CDA Cares: 'It's a Beautiful Thing'

Sponsored by the California Dental Association Foundation, CDA Cares is a series of dental clinics that provides the state's underserved population with free care. The most recent event, held in May in Modesto, provided $1.2 million worth of cleanings, fillings, extractions and even dentures and partials to over 1,600 people in just two days.

For Kris Feichtmeir, a first-time technician-volunteer, the experience was both exhilarating and overwhelming. "We didn't really know what we were getting into," says Feichtmeir, Owner of QRP Dental Lab in Modesto. "We set up and thought we were OK, but then we got overwhelmed by the number of patients. I thought we'd be doing simple stayplates with just one or two teeth but we ended up doing many with up to seven teeth. We didn't have curing units or torches so we couldn't wax up and process; we had to do everything cold cure which isn't our usual technique."

However, Feichtmeir and his fellow technicians--there...