A national program only works if dentists in individual communities choose to participate. The Give Back a Smile program, run by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Charitable Foundation, operates on exactly that model. Christopher Sprout, a dentist in Golden, Colorado, is among the volunteer dentists who have given their time and skills to this initiative.
How the Program Is Structured
Give Back a Smile connects adult survivors of domestic or sexual violence who have suffered dental injuries with cosmetic dentists who donate their time and services. The AACD Charitable Foundation manages the coordination: screening applicants, verifying eligibility, and matching survivors with participating dentists in their area.
Eligibility has specific requirements. Applicants must have sustained dental injuries to the smile zone as a result of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or human trafficking. The incident must have occurred at least a year prior to application, and applicants must be safely away from the abusive situation. Each applicant is also required to have met with a qualified advocate, counselor, or therapist with experience in supporting survivors.
Those requirements are not barriers placed for administrative convenience. They are designed to ensure that recipients are in a stable position to receive and benefit from elective dental restoration. The treatment itself is cosmetic and restorative, which means timing and readiness matter to outcomes.
The Scale of the Work
Since the program’s founding, Give Back a Smile has restored the smiles of more than 1,700 survivors across all 50 states, with over $16 million in donated dental services provided by AACD member dentists. Those figures represent individual appointments, individual treatment plans, and individual dentists deciding to give their time to people who would otherwise have no path to cosmetic dental restoration.
The national hotline for the program is 800.773.GBAS. The program’s website, givebackasmile.com, accepts applications directly.
What Volunteer Dentists Contribute
Participating dentists absorb the full cost of treatment: their time, their staff’s time, and the materials involved. For complex cases, that cost can be substantial. Cosmetic and restorative work that addresses smile-zone injuries from trauma requires skill and care beyond a routine appointment.
Christopher Sprout, DDS, brings a clinical background that includes cosmetic dentistry, restorative care, and implant prosthetics, along with thousands of hours of continuing education in these areas. He is a founding member of the Colorado Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and holds advanced training through the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies. That background is directly applicable to the kind of work Give Back a Smile cases involve.
Why the Local Connection Matters
The Give Back a Smile program is national in scope but local in delivery. Every case is handled by a dentist in the survivor’s own community. That proximity matters practically. Survivors do not have to travel for treatment. It also matters in terms of the relationship between patient and provider. Christopher Sprout approaches every patient, in service and in practice, by first understanding their goals and expectations, then building a treatment plan around those. In a program like Give Back a Smile, that orientation is not optional; it is what the work requires.
Dr. Sprout is based in Golden and serves the broader Denver, Colorado area. His participation in Give Back a Smile reflects a belief that skilled dental care should not be available only to those who can afford it on the open market.
Read more about what the MDDS Smile Again program does for Denver survivors, or see when cosmetic dentistry becomes a tool for recovery. Learn more about Christopher Sprout, DDS.