Iowa Dental Foundation

The Iowa Dental Foundation was established in 1994 as a nonprofit foundation to benefit the general public. The IDF vision is to be the primary facilitator of dental health programs in Iowa, and the IDF's mission is to create opportunities that improve the oral health of Iowans.

The IDF's annual event is the Iowa Mission of Mercy (IMOM) free dental clinic. IMOM is an annual two-day, large-scale event where free oral health care is provided to individuals who face barriers to receiving oral health care. 100 mobile dental chairs are brought in and a full service field dental clinic is set up. IMOM is designed to treat immediate, acute needs of its patients. Patients are first screened by our medical and dental triage teams, and then sent to the treatment area most needed: hygiene, oral surgery, endodontics, restorative, pediatrics, and/or prosthodontics. We anticipate over 1,000 dental professionals and other individuals will volunteer their time at the event.

Since the first IMOM in 2008, over 16,600 patients from all areas of the state and beyond have received free dental care totaling in excess of $11.5 million. We expect to treat over 1,000 patients and provide over $1 million in free dental healthcare at our 2023 clinic in Waterloo on October 13-14, 2023.