Candy Buyback 09

For the past five years, Dr. Yao has sponsored the Braces for Pretty Faces Candy Buyback Program. The doctor awards participants from our practice and anyone who wants to join in $1 for every pound of candy donated. The office matches dollar for dollar the total cash awards distributed and donates that amount to a local charity in the area.

All candy collected is donated to the troops.  Chocolate candy is donated locally and the hard candy is sent to the troops overseas. 

This year, matching donations of the program will go to the Nike Animal Rescue Foundation (NRAF). The children of St. Justin’s Elementary School teamed up and donated all their candy to our program to raise money to buy much needed supplies for their new Kindergarten program. Local dental practices in San Jose also participated. 

Halloween is a time where breakage of orthodontic appliances is common when kids Trick or Treat for candy they shouldn’t eat while wearing braces. Our candy buyback program not only provides resources for our nonprofit organizations in the area, school programs, and our troops, it is teaching children the rewards of random acts of kindness and generosity.

And yes… it dramatically reduces orthodontic emergency appointments that are very common this time of year.  Not only does it keep us on schedule for patients eliminating many emergency appointments, it saves valuable time for patients not having to miss school to repair braces and parents missing time from work bringing them to the office for additional appointments.

Our patients “ROCK” when it comes to our candy buyback program and helping others.  2009 was our best year ever collecting 479 lbs of candy. This just goes to show that when everybody pitches in a little bit, great things can happen.

We collect candy at both our orthodontic office locations the first week after Halloween. The money donated this year to the Nike Animal Rescue Foundation will go towards operation costs and other expenses.