Donated Dental Services (DDS) is a program directed at people who are unable to afford needed dental care because of a limited income which is clearly linked to a permanent disability, chronic illness or advanced age (65 and over).  All the information pertaining to the applicant’s need is based on a completed application and a phone interview done by the referral coordinator.

Dentists have agreed to volunteer their services to 1-2 patients a year. Each volunteer dentist decides for him/herself whether to formally accept a person based on meeting the person and assessing his or her dental needs. The referral coordinator is available to help the volunteers with such matters as a referral to a specialist, and securing donated laboratory services should a patient need services with lab related needs.

Since 1998, hundreds of participating dentists and dental labs, working through the coordinated efforts of the DDS program, have given away more than $5 million in free treatment to thousands of patients.

The state provides some administrative and lab funding, but all volunteer dentists donate 100 percent of their materials, staff and services. Delta Dental of Wisconsin and WDA Insurance Programs have also contributed financial support.

Dentists donate more than $9 in care and materials for every $1 of state funding. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 alone, the DDS program delivered a record $1 million in care.

The program is affiliated with the WDA Foundation.

For more information about Donated Dental Services, please contact your county Department of Aging, Health & Human Services or see below for an application form. 

Download a Donated Dental Services application

Contact

Carol Shoemaker at 414-755-4188 or 888-338-6852 or cshoemaker@wda.org if you live in Calumet, Dodge, Door, Fond du Lac, Grant, Green, Jefferson, Kenosha, Kewaunee, LaFayette, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Rock, Sheboygan, Walworth Washington, Waukesha or Winnebago counties.

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Bonnie Townsend at 866-812-9840 or btownsend@wda.org if you live in any other Wisconsin county.