Spodak Dental Group and Marlins All-Star fielder Giancarlo Stanton have teamed up to provide free dental care to elementary school students throughout the South Florida community during each school year, with the goal to eventually stop the childhood tooth decay epidemic in the nation.

The team began by providing free dental care to nearly 100 children on October 30, 2015. The children were students of Marlins Ayudan Partner School Lenora B. Smith Elementary School in Liberty City, Fla. and were in desperate need of routine and emergency dental care.

The partnership of Spodak Dental Group and Stanton began when Stanton was treated at the dental office after suffering dental damage during a baseball game in September of 2014. He fell in love with the culture and team of the practice and decided to join forces with Dr. Craig Spodak to combat child tooth decay. Stanton believes that every child deserves to smile and wanted to help make that happen.

Tooth decay is largely preventable, but it remains one of the most common diseases of childhood, and is five times as common as asthma and seven times as common as hay fever, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC says 42 percent of children ages 2 to 11 have had cavities in baby teeth and 21 percent of those ages 6 to 11 have had cavities in permanent teeth.

Spodak Dental Group provided $60,000 in free dental care during just this one day and the doctors and team members were able to ensure all children left with a healthy and clean smile. In addition to receiving free dental care, the children enjoyed safety presentations from the Delray Beach Fire Rescue and Police Departments, arts and crafts, games and more.

“We had such an amazing day of charitable giving to children in desperate dental need,” said Dr. Craig Spodak, owner of Spodak Dental Group. “Giancarlo Stanton’s vision and opportunity has allowed us to take our goal of ‘making the world a better place through the power of compassion’ to an entirely new level. Together, we are going to change the lives of as many children as we can, and we can’t wait.”

We are gearing up for our 2016 All-Star Smiles Day so stay tuned for that, as well as updates on our All-Star Smiles Foundation!