Heraeus donations

SOUTH BEND, Indiana--Heraeus Kulzer, a leader in dental esthetics, has announced that its prosthetics division has donated denture teeth to three charities that serve underprivileged individuals in the United States and overseas.

In August 2011, the division donated denture teeth to the Giving Hand Foundation (www.givinghand.info), which is dedicated to promoting the development of dental clinics that provide free services to needy individuals in North Carolina and selected Third World countries.

Heraeus plans to make similar monthly donations to the foundation on an ongoing basis. Heraeus also partnered Aug. 12-13, 2011, with the foundation by hosting Dental Access Days in the educational facility of its South Bend, Ind., corporate office. As a result, a total of 131 low-income patients received an estimated $146,000 in free dental services.

Heraeus has also been donating denture teeth to the North Carolina Missions of Mercy for several years. This organization, an outreach program of the North Carolina Dental Society (www.ncdental.org), has the following mission: “To provide free dental services to those in financial need with few or no other options."

In addition, Heraeus has donated denture teeth to the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project, which was founded in 2003 to provide dental care to a nation that has only 134 dentists and one dental X-ray machine to care for 32 million inhabitants. Death from multiple abscessed teeth is common, which is one reason that life expectancy in this country is only 42 years.

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“Missing one or more teeth can be not only a serious blow to one’s self-esteem, it can also represent a serious health risk,” said Christopher Holden, Heraeus president. “Our company is committed to doing whatever we can to help dental practices and labs transform lives, and I cannot think of a much better way of doing this than to provide the denture teeth that can give people their smiles back.”

Heraeus’ prosthetics fivision markets four lines of denture teeth under the PALA brand that offer a combination of esthetics, durability, and anatomical correctness.

For more information on Heraeus or its products, call (800) 431-1785 or visit www.heraeusdentalusa.com.

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