Restoring Smiles

Restoring Smiles provides free dental and oro-facial reconstructive services to women who have survived domestic violence. Patients self-identify as survivors of domestic abuse, and all are currently living in shelters or supportive housing. Restoring Smiles accepts patients who are in dental pain, or have a visible smile defects anywhere from the front teeth to the first molars. Our patients are not covered by other social assistance dental programs, and therefore have few options to pursue treatment after sustaining injuries from physical abuse. We recognize that basic dental and oral health care is financially inaccessible to our patients and will have a negative impact on the women’s overall health and sense of well being.

Restoring Smiles’ goal is to eliminate pain, restore function and proper speech, and to some degree, alleviate the emotional trauma that arises as a result of domestic violence. When a woman experiences ongoing dental pain as a result of abuse, struggles to chew, speak or sleep due to jaw pain, or avoids social interaction because of missing teeth, the cycle of trauma is perpetuated. We provide dental treatment as a concrete and real way to help end our patients’ experience with domestic violence and to support her recovery process.

The treatment options provided by Restoring Smiles include the gold in standard of dental care in North America, including long-term restorative treatments such as crown and bridge, dental implants, orthodontic treatment and maxillofacial (jaw) surgery.