(SPONSORED) — Giving back to those who have served our country, Springs Dentistry hosted its annual ‘Smiles for Heroes’ event for active-duty service members, veterans, and their families on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

“Today, in our office, we are doing some dental work for our veterans and their families and it’s a big day that we do once a year, and we’ve been doing it a little over 10 years now,” said Dr. John Lydiatt of Springs Dentistry.

Smiles for Heroes offers a full day of free dental care, where Springs Dentistry dedicates all of its resources to ensure service members, veterans, and their families receive the comprehensive dental care they deserve, at no cost to them.

“We set aside a whole day, the staff comes in, we don’t see our regular patients, our office is closed but we keep it open for our veterans,” Dr. Lydiatt said.

Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center also donated to the cause, dropping off coffee, donuts, and bagels for all veterans and staff to enjoy. Comcast also teamed up with Springs Dentistry and brought pizza in the afternoon.

“We start planning for this in April and in September, we start screening patients,” Dr. Lydiatt said. “Mt. Carmel is really good about getting us some leads on some patients that have some dental needs, so they come in, we take some x-rays, we do an exam and determine if they need some treatment.”

To apply for next year’s Smiles for Heroes event click here.

During Wednesday’s event, Springs Dentistry treated 25 patients, representing around $60,000 altogether. “Our community is rooted in our Military and veterans and it’s just important for us to give back,” said Dr. Jessica Duru.

To learn more about Springs Dentistry or Smiles for Heroes, visit springsdentistry.com.