How Dental Professionals Can Give Back: Volunteering at Local Start Dental
- Local Start Dental
- Aug 4
- 3 min read
Most dental professionals entered this field to help people. The daily reality of private practice (insurance negotiations, production targets, administrative overhead) can create distance from that original motivation. Volunteering at Local Start Dental is one way to close that distance. This article is for dental assistants, hygienists, general practitioners, and specialists who want to put their skills directly in service of patients who have no other options.
Who We Serve
Local Start Dental is a nonprofit dental clinic in downtown Durham, North Carolina. We provide complex restorative care to adults who cannot afford it: people without dental insurance, veterans, patients on fixed incomes, and people who have been priced out of or turned away from traditional dental care.
Many of the patients who come through our doors are not looking for routine cleanings. They are presenting with years of deferred care, painful or non-functional prostheses, missing teeth that affect their employment, their nutrition, and their confidence. The work is meaningful and clinically interesting. It is also, for many of the dental professionals who do it, the most rewarding work of their careers.
Since 2021, Local Start Dental has delivered $19.4 million in donated dentistry to patients from 78 of North Carolina's 100 counties. Volunteer services are part of how we make that possible.
Ways Dental Professionals Can Get Involved
Volunteer Your Clinical Skills
Whether you are a dental assistant, hygienist, general practitioner, or specialist, your expertise has direct impact at Local Start Dental. Volunteers work alongside our clinical team to provide care to patients who qualify for our sliding scale program. You bring your skills. We provide the patients, the facility, and the clinical context.
Our 5,000 square foot clinic in downtown Durham is fully equipped: ten operatories, an on-site design and denture lab, two X-ray rooms, cone beam imaging, and a 3D printer for dentures. You will not be working in a stripped-down environment. You will be working in one of the most well-equipped nonprofit dental facilities in North Carolina.
Refer a Patient
If you have patients in your practice who lack traditional dental insurance or who qualify for Medicaid but need complex restorative care beyond what you are able to provide, Local Start Dental accepts referrals. Our team handles the intake, evaluation, and treatment planning from there. Referrals are one of the most direct ways a practicing dentist can extend the impact of their daily work into the community.
Explore SIDE Training
For dentists looking to advance their clinical skills while contributing to patient care, the Southeast Institute for Dental Education (SIDE) offers a distinct path. SIDE participants complete hands-on continuing education courses at Local Start Dental, treating patients under the mentorship of board-certified specialists in implant placement, extractions, and full-arch restoration.
SIDE is not a volunteer program. It is a paid continuing education track. But the outcome for patients is the same: access to complex care they could not otherwise afford, delivered by dental professionals who leave with skills they carry back to their own communities. If you are a practicing dentist interested in SIDE, learn more about our CE training courses.
Donate Supplies and Equipment
Dental products, equipment, and clinical supplies used in patient care are always welcome. If your practice has materials that would otherwise go unused, they can be put directly toward patient care at Local Start Dental. Contact our team through the support page to coordinate a donation.
Why Dental Professionals Choose Local Start Dental
The patients are complex. The cases are often the kind that private practice rarely sees in this volume: full-arch restorations, implant-supported dentures, patients who arrive having managed painful or ill-fitting prostheses for years. For dental professionals who want to work at the edge of their clinical skills, the cases at Local Start Dental provide that.
The team is mission-driven. Our clinical staff includes prosthodontists and general dentists with advanced training who are committed to the dual mission of patient care and professional education. Volunteering here means working alongside people who chose this work deliberately.
And the patient gratitude is real. These are patients who, in many cases, had stopped believing that care was available to them. When it is, the response is not transactional. It is something else entirely.
Getting Started
Local Start Dental welcomes dental professionals who want to volunteer their time, refer patients, or explore ways to contribute to the mission. Our clinic is located at 370 Jackson Street in downtown Durham, NC, steps from the city's downtown bus station.
Contact our team to learn about current volunteer opportunities, or call us at 919-569-5533.
You can also explore all the ways to support Local Start Dental, from financial contributions to in-kind donations to patient referrals.
