Changing the world one smile at a time
Nuevas Sonrisas collaborates with communities in the developing world to achieve lasting improvement of children’s oral health by focusing on prevention.
A preventive dental outreach program powered by U.S. and Guatemalan Volunteers
Nuevas Sonrisas is dedicated to improving children’s oral health in developing communities through a holistic approach that emphasizes prevention. Our mission prioritizes equal focus on providing services and education, fostering sustainable, long-term impacts.
We collaborate closely with client communities, ensuring they are integral to every decision-making process. By expanding local support for delivering oral health services and education, we strengthen the foundation for lasting change. To enhance our impact, we prioritize quality over quantity in all initiatives and continuously improve the organization and execution of our dental service trips.
To empower service providers, we develop and deliver comprehensive training modules, ensuring consistent and effective care. Additionally, we document every aspect of running the organization, beyond service provision, to ensure transparency, scalability, and sustainability in achieving our mission.
Three dental operatories donated by the Spencer Family Foundation and DCI Edge
Nuevas Sonrisas is deeply grateful to the Spencer Family Foundation and DCI Edge for their extraordinarily generous donation of dental equipment that has now furnished three dental clinics serving the Santa Catarina Mita and Jutiapa regions of Guatemala.
In addition to outfitting these clinics, their gift included five dentist and assistant stools and other essential equipment and accessories. This remarkable investment greatly expands Nuevas Sonrisas’ mission of achieving lasting improvements in children’s oral health through prevention, helping ensure that more children and families have access to quality dental care for years to come.
Their generosity will have a lasting impact on the health and well-being of the communities we serve. We extend our heartfelt thanks for their partnership and commitment to creating healthier smiles.
Three public health clinics and an anonymous donation of SDF treatments
Dra. Lesly initially set up these public health clinics to provide the graduating EPS dentists the opportunity to complete their community service by treating children in the clinics four days a week and visiting schools once a week. These clinics remain in operation throughout the year.
An anonymous donor has made a generous and much-needed gift of 10,000 doses of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) for use in these year-round dental clinics.
SDF is a safe, noninvasive treatment that effectively stops the progression of tooth decay, often preventing the need for premature tooth extractions. By helping children retain their primary (baby) teeth until they are naturally replaced, this treatment supports healthy oral development and improves long-term dental health.
This extraordinary gift will provide thousands of children with access to an effective preventive treatment, helping ensure healthier smiles for years to come.
Schools Served
Parents Educated
Fillings & Extractions Performed
Dental Sealants Placed
Children Receiving Fluoride and Education
Volunteer-Days Served in Guatemala
Three large teams provide dental services to children and preventive education to children and their families in the municpality of Santa Catarina Mita, Jutiapa, Guatemala
For more than 17 years, Nuevas Sonrisas, a volunteer organization based in Oregon, has been improving the oral health and well-being of children in rural Guatemala.
Each spring, dozens of U.S. volunteers travel to Guatemala to work alongside Guatemalan dentists, public health workers, nursing students, and community volunteers. Together, they provide preventive and restorative dental care to 3,500–4,000 schoolchildren each year, including dental sealants, fluoride treatments, restorative procedures, and emergency care.
Education and prevention are at the heart of our mission. In addition to providing dental services, we teach children and their parents about the importance of daily toothbrushing, good nutrition, and limiting sugary foods and drinks that contribute to tooth decay. By helping families develop healthy habits, we strive to create lasting improvements in oral health that extend far beyond our annual visits.
Our volunteers often describe their week in Guatemala as a life-changing experience. We invite you to read their stories and discover the impact of serving with Nuevas Sonrisas.
Oral Health International Foundation Grant
The Oral Health International Foundation awarded a $8,826 grant to expand dental services to the children of Santa Catarina Mita in 2026. This generous grant enabled us to expand our program to previously unserved preschool children aged 4-to-6 years old in 35 urban and rural schools. Additional classroom instruction and education was provided to parents about the importance of nutrition and oral hygiene.
The supplies and equipment enhanced our ability to identify and treat children in our rural mobile health clinics. That work will continue throughout the year in the public health clinics, now fully equiped throught a grant from the Spencer Family Foundation, mentioned above, and staffed by local public health dentists and recent graduates.
In-Kind Donations!
We are grateful to Henry Schein Cares for its generous in-kind grant, valued at $6,000, which provided essential dental supplies for our programs. This significant donation helped supplement our inventory, ensuring that our volunteer teams had the materials needed to provide high-quality dental care to the children we serve.
Trip Challenge Grants
Several families who are deeply committed to the mission of Nuevas Sonrisas generously provided Challenge Grants totaling $15,000 to expand the scope and impact of the dental services we provided to the children of Santa Catarina Mita in 2026.
These matching gifts inspired additional generosity and helped us reach even more children with preventive and restorative dental care.
Be sure to check back for updates—we hope to announce a new Challenge Grant opportunity in support of our 2027 Dental Week!
Please donate now to increase the impact of the Challenge Grant gifts.
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We are an all-volunteer group. More than 95% of our budget is spent on client services.
Volunteer
We’re looking for energetic, motivated people to join us in rural Guatemala each March.
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2025 Permanente Dental Group Grant
Thank you to the Permanente Dental Group for their $5,000 grant this fall and a special acknowledgement of their continued support of our mission to improve children’s dental health through prevention. With this grant we will be able to expand our services and impact even more children in Santa Catarina Mita. We are very grateful for your generosity!
Colgate-Palmolive Guatemala Collaboration
Many thanks to Colgate-Palmolive in Guatemala for their continued support which will provide over 4,000 students in the Santa Catarina Mita area schools toothbrushing supplies to promote dental health and good toothhbrushing habits. Children, their families, and teachers will all benefit from the educational components of Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program.
Click here to see more Colgate information and pictures.
