years ago at the St. Vincent de Paul dental clinic. It didn’t take long before
the two dentists discovered their shared interests and they began playing
volleyball and basketball, and hiking together on weekends. Dr. D. describes Dr.
Snyder as a family man and real stand-up guy. He also appreciates his great
sense of humor and explained that he trains dentists on how to integrate comedy
into patient care. Dr. Dougherty continues to volunteer his time and services
with St. Vincent de Paul and says, “Anytime Dr. Snyder calls for help with a
patient, my answer is yes.”
Dr. Ken Snyder has been a patient at Artistic Dental for 12
years. More importantly, Dr. Snyder is the Dental Director at St. Vincent De
Paul’s dental clinic, which provides low-income and uninsured adults and children with comprehensive
dental care. After 17 years in private practice, Dr. Snyder began running the
clinic in 2001. Since that time, he and his army of dedicated volunteers
(including Dr. Dougherty) have helped provide dental care to as many as 700 patients
a month. Dr. Snyder’s work and dedication was recently recognized when the
Society of St. Vincent de Paul was awarded the Henry Schein Cares Medal,
honoring an organization that demonstrates excellence in expanding access to
oral health care for people in need. In October 2015, the organization was also
recognized by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
We were fortunate to recently speak with Dr. Snyder about
his career in dentistry, the SVdP dental clinic and their recent honors:
mean to you and to St. Vincent de Paul?
It means quite a bit. The Henry
Schein award looked at more than 70
clinics throughout the country before narrowing it down to three. The finalists
were invited to Dallas, where there were about 2,500 people from the dental
industry in attendance. All three finalists received $10,000 credit for supplies
from Henry Schein, the largest distributor of dental supplies. As the winner, we
also received a check for $15,000, which is very beneficial.
was also a big honor. The AAPD looked at clinics across the country and narrowed
to two. When we went to the event in Chicago last October, we learned that the
organization awarded both finalists a grant of $75,000 for 5 years.
We survive solely on grants and donations, so these awards
are not only a tremendous honor recognizing the work we do as an organization,
it will help us to continue to do the work we do.
about working in dentistry?
Getting to help people is the biggest reward. We’ve put 400
children through braces, more than any other in the country. At the clinic, we
are changing people’s lives every day. I am fortunate to work with an
incredible team of people, and I like to say, “I’m just the band leader of a
world class band.”
offer at the SVdP dental clinic?
Thanks to the help of volunteer dental professionals and
dental students, we are able to provide general care, oral surgery, treatment
plans, orthodontia and implants. We have a small staff including myself, one
other dentist and a few dental assistants – otherwise, everything we provide is through
our volunteers – like Dr. John.
How did you come to
be a patient at Artistic Dental?
while he was there we became good friends. When my dentist retired, I decided
to go to Artistic Dental and have been a patient there ever since.
How can others get
involved or volunteer at the SVdP dental clinic?
dentistry, you can help in our office. We also love having high school and
college kids volunteer, especially if they are interested in exploring a career
in dentistry. We’ve also started a dental assistant training program for women
living in shelters to help them develop a career. Outside of volunteering, monetary
donations are always helpful, and we can also use dental equipment.