AstraDent: 13 Branches and the Entire Team Join the “Restore a Hero’s Smile” Project
The AstraDent team joined the Dental Help UA project in the winter of 2022. Participating in this charitable initiative, led by Olena Polikarchyk, CEO of WHITE, opened even more opportunities for AstraDent specialists, as the clinic network has been providing assistance to servicemen since 2014.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, AstraDent’s doors have hardly closed. “From February 28, 2022, the clinic returned to work, providing dental services at one of our locations near Ploshcha Lva Tolstoho metro station in Kyiv,” recalls Viktoriya Konovalchuk, CEO of AstraDen. “This branch was convenient for many patients and our team, as it is in the city center, near a metro station that also serves as a shelter. Our team even spent a few nights in the clinic’s basement to start appointments early in the morning. We operated as a hub, redirecting patients from clinics across Kyiv. Essentially, two dentists were treating acute pain and providing care for civilians, territorial defense members, and servicemen. Interestingly, many of them are still our patients and visit the clinic from time to time.”.
Working under the sound of explosions and gunfire from outside further strengthened and united the team. By March 2022,
“It was scary but inspiring because our team risked and invested their own resources to help people who remained in the city. Even then, we realized that treating defenders is a challenge. Soldiers don’t have time for themselves, so we had to achieve as much as possible in 1–2 appointments,” Viktoriya Konovalchuk notes.
AstraDent provided free treatment for servicemen, making donor and partner support increasingly essential. In this context, the project with Dental Help UA and Straumann implants allows even more defenders to receive care. For crown fabrication, the laboratory SevenLab was chosen as a partner.
Beyond professional dental care, since February 24, 2022, the network has been doing everything possible to support the war effort. The AstraDent team has delivered many supplies to the frontlines and regularly organizes fundraising for essential military equipment.
In the marathon of dental volunteering, maintaining efficiency is key, saysAnastasiya Tyumentseva, CMO of the network. “We can distribute requests for military treatment across our clinics, which helps us maintain balance in our business processes,” Anastasiya explains. “Today, almost all 150 of our dentists are involved in projects. However, it is important that both doctors and defenders continue to be helpful to each other for a long time. That’s why it’s essential to properly distribute workload among dentists and maintain an optimal ratio of military to civilian patients.”
The AstraDent team is convinced that continuous financial support requires centralized efforts across the industry. “Today, the ‘Restore a Hero’s Smile’ project has brought us together. We have seen how much the dental community can achieve. We have many insights already, and even more challenges ahead. We are grateful for the initiative and happy to be part of it.”