Royal Oak Smiles hosted free service day May 15

ROYAL OAK — Royal Oak Smiles dental practice hosted its first Free Dental Day on May 15 at its office, 1103 N. Main St.

The service was first come, first serve, and according to Dentist Dolores Baran, it’s all to give back to the community. 

“Whether you are a patient or not a patient, it’s our way of giving back to the community. I have been doing a lot of charity work over the years … and I just decided I wanted to do something a little bit different,” Baran said. “This is our first time doing this, and I am hoping this will become an annual thing.”

Patients who came in during the free service day had an option to have one of three things done: a teeth cleaning, an extraction or a filling. Every patient received an evaluation. 

“We’re also assessing as we are doing the cleaning. We are assessing things that you might want to get checked out,” she said. 

Allowing both patients and nonpatients to come to the free service day was a way to showcase the office’s community service and also bring awareness to the dental practice itself. 

“It gives people who aren’t familiar with us an awareness that we are here. This office has been here for over 20 years, and actually in 2030, this dental practice will be 100 years old,” Baran said. “So, this is a true legacy practice. We have a lot of families that started as children, and we had their children and grandchildren come here.”

Providing a free service day is a unique opportunity that Baran said she had not seen a lot of dental offices do.

“This is to give back to the community, and to the people who are maybe afraid to go to the dentist or financially can’t,” she said. “It’s a good feeling to give back.”

Baran said that the overall day was successful, and that she hopes to make this an annual event. 

For more information on Royal Oak Smiles, visit royaloaksmiles.com.