Two New Jersey dentists and other oral care professionals have teamed up to give a first responder the gift of a gorgeous new smile.
Dr. Jason Auerbach, CEO and founder of Riverside Oral Surgery practices, joined forces with Dr. Dayna Cassandra of DC Cosmetic Dentistry to form the Riverside Oral Surgery First Responders Initiative, which aims to “donate” restorative and cosmetic dental services to first responders.
Johnnie Ramos, a detective with the Passaic County Sheriff’s office in New Jersey, was the first recipient chosen to receive a new smile.
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“We’re very fortunate to be in a position to help people,” Auerbach told Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview. “And it made sense that if we were going to do something like this, that we would do it for people who put themselves in harm’s way to be there for others.”
He added, “Those are the people who deserve it the most, in my opinion.”
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Johnnie Ramos, a detective with the Passaic County Sheriff’s office in New Jersey, was the first recipient to receive a new smile through the program. (Johnnie Ramos)
Auerbach and Cassandra, who have been practicing in the same neighborhood for 20 years, set out to organize a team of people who had complementary skill sets and a desire to help others.
Those included Dr. Jonathan Mendia, an anesthesiologist, and donation partners Straumann and Kuwata Pan Dent Laboratory, which manufacture dental implants.
When it came time to choose the first recipient for the initiative, Auerbach posted announcements on his Instagram accounts, @bloodytoothguy and @riversideoralsurgery.
“It’s really an art and a science.”
“We basically set out to seek interest and we found a lot of deserving people,” said Auerbach, who is also CEO and founder of MAX SSM, an innovative platform for oral and maxillofacial (jaw and facial) surgery.
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“The unfortunate reality is that we can’t help everybody. So we kind of looked at the big picture and understood what was important about Johnny’s case, both the dental needs and who he is as a human being, and he was the one we selected.”
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Dr. Jason Auerbach (left), CEO and founder of Riverside Oral Surgery practices, joined forces with Dr. Dayna Cassandra (right) of DC Cosmetic Dentistry to form the Riverside Oral Surgery First Responders Initiative. (Dr. Jason Auerbach; Dr. Dayna Cassandra)
Ramos has been a detective with Passaic County for nearly 31 years. He had a long history of poor dental health, which stemmed from not taking care of his teeth as a child.
“Since I was a little kid, I would eat a lot of junk food and not brush my teeth after every meal the way I should have,” he told Fox News Digital in an email. “I was also a smoker, which I now know was another problem.”
After having a bad experience early on, Ramos
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