Emily Buckley, editor in chief
Dr. Dave Gordon and his staff at Logan Peak Dental will host their sixth-annual Free Care Day from 7 a.m. to Noon on Friday, December 21, where they will offer free cleanings, exams, extractions, and fillings to community members in need. Patients are helped on a first-come, first-served basis.
“In an effort to serve as many patients as we can, we don’t follow our regular schedule, and it is an all-hands-on-deck kind of day,” Kierstin Raught, Logan Peak Dental office manager said. “It is an awesome day, but from a scheduling standpoint it is a little chaotic, because we are trying to provide as much care as we possibly can.”
Last year they served 25 patients at the event, some of which, Dr. Gordon said, were in dire need of treatment. “For some people, there has been serious neglect and this care is absolutely needed.”
Word has spread about the event, mostly by word of mouth, and it is not unusual for a line to form before their doors open for the day. “It isn’t quite Black Friday, but we definitely have people waiting,” Kierstin said. “We have even seen patients from outside of Cache Valley, who come because they really need the care and can’t afford it otherwise.”
Dr. Gordon says he feels lucky to be in the position to provide this kind of service. “I have traveled outside the country to provide dental care, too, but the truth is there is a need right here in Cache Valley,” he said. “I am glad I can offer this service and hope to expand it in the future.”
Kierstin says Dr. Gordon’s desire and generosity to help those in need doesn’t stop at this single event. Last November he happened to be scrolling Facebook when we came across a GoFundMe campaign for a local man who had been injured in an accident and desperately needed dental care, including dentures. Dr. Gordon immediately reached out and offered his services, free of charge. When the man and his wife came in for treatment it became apparent that she was also in need. “I told them to switch places and I took care of her too,” Dr. Gordon said.
Dr. Gordon’s office staff chose to get involved and provided the family with money needed for the couple to give their children Christmas gifts and a nice Christmas dinner. “It was a really neat experience,” Dr. Gordon said. “It was like we were flies on the wall seeing the gratitude they felt and what that gift meant to them.”
Dr. Gordon says it breaks his heart to think about people having to go through the holidays with a toothache. “If we can give somebody the gift of not only the free procedure, but also of not having to spend Christmas in pain, then that is pretty cool,” he said. “I feel tremendously blessed to live in this community, which has been very good to us, and this is something I can do to give back a little bit.”
