Over 3000 residents have been served in the first staging of the Sandals Foundation-powered Great Shape! Inc.‘s 1000 Smiles clinic in Antigua.

In just two weeks, the volunteer mission which was coordinated in collaboration with the Ministry of Health served 3,575 residents with free oral care and dental education. Led by a team of 121 dental volunteers from the United States and Canada, over 1,500 patients received some 8,000 individual dental services including cleanings, extractions, fillings, restorative, urgent treatments and more.

―Everywhere we go, the need is great, but these two weeks in Antigua were especially powerful, said Joseph ‗Papa Joe‘ Wright, Founder of Great Shape! Inc. ―The response from communities across the island reminded us why this work matters — relieving pain, restoring dignity, and giving people reason to smile again.

The scale of the clinic has been described as transformational. On an island of 100,000 residents, the outreach, Wright explained, moved beyond individual sites to have an island-wide effort, ―It was as if every resident here either received a service or knew someone who did‖.

Preventative care was a central focus for the school outreach component of the programme. Close to 3,000 children across ten schools received oral health education with more than 7,000 toothbrushes, tubes of toothpaste, and floss distributed to reinforce healthy habits long after the clinics closed.

For Heidi Clarke, Executive Director at Sandals Foundation, ―This Antigua staging showed what is possible when trusted partners come together in service of community health. ―We are incredibly grateful to the Ministry of Health, the team at Sandal Grande Antigua and the army of Great Shape! volunteers who together brought a critical and essential service to families across the island.

All administrative costs, logistics, and volunteer support for the clinics are covered by the Sandals Foundation, with accommodations provided by Sandals Resorts, allowing dental professionals to focus fully on patient care.

Antigua now joins Jamaica, Turks and Caicos, Grenada, The Bahamas and Saint Lucia that also benefit from the dental mission.