GIBSONTON, Fla. — For years, Marshall Mathis has been hiding his mouth. Now, there’s no hiding his joy. The Army veteran was missing nearly all his teeth until a local nonprofit stepped up to help restore his smile.
“Now if we are out, I’m always smiling,” Mathis said.
Marshall and his wife, Dania, were looking for any help they could find to get crucial dental care back in May.
Marshall Mathis is considered 20% disabled by the Department of Veteran Affairs, meaning he qualifies for some health care due to service-connected back injuries and disability payments every month. However, his oral health is something they don’t cover.
According to a new study from CareQuest and the American Institute of Dental Public Health, of the more than 9 million veterans who are eligible for medical care from the VA, 85% are not eligible for dental coverage.
“It's sad, because in order for you to get dental [coverage], you have to be 100% disabled, and there's a lot of veterans that are nowhere near 100%, so they go through without coverage,” Dania explained.
With his top row of teeth totally gone, the cost to bring his oral health back would have been exorbitant. “We didn’t have the money,” Dania Mathis added.
10 Tampa Bay helped connect them with the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund, a Florida nonprofit started to help bridge the gap for veterans and provide critical dental care to disabled vets.
“It really is emotional, to hear their stories. Every day they are in pain, they can’t smile, they can’t chew their food,” said Tami Martin, the senior dental program manager at WVRF. “The overall health is just as important as what the veteran feels when they're smiling and they have new teeth.”
WVRF got to work right away, coordinating with the lab Midwest Dental Arts and the oral surgeon, Dr. Jason Edwards at Advanced Oral Surgery of Tampa.
“From the very first day they sit in the chair to get started, we pay for all phases of it,” Martin explained, who says their partners also perform pro-bono work.
“They've treated us like family, definitely, without a doubt,” Marshall Mathis said. "I'm just blessed and grateful and very thankful for everybody who stepped up to the plate for me."
Eleven hours of advanced oral surgery, including rods and implants — plus one month of recovery later, Marshall Mathis sits at home a renewed man.
“It's been a big boost in my self-confidence, without a doubt,” he said.
WVRF runs on donations, and they could use more help to keep their mission going strong. If you’d like to donate, click here.