Heraeus and the St. Vincent de Paul Dental Clinic in Detroit Give an Unemployed Factory Worker a New Smile and a New Career

SOUTH BEND, Ind., March 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine being a Detroit factory worker, unemployed for years.  Your hope of ever working again erodes with each passing day, as one factory after another is shuttered around you. You face the facts and accept the reality that you must find another line of work, a non-factory job, perhaps one that capitalizes on your friendly, outgoing disposition. Then finally, after years of effort, you are given an opportunity to interview for a position in customer service, a job from which you will almost certainly be disqualified by the fact that you are missing your top four front teeth.

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That is precisely the situation in which Roger recently found himself.  After years on unemployment, he obviously could not afford to see a private dentist.  But what he could do was visit the St. Vincent de Paul Dental Clinic on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit. And when he did, he met Mark Murphy, DDS, a local dentist from suburban Rochester Hills who had been helping at the clinic for the last year.  Dr. Murphy had been drawn to volunteer in the clinic by the co-founder Dr. Bob Cosgrove, for whom he had worked as an associate right after graduating from dental school in 1981.  They had remained friends over the years after Dr. Murphy started his own practice.

When Dr. Murphy had his first consultation with Roger, he liked him immediately.  "It was clear that Roger was a kind, smart, personable man who wanted very much to make a better life for his family," said Dr. Murphy.  "He told me that he had always enjoyed working with people, even when he was in the factory." But soon after Roger lost his job, he lost his teeth, and soon thereafter he also lost his confidence.  As he told Dr. Murphy at their initial meeting, "I feel deformed, like an outcast." 

When Roger worked in the factory, he had impressed one of the factory's vendors with his positive attitude and outgoing personality.  So when that vendor recently had a job opening in customer service, Roger was one of the first people he thought of. But the vendor had not seen Roger for several years, and surely he would not want to have his customers greeted by a representative missing his top front teeth.

Roger told Dr. Murphy about his upcoming job interview, and Dr. Murphy agreed to treat him the following week.  The day after the meeting, Dr. Murphy headed to the Chicago Midwinter Meeting on behalf of the Pankey Institute, for which he sits on the Board of Directors.  In a meeting with Heraeus' Sandy Porritt, he happened to mention the St. Vincent DePaul Dental Clinic and Roger's case.  "Almost before I could finish telling her my story, she asked how Heraeus could help," said Dr. Murphy.  "I told her that we were using alginate for final impressions, and it would be wonderful if Heraeus would donate some Flexitime® impression material and some Artic® denture teeth. However, I would be treating Roger in less than a week and I  knew there wouldn't be enough time for her to get the materials to me."  To his amazement, when he returned home to Michigan the next day, he found a large package from Heraeus waiting for him.

A few days later, Roger had impressions for a partial denture, and then was fitted with a set of natural-looking Artic denture teeth.  Shortly thereafter, he breezed through his job interview and started his new career in customer service. 

"There are really no words that can explain the rewards you receive when doing volunteer work for the underserved dental population," said Dr. Murphy.  "It is extremely gratifying to be able to help these folks eat, smile and function more normally again.  By helping them return to more socially acceptable esthetics with removable prosthetics, we can help them get jobs, feel better about themselves, and return to being the person they were before falling on hard times."  He added, "None of this would be possible without the care and hard work of our wonderful clinic volunteers, or the generous donations and exceptional materials provided by compassionate companies like Heraeus.   It really does take a village."

Nicole Turner, Heraeus Director of Marketing, said, "As proud as we are that Heraeus is the worldwide leader in dental esthetics, we are even prouder to be able to partner with Dr. Mark Murphy and the other caring and talented professionals at St. Vincent de Paul Dental Clinic to help make a difference in patients' lives."

This story is part of Heraeus' on-going "TLC: Transforming Lives Chronicles" series about dental professionals who have partnered with the company to have a profound impact on a patient's life. By chronicling these inspirational stories, the company hopes to create awareness among both the dental community and the public of the truly amazing things that can happen when talented, caring clinicians take advantage of state-of-the-art dental materials and techniques.

Dr. Murphy is the Lead Faculty for Clinical Education at Microdental / DTI Dental Technologies Inc.   He also serves on the Adjunct Faculty at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and as a Guest Presenter at Mercer Advisors, and on the Board of Directors at the Pankey Institute. He practices general dentistry on a limited basis in Rochester, Michigan and lectures internationally on Leadership, Practice Management, Communication, Case Acceptance, Planning, Occlusion and TMD.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul - Detroit is the local arm of The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic lay organization of approximately 700,000 men and women who voluntarily join together to grow spiritually and offer person-to-person service to those living in poverty and the largest social assistance organization in the world.  The Detroit office of The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a major provider of human services.  Programs include home visits, housing assistance, disaster relief, job training and placement, food pantries, clothing and utility assistance. The Society works in conjunction with the Archdiocese of Detroit, networking with 2,000 Vincentian volunteers in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Lapeer, St. Clair and Monroe counties, and assisting 30,000 local households annually.  For more information on the Society and its programs, please visit www.svdpdet.org.

For more information on Heraeus or its products, call (800) 431-1785 or visit www.heraeusdentalusa.com.

About Heraeus

Heraeus, the precious metals and technology group headquartered in Hanau, Germany, is a global, private company with 160 years of tradition. Our fields of competence include precious metals, materials, and technologies, sensors, biomaterials, and medical products, as well as dental products, quartz glass, and specialty light sources. With product revenues of euro 4.1 billion and precious metal trading revenues of euro 17.9 billion, as well as more than 12,900 employees in over 120 subsidiaries worldwide, Heraeus holds a leading position in its global markets.  

SOURCE Heraeus