Cosmetic Dentistry of San Antonio is a proud supporter of Smile Train and Smiles on Wheels community dental services.
Smiles on Wheels
As a supporter of Smiles on Wheels, we help provide access to dental hygiene and treatment for adults and children who do not have a regular dental office. Smiles on Wheels gives adults and children full dental services at no cost in places where quality dental care is not readily available. These services include: dental cleanings, X-Rays, dental sealants, fluoride treatments, oral cancer screenings, and instruction on how to maintain proper oral hygiene.
Smile Train
In many developing countries there are millions of children that suffer from cleft lips, making it difficult to eat and speak, attend school, or even hold a job. We support Smile Train community dental services to provide many of these children with surgery to repair cleft lip.
February was National Children’s Dental Health Month and in order to celebrate Cosmetic Dentistry of San Antonio donated $50.00 to Smile Train from every whitening procedure sold because everyone deserves a chance to smile confidently. We would like to thank all of our patients who jumped on board with us. We received a recognition letter from Smile Train for our donation and continued support. We urge everyone to find a cause that is close to your heart and help because that will make you smile!
Before After
We believe that by working with Smiles on Wheels and Smile Train community dental service groups, we can help provide everyone with a better smile, better health, and a better life.
Oral Cancer Awareness Month
April was National Oral Cancer Awareness Month and in order to help raise awareness Dr. Camacho teamed up with the Oral Cancer Foundation and opened up his office on Friday April 15th and gave free oral cancer screenings to the general public using the Velscope. This is a painless special light that can detect tissue abnormalities before they can be seen by the naked eye. This means anything abnormal is caught very early on.
37,000 new cases of oral cancer are diagnosed every year and every year the number goes up. Every hour, 365 days a years, someone succumbs to oral cancer. The death rate is high not because it is hard to discover or diagnose but due to the cancer routinely discovered late in its development. Oral cancer has one of the lowest 5 year survival rates of all cancers. Studies have now linked the HPV virus to oral cancer so non-smokers under the age of 50 are the 
fastest rising group of those who develop oral cancer. This is the same group of viruses that cause cervical cancer and other things such as warts. The good news is that with early detection there is an 80-90% survival rate. Lack of public awareness and not seeing a dentist on a regular basis are two contributing causes to the poor statistics of oral cancer.
We are committed to helping raise awareness of oral cancer by doing free 
Velscope exams on all our patients and helping to educate the public by holding free public screenings such as the one we did on April 15th. Dr. Camacho, his wife June and staff also participated in San Antonio’s first ever oral cancer awareness walk held on April 2, 2011 sponsored by a 27 year old oral cancer survivor.
Don’t put off a simple easy screening that could save your life.
Smiles of Hope – San Antonio
Dr. Edward Camacho, his wife and fellow dentist June Camacho, and the staff at Cosmetic Dentistry of San Antonio participated in the “Smiles of Hope” clinic on the campus of Haven for Hope on the West Side of San Antonio recently to help scores of indigent and homeless San Antonians get critical dental care.
Dr. Camacho and a team of staffers joined dozens of other dentists, dental assistants, hygienists, and other volunteers to provide low-income patients and Haven for Hope residents with a wide range of dental services including: fillings, extractions and oral surgery. Proper dental care is a critical part of services to the indigent and homeless, because dental problems can cause overall health problems. And for those seeking jobs, organizers said, a smile with broken or diseased teeth may prevent them from getting employment.
Fistula Foundation
As supporters of the Fistula Foundation we are dedicated to increasing funding and awareness for the prevention, repair, and educational programs to help eliminate fistulas. Fistulas are common in third world countries where young girls are forced to marry and become pregnant. Prolonged labor in bodies that are not yet developed themselves can cause a fistula or hole to develop where there is constant dripping of urine. These young girls are ostracized from their families and communities due to being labeled “unclean.” Most live on the streets with no means of support or hope of a better life. The Fistula Foundation sets up hospitals and repairs these fistulas. For those unfortunate ones whose fistulas cannot be repaired, they are given a permanent home at the hospital and a purpose in life where they help to grow food, sew clothes for those having surgery so they can have something to wear home and also help care for the girls after surgery. For more information on this wonderful foundation visit www.fistulafoundation.org
Criminon
In addition, we support and volunteer for Criminon, an international non-profit public benefit corporation dedicated to addressing the causes of criminality and restoring the criminal’s self-respect through effective drug detoxification, education and common sense programs.
We also offer our patients complimentary DVDs: “The Truth About Drugs,” and “Youth for Human Rights” in our mission to service our community.
