Of the many military observances and holidays throughout the year, the most widely observed is Veterans Day on November 11. That date is important to other countries as well, because it memorializes the end of World War I, when an armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1919. In the United States, what was originally known as Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 when legislation made it a day to recognize the veterans of all wars.
While it’s important that the sacrifices of our veterans be commended every day, this is especially so on the day set apart to honor them. In keeping with our mission, Northeast Delta Dental shows its appreciation to our country’s veterans by increasing their access to dental care, because oral health has such a profound and far-reaching impact on their overall health. Due to benefit limitations, only a small percentage of veterans receive dental care through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but every veteran deserves a healthy smile!
We increase access to dental care for veterans through ongoing programs in our three-state, Northern New England region. Since 2020, we have also been one of the Delta Dental member companies who sponsor the Dental Lifeline Network (DLN) Lifeline Heroes Challenge. Through a volunteer network of 12,300 dentists and 3,330 laboratories, DLN develops and coordinates direct-service programs treating adults with disabilities, the elderly, those needing life-saving care, and veterans. Regionally, the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation, which awards grants to oral health programs in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, invests annually in the DLN programs in all three states.
We are also large corporate funders of the Maine Veteran’s Dental Network, the Vermont Veterans Dental Program and the Northeast Delta Dental Veteran Oral Health Care New Hampshire program. We provide contact information for these and six other options for veterans searching for programs offering comprehensive dental care on state-specific flyers on this Foundation website page.
Many of our initiatives indirectly increase the potential for veterans to receive services necessary to achieve and maintain their optimal oral health. These include encouraging dentists to treat adults covered by Medicaid, addressing dental professional workforce shortages by funding training, scholarship and loan forgiveness programs and supporting dental clinics.
One of the qualities prized during a veteran’s active duty is physical resilience. Because of the nature of our business, Northeast Delta Dental is proud to be able to express our gratitude to veterans of our country’s military services by helping them preserve and protect their physical resilience by maximizing their oral health.
