A heart-filled initiative to improve the oral care of a number of local residents will be taking place later this month.

Picton Dental Centre will be hosting its seventh annual Dentistry From the Heart event on Friday, Jan. 18 at the office at 7 McFarland Drive in Picton.

At no cost, Drs. Kuldeep and Reenu Sandhu and their team along with over 20 community volunteers are offering walk-in patients 18 years of age or older who are unable to receive dental care elsewhere their choice of a filling, extraction or cleaning.

The free session will run from 7:30 a.m to 5 p.m. with patient registration getting underway at 7 a.m.

Dr. Reenu Sandhu figures close to 600 procedures have been completed since Picton Dental Centre undertook the initiative back in 2012.

Unfortunately during times of struggle and economic stress, regular oral care is one of the first things people sacrifice in order to make ends meet.

“People take it for granted, but the mouth is the foundation of your health and your body because anything that builds in the mouth is getting into your system and that’s why maintaining good oral health is so vital,” Dr. Reenu Sandhu told the Gazette.

In the early years of Dentistry from the Heart, the staff at Picton Dental Centre were tasked with more drastic procedures including root canals and extractions but typically cleanings and fillings have occupied much of the time in later years.

“There’s definitely been a transition more recently,” Dr. Reenu Sandhu said “We see a number of returnees when we offer Dentistry from the Heart and even one visit a year is providing better maintenance and more preventive care.”

In total, the ten regular Picton Dental Centre staffers will be joined by over 20 other oral health professionals that will be donating their time and energy to ensure those that are seeking care will receive it.

“We are asking anyone that is coming to bring blankets, to dress warm because they could be waiting in line for some time,” Dr. Reenu Sandhu said. “We also ask they bring a list of any medications.”

For more information, please call Picton Dental Centre at 613-476-6750 of visit them on facebook at www.facebook.com/pictondentalcentre/