When dental hygienist-turned-lawyer Karen Ergus met with patients this weekend, she was thinking of her nephew Julian Weekes.

"He always liked to smile," she said.

Weekes was shot to death in Toronto last April while walking home from a memorial for his murdered friend.

Ergus said her nephew grew up in a low-income home and was swayed by guns and gangs.

"But he did turn his life around and at just about that moment he was removed because I guess that is the street life," she said.

Spurred to do something in the wake of his death, Ergus has helped set up a new dental hub at the Caldwell Family Centre in the heart of Ottawa's Carlington neighbourhood. She's offering free dental assessments and education once a month.

"This project just reminded me of Julian. In this low-income neighbourhood, if I could at least be there as a sparkle to one child to let them know that even in their environment, they can rise above it," she told CBC Radio's All in a Day host Alan Neal.

Ergus said for families struggling to make ends meet, a trip to the dentist is not always a top priority.

Connecting to patients

"When they have dental health they have overall health. They don't have pain when they eat. They can think. They can study," she said.

Ergus said she'll help with what she can and can refer patients with complex dental needs to other services.

'It it is possible that you can achieve higher than your environment."- Karen Ergus

She's the unique position of being an employment lawyer, who also happens to have a background as a dental hygienist.

"They do connect. I was a dental hygienist and I had a passion for social justice," Ergus said.

Ergus said she easily could have gone down the same path as her nephew, but was inspired by a dental professional who came to speak at her high school.

She's hoping to pass on the same encouragement to people in her chair.

"If I can be a sparkle to them to say, 'I came from a low income neighbourhood [Jamestown in Toronto]. I grew up in a similar neighbourhood,' but now I'm a dentist hygienist and then a lawyer, that it is possible that you can achieve higher than your environment."

The dental hub opened Saturday at the Caldwell Family Centre and Ergus will be there one day a month, by appointment.