Orthodontics by the Burris Team

Dr. Benjamin Burris will represent Northeast Arkansas as a finalist in the Arkansas Executive of the Year category at the Arkansas Business award gala February 22, 2012 in Little Rock. Dr. Burris was named NE Arkansas Executive of the year in November, 2011 and thus moved on to the statewide event.
Burris owns practices in Jonesboro, Paragould, West Memphis, Forrest City and Blytheville and has been instrumental in opening Orthodontic, Pediatric and General Dental offices throughout Arkansas’ rural and underserved communities and improving access to care for all Arkansans.
In keeping with his desire to enhance access to care, Burris’ biggest contribution to the industry was his creation of Smile for a Lifetime Foundation (www.S4L.org) in Jonesboro, AR in 2008 to address the widening gap in access to orthodontic care. Providing orthodontic scholarships to deserving children, S4L now has over 100 chapters across the US and Canada. Since its inception in 2008, S4L has awarded nearly 1,900 Orthodontic Scholarships to disadvantaged children totaling $10 million in free treatment. In December 2011 Burris’ NE Arkansas Chapter of Smile for a Lifetime awarded their 100th Orthodontic Scholarship in less than three years! That’s over 600,000 dollars in free treatment awarded to children right here in NE Arkansas!!

JONESBORO, Arkansas (Oct. 31, 2011) — The Jonesboro, AR charter of Smile for a Lifetime (S4L) awarded its 100th Orthodontic Scholarship on Friday to Luís Mazariegos. In less than three years, the Jonesboro chapter of S4L, has awarded over $600,000 in orthodontic scholarships to underserved children changing lives one smile at a time.

In 2008, in an effort to reach out to his local community and provide pro-bono orthodontic scholarships for children who could not afford braces, Dr. Benjamin Burris was inspired to start a local non-profit called Smile for a Lifetime Foundation.

One year later, S4L became a National non-profit equipping local orthodontists with the resources and tools necessary to develop their own local chapters.

About Smile for a Lifetime Foundation
The mission of S4L is to create self-confidence, inspire hope and change the lives of children in their communities in a dramatic way. The gift of a smile can do all this for a deserving, underserved individual who, in turn, can use this gift to better themselves and their community. During treatment, many S4L local chapters also encourage scholarship recipients to participate in community service through a “pay it forward” program inspiring young people to participate in life-long giving.

Currently, there are 90 chapters in 30 states across the U.S. with movement to increase those numbers to over 200 chapters, covering 50 states and Canada in the next five years. Each chapter commits to serve at least six or more young people annually. By the end of 2012, some 800 to 1000 young people will have received the gift of a smile with over four to six million dollars of orthodontic services donated.