We get asked this a lot at Mint Dental Care. Why do you guys do all this free dentistry?
Short answer: because we can. Longer answer: back in 2018, our team started setting aside time to treat neighbors in our community who were in pain and had nowhere to go. No formal plan. No logo. No nonprofit paperwork. Just our team saying “we have time on the schedule… let’s use it.”
That impulse turned into something way bigger than any of us expected.
Where It Started
In 2018, we started treating people who didn’t have access to a dental home. People with infections. People who’d been living with broken or missing teeth for years. We didn’t have a name for what we were doing. We just kept showing up and doing it.
By 2022, the work had grown to the point where it needed its own home. We officially launched Mint for More as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a simple mission: partner with local organizations to provide essential dental care to neighbors in Northwest Arkansas who need it most.
What We Actually Do
Mint for More focuses on three areas where we can make the biggest immediate impact.
Urgent care. We see patients dealing with pain and infection. The kind of problems that don’t wait for insurance approval or a payment plan. These are extractions and treatments for people whose only other option is the ER, where they’ll get antibiotics and a bill but not the actual dental care they need.
Dentures. Losing your teeth changes everything. How you eat, how you talk, how you feel about yourself. We provide dentures to patients who’ve lost their teeth and have no way to replace them. Watching someone see their new smile for the first time… that never gets old. Not once.
Children’s Dentistry. We work with local schools to identify kids who don’t have access to regular dental care. Some of these children have never seen a dentist. We bring them in, take care of what needs to be done, and try to set them on a healthier path before small problems become big ones.
The Partners Who Make It Possible
We’re dentists. We know how to fix teeth. But finding the neighbors who need help, building trust, navigating the social services side of things… that takes partners who are already deep in that work. Organizations like Peace at Home Family Shelter, Arkansas Children’s Shelter/Everhope, and Saving Grace. They connect us with the people who need care. We provide the dentistry. Together, it actually works.
Since 2018, Mint Dental Care and Mint for More have provided more than $3.5 million in donated dental services. That number still kind of blows my mind when I say it out loud. But that’s what happens when a team decides that doing good work and doing good in the world aren’t two separate things.
Why We Keep Going
I’ll be honest. This work isn’t always easy to balance alongside a busy practice. There are days when the schedule is packed, the team is stretched, and adding anything feels like too much. But then you’re in the chair with a patient who drove 45 minutes because they heard you might be able to help, and they haven’t been able to chew on the right side of their mouth in two years… and suddenly the “too much” doesn’t feel like too much at all.
Mint for More exists because we believe dental care is a basic human need, not a luxury. And we believe that a local dental practice… our dental practice… is in a unique position to meet that need in a way that’s personal, direct, and lasting.
How You Can Help
Visit mintformorenwa.org to learn more or make a donation. Spread the word to someone who might need our help. Or just come see us at Mint Dental Care. Every time you choose us for your family’s dental care, you’re supporting a practice that puts a meaningful portion of its resources right back into this community.
We’re not just here to clean teeth. We’re here to take care of our neighbors.