kids-oral health- and comprehensive care where it is needed most. There may be some familiar faces you see here and we are proud to say that everyone here is still connected .avancena and still supports FTS.
Click here to claim your Sponsored Listing.
Our Story
We are a team of doctors and volunteers compelled by compassion to serve the impoverished and underserved children suffering from cleft lip/palate deformities around the world.
The Free To Smile Foundation delivers comprehensive, high-quality surgical and dental services to impoverished and underserved children and adolescents. Our volunteers and partner organizations provide free surgical, dental, and educational care to those we serve across the globe.
Founded in 2008, Free to Smile Foundation is a non- profit 501(c)(3) organization (EIN# 26-3538922). As such, we rely upon the generosity of others - individuals, companies and foundations - to fulfill our mission.
See how you can change a life: https://www.freetosmile.org/change
Videos (show all)
