Aspen Dental's MouthMobile fourth annual event kicked off recently in Tampa, Florida, starting its 34-stop journey across the country in support of veterans.

The MouthMobile is Aspen Dental’s 42-foot long dental office on wheels, which travels state to state giving veterans necessary dental care at no cost. Since 2014, Aspen Dental practices across the country have donated over $7.5 million in dentistry and helped more than 12,000 veterans as part of the Healthy Mouth Movement. The Healthy Mouth Movement includes both the MouthMobile and a nationwide Day of Service, when Aspen Dental practices across the country open their doors on a designated Saturday to provide free care to veterans.

“It is an honor to give back to our nation’s veterans, those who have fought for our nation’s safety,” said Dr. Michael Dickerson, a dentist who participated in the Tampa event. “We feel very lucky to be involved with the Healthy Mouth Movement program to help everyone out, and hopefully what we’re doing is making a real difference in these veterans’ lives.”

“Community partners like Aspen Dental instill trust while delivering services that are in demand to our nations heroes and Tampa Crossroads is happy to support the mission of the Healthy Mouth Movement,” said Brian Belcher of Tampa Crossroads. “The saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ holds true and at Tampa Crossroads, we often say ‘it takes a village to get a veteran back on their feet.’ We’re proud to have helped provide a needed service to our local veterans here in Tampa.”  

Florida has the third highest veteran population in the nation according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and one of the poorest dental health rankings in the country (43 out of 51).