Fourth-year dental hygiene student Hadley Wyatt provides a patient with dental care during Give Adults a Smile Day recently at SIU.
July 29, 2025
SIU Dental Hygiene Clinic gives adults a smile
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Some Southern Illinoisans are smiling a little bigger and brighter, thanks to a group of Southern Illinois University Carbondale fourth-year dental hygiene students, faculty, and local hygienists and dentists.
The SIU Dental Hygiene Clinic hosted its annual Give Adults a Smile Day on July 18, giving free dental hygiene preventative services to 18 adult patients who were uninsured or on a fixed income.
Dental hygiene students Owen Osborne, Hadley Wyatt, Alyssa Milton, Paige Todd, Amy Kamran Disfani, Maitri Koirala and Maci Miller and dental hygienists Sherri Lukes and Jill Baglin provided free exams, cleanings, X-rays and fluoride treatments. They were joined by Jennifer S. Sherry, dental hygiene professor and CDHC program faculty coordinator in the School of Health Sciences, and dental hygiene faculty Renee Lipe, Bri Erthall and Sara Uhe. Along with the faculty and staff volunteers who shared their time and expertise, local dentists Dr. Bryan Goldesberry, Dr. Robin Wetherell and Dr. Douglas Teel donated their energies to give exams and supervise the event.
“It was a rewarding event, and the patients were very thankful to receive free care,” Sherry said. “Our students get practical experience and make a real difference in the lives of people in our region through events like this.”
The dental hygiene program also provides free dental care to dozens of children each spring during Give Kids a Smile Day.