pay i t f o r w a r d
r o b e r ta s ta l e y Roberta Staley is an author, magazine writer and filmmaker, currently working on a documentary about street nursing in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Social media for good
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hen Dr. Jason Adinata first embarked upon an Instagram initiative in 2015, SmilesFromToronto—or #smileTO—it didn’t, as they say, go off without a hitch. Accompanied by wife Sylvia, Adinata went to Yonge-Dundas Dr. Jason Adinata practises what he preaches: #smileTO
Square in downtown Toronto to begin photographing the smiles of people who represented the 196 different nationalities who call the city home. “We started asking people to share their smile. That first day,” Adinata admits dryly, “was not successful.” Adinata realized he had to change tack slightly. He created a card explaining his initiative: for every smile posted to Instagram, Adinata would donate an oral care package with floss, toothbrush and toothpaste to the city’s homeless shelters. Adinata also started giving away t-shirts while recruiting new smiles. Eventually, “people started approaching us.” The hashtag #smileTO was inspired by Adinata’s belief that if people saw a happy
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grin on their Instagram feed first thing in the morning, “they’d start off their day on a positive note. We know smiles are contagious.” It was also a way to celebrate Toronto multiculturalism, with immigrants from the globe’s 196 nations giving the city the moniker, “Crossroads of the World.” Plus, being a dentist, Adinata is admittedly a bit obsessed with smiles, and he’s devised many unique approaches to the practice that honour this most universal of human gestures. COVID-19 and social distancing protocols signalled the end of #smileTO. It also meant lockdown on March 13, 2020 of Adinata’s Toronto practice IVIVI Toronto Dentistry. (Or, 416 Dentistry, acknowledging Toronto’s area code, but in Roman numerals.) At first, says Adinata, the closure was devastating. But an end to the daily grind allowed creative tendrils to sprout, and he developed new outlets to focus on. “I felt like a hamster on a wheel. Then all of a sudden, the world stopped. This gave me time to reflect and work on myself.” This included creation of a fiveminute YouTube video, One World United, shot in collaboration with dental company Ivoclar Vivadent. In it, a camera follows Adinata as he jogs through a largely deserted cityscape, passing iconic Toronto landmarks, while reflecting upon the challenges posed by COVID-19. “I promise, after this storm, the dentist I was on March 13, 2020, he’ll not exist anymore, because rain brings growth,” Adinata states in the short doc. Adinata also began overseeing construction of a new dental office during COVID-19 shutdown—something that would support the brand of artisanship he began cultivating upon graduating from the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry. Adinata approaches dentistry as a collaboration with his patients, while dental staff are regarded as “personal trainers” who optimize a client’s oral health. “You’ll tell a fitness coach what your fitness goals are that you wish to achieve. So, similar to a fitness coach, oral health personal trainers will help bridge that gap of where you are today
Just For Canadian dentists March/April 2021
and where you want to be in the future.” Adinata is adding other creative touches, such as a collaborative round table in a “discovery room”—in lieu of the consulting room—with the focus being proactive and preventative, rather than reactive, dentistry. Another initiative Adinata undertook during forced hiatus was helping feed the hungry. At the end of 2019, Adinata launched a food drive, gathering nonperishable food items for The Scott Mission shelter in the city’s downtown. As the severity of the pandemic increased, and businesses shut down, there was growing concern about hunger. Not only were more people going without food, but there was a reduction in public donations. Adinata helped spearhead a drive to raise money for the Daily Bread Food Bank, which by last summer reported a 50% increase in visits compared to 2019. He collaborated with the family-owned gourmet grocery chain, Pusateri’s Fine Foods, to raise money and donate supplies. He also teamed with Toronto catering company The Edible Story, which created appreciation lunches for food bank workers and volunteers. When Adinata was able to re-open his dental office last June, he found that some people, such as those more vulnerable to the virus, were reluctant to come into the office. So Adinata pivoted slightly once more, connecting with media-savvy Toronto influencers to help get out the word about good oral health, while promoting flossing and brushing on his own Instagram site. Like everyone, Adinata is looking forward to the day when he can strip off his heavy Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), chat and smile with his patients, and see them smile back. But with COVID-19 always hovering in the background, he finds he’s maintaining a reflective state of mind. “I did quite a few things in lockdown and discovered that, in order to help others, it doesn’t necessarily have to cost you a lot of money. It’s just a willingness to want to help, and you can definitely make a positive difference in your community.”
courtesy of Dr. Adinata
When things went sideways, this dentist doubled-down on sourcing SmilesFromToronto
