When people learn how Mint for More operates, the first question is almost always the same: how is the schedule actually built?
The short answer is that we run two different rhythms of free care, and they look very different from each other.
The Thursday rhythm
Every Thursday at Mint Dental Care, the operatories convert into a free care clinic for Mint for More patients. This is the weekly drumbeat of the work.
Dr. McCord runs the clinical day, with the assistants and admin team who support him. He is the only doctor working free care on Thursdays. The other doctors at Mint Dental Care, Dr. LeBoeuf, Dr. Thao, and Dr. Matousek-Ronck, keep their regular schedules with paying patients on those days. The model only works if the practice keeps running.
Thursdays are about depth, not breadth. Most of the work that gets done is the kind of dentistry that takes time. Extractions for patients who have been in pain for years. Denture impressions, fittings, deliveries, and adjustments. Treatment plans for patients who have not been seen by a dentist in a decade. The kind of slow, careful work that does not happen in a 30-minute hygiene block.
It is also the day that quietly accounts for most of our delivered care. A Thursday at Mint for More is rarely glamorous. It is operatories getting flipped between cases. It is sterilization running for hours. It is admin staff coordinating with our nonprofit partners about who is coming in and what they need. It is Dr. McCord and his team staying late.
The Friday rhythm
Four times a year, the rhythm changes completely. We close Mint Dental Care on a Friday and turn it into a Free Dental Day.
Two of those Fridays each year are Adult Free Dental Days. The other two are Kids Free Dental Days. They look almost nothing alike from inside the clinic.
A Free Dental Day is not Dr. McCord and his team. It is the whole team. Every doctor at Mint Dental Care, every hygienist, every assistant, and the admin staff. All four doctors in operatories at the same time. Patient flow rather than patient depth. Cleanings and extractions and same-day fillings and (on Adult Days) dentures, moving through the schedule across the entire day.
The numbers tell the story of how different the two rhythms are.
Our Adult Free Dental Day on April 10, 2026:
- 49 patients seen
- 182 teeth removed
- 3 sets of dentures delivered
- 4 more sets of dentures started
- Cleanings completed in between
Our Kids Free Dental Day on March 13, 2026:
- 58 children seen, most for their first dental visit ever
- More than $50,000 in donated services
- A backpack of food, toiletries, and toys for every kid
- Bourbon and Weller, our therapy dogs, working the waiting room for the kids who needed help settling in
A single Free Dental Day delivers more visits than a Thursday does. A year of Thursdays delivers far more total dollars of care than the four Free Dental Days combined. The two rhythms are not in competition with each other. They cover different patient needs.
Why we built it this way
The design of the schedule is shaped by one simple fact. Mint for More runs inside a working private dental practice. We do not have a separate building. We do not have separate staff. The practice has to keep running while the nonprofit work happens, because the practice is what subsidizes the work.
That constraint forced a clear split. Most weeks, one doctor and a small team can carve out one full day. A few weeks a year, the entire practice can shut down for a single day and put everyone on free care.
It also forced a clear partnership model on the patient side. Every patient who walks through the door, on a Thursday or a Friday, came to us through one of the nonprofit partners we work with. Eagle Crest Recovery, Nicole’s House, Micah 6.8, and many more. Mint for More does not accept self-referrals. We trust the organizations who already know the families they serve.
What it adds up to
Since 2016, we have provided more than $3.5 million in donated dental services to neighbors in Northwest Arkansas. (Mint for More itself was officially founded as a 501(c)(3) in 2022; the care has been happening longer.)
In 2025, we hit one million dollars of free care in a single year, three years ahead of the original goal we set for ourselves. Most of that comes from the quiet weekly Thursday work. The Free Dental Days are the moments people see. The Thursdays are how we get there.
The next goal is bigger. A standalone Mint for More clinic, open full-time, that turns every Thursday into every day. We are early in that planning. More on that soon.
How you can support both rhythms
Donate. Every gift goes further here. Last year, less than $70,000 in grants and donations supported more than $1 million in dental care delivered, because Mint Dental Care contributes the clinical infrastructure, the staff time, and the supplies. Give to Mint for More
Follow the work. New stories, photos, and event recaps go up here regularly. Read the blog
— The Mint for More Team Bentonville, AR · A 501(c)(3) nonprofit · Powered by Mint Dental Care