Members of the Champaign-Urbana community will be able to visit the dentist’s office cost-free, thanks to a partnership between two dentist offices in Champaign.

Both the Family Dental Care of Champaign and Champaign Dental Group will be hosting Free Dentistry Day on Saturday between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m., which will provide individuals without dental insurance with the opportunity to attend an office visit without having to pay.

“Dental care is definitely not something that is cheap and unfortunately, it’s something a lot of people can’t afford,” said Breanna Durack, practice manager of operations at Family Dental Care of Champaign. “We want people to achieve better overall health by getting dental care that they need.”

On Free Dentistry Day, dentists will be providing services to patients that include fillings, extractions and cleanings.

A major reason dental offices participate in this event is to remind people of the importance of oral health, said Dr. Kyunghwan Min of Champaign Dental Group.

“The mouth is more of a gateway to our overall health,” Min said. “So, if there are things that are going on such as heart disease or any high blood pressure, they will start to show up in the mouth as a first sign.”

Free Dentistry Day is a nationwide event that has provided patients free dental care since 2010.

Min said one of his most memorable experiences of Free Dentistry Day was helping a patient get over his fear of going to the dentist. Min assured his patient along the process of getting some teeth extracted.

“Ever since then, he realized that his mouth is important, oral health is to be looked at, and the dentist is not someone he should be scared of,” Min said. “So I think through Dental Day — because everyone was very cheerful and everyone was smiling — I think it’s put a different perspective of what a dental office is like.”

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