Dental Home Project

Building a Future of Care

Creating Lifelong Smiles Beyond the Stadium

Our mission doesn’t stop after the event ends. Through the TeamSmile Dental Home Project, powered by Sun Life/DentaQuest, we connect at-risk children to long-term dental care providers in their communities. Whether through Medicaid or pro bono services, almost 6,000 children have been paired with local dentists to ensure continued, preventive care that lasts far beyond the stadium gates.

This long-term vision means our work isn’t just about one day of care—it’s about sustained health and lifelong impact.

Launched in partnership with DentaQuest in 2022, the Dental Home Project ensures that underserved children receive not only free dental care at TeamSmile programs—but are also connected with long-term dental care providers in their communities. These ongoing services are offered at little to no cost, and often completely free, helping children build lasting relationships with trusted providers and achieve better oral health outcomes over time.

DentaQuest has been a proud national sponsor of TeamSmile programs since 2018, supporting clinics across the country and advancing a shared mission to close the gap in oral health equity.

“By connecting at-risk children with dedicated dental professionals, this program is not just filling cavities – it’s filling a critical gap in our healthcare system. Oral health is fundamental to overall well-being and future success, yet it is often a secondary health consideration. DentaQuest helped launch the Dental Home Project because every child deserves a lifetime of optimal oral health, and that starts with early dental care. We continue to support it through important partnerships with local dental teams and employee volunteers from our extended Sun Life family at events across the country. We are seeing firsthand how targeted, community-based healthcare can create ripples of positive change that extend far beyond the dentist’s chair.”

Todd Gray, DDS, Chief Dental Officer, Sun Life U.S., including DentaQuest

The Power of A Dental Home

About DentaQuest

Every child deserves access to consistent, compassionate dental care—but for too many families, that care is out of reach. That’s where the TeamSmile Dental Home Project, powered by Sun Life/DentaQuest, steps in.

A Dental Home is the ongoing relationship between a child and a compassionate dental team who takes care of the child/youth’s dental health needs in a family-centered way. This is the dental team that the child will visit regularly (every six months) for periodic checkups — to catch problems early and to be sure teeth are healthy. Children with a dental home are more likely to receive appropriate preventive and routine oral health care at the right time, reducing the risk of preventable dental disease and costly dental care later in life. TeamSmile and DentaQuest believe that every child deserves a fair shot at good oral health and the chance to live a healthy and productive life.

About Sun Life/DentaQuest

Sun Life U.S. Dental, which includes DentaQuest, is dedicated to improving the oral health of all through purpose-driven, outcomes-based solutions. We make dental benefits better for everyone through Preventistry® – an inclusive approach centered on preventive, quality care, expanded access, and solutions built on valued relationships across the health care ecosystem. We manage dental and vision benefits for approximately 35 million Americans. For 30 years, we have delivered cost-effective benefit plans and services for employer groups, individuals, health plans, and government-sponsored dental programs. We are the largest Medicaid and CHIP dental benefits administrator in the U.S., by membership. We also support direct patient care through an expanding network of approximately 75 dental practices in underserved communities across the United States.

Together, TeamSmile and DentaQuest are building healthier futures—one child, one smile, one life changed at a time

“The Dental Home Project, Powered by Sun Life/DentaQuest, has become a tremendous success story for TeamSmile, as we’ve now connected nearly 6,000 children with a dental home that didn’t have a dentist when they walked into a TeamSmile program. With the support of Sun Life/DentaQuest, the Dental Home Project has become a national model and is wildly successful.”

John McCarthy, Executive Director TeamSmile

Become A Dental Home Today

Erica Hill, Dental Home Director

Phone: 816-503-1672

Email: erica@teamsmile.org

EMAIL ERICA