Dental Group Helps Domestic-Violence Victims

A charity started by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry in 1999 has helped 500 people throughout the country — domestic-violence survivors — obtain dental care, reports CNN.

Give Back a Smile matches dentists willing to volunteer their services with victims of domestic violence in need of oral health care. One woman, who had been struck many times and had multiple problems with her teeth, received care costing nearly $40,000, a sum she tells CNN she would never have been able to afford.

“I feel beautiful,” she said, after her teeth were fixed. “It’s given me my self-esteem, my self-worth. It’s given me my life.”