Like many 9-year-olds, Xavier Quintero Altuve’s summer vacation involves playing with friends, watching television and maybe hanging out at a pool. Great opportunities for grins.
It began last fall at Sheffield Elementary School in Dallas. A&M Dentistry dental and dental hygiene students at a routine sealant clinic noticed tooth decay so severe in Xavier’s mouth that they and Dr. Amal Noureldin, the attending A&M Dentistry faculty member, feared he would land in a hospital emergency department if extensive dental treatment soon.
“Every member of our team stopped,” said Noureldin, clinical professor and director of the predoctoral program in public health sciences. “We saw a little boy living with extensive untreated decay and pain that no child should have to endure.”
Noureldin faced a quandary. Funding for the Empowering Smiles Oral Health Initiative, which provides screenings, oral health education and sealants in some CFBISD elementaries and middle schools, can’t be used for extensive dental treatment, and many students’ parents couldn’t afford large dental bills.
That’s when MHA swooped in as the Tooth Fairy.
Upon hearing Noureldin’s reports about the CFBISD students’ severe dental problems, the 51-year-old agency, known for collaborating and supporting various community-based healthcare efforts, provided $5,000 to cover all of Xavier’s treatment needs and those of other students.
“One little girl especially stayed with me,” Noureldin said. “When she smiled, we saw all her teeth had decayed to the gumline. Her teeth were gone, and it was absolutely heartbreaking.”
Four students’ parents received offers through the Closing the Loop pilot program, and Paola Altuve, Xavier’s mother, was the first to accept. Sharing their story through Spanish-speaking interpreters, Altuve said she took him to a private dentist who extracted one tooth and filled a cavity in 2025; more treatment was necessary, but the plan was cost-prohibitive for her family’s budget.
The program was a blessing, she said.
On the recommendation of Dr. Martha Alvarez, clinical faculty in pediatric dentistry, Xavier was immediately paired with Dr. Jade Quearney, who completed her pediatric dentistry residency at A&M Dentistry in 2025 and recently earned a master’s in oral biology. The latter said Xavier needed cavities filled, silver crowns and multiple teeth extracted; most affected were baby teeth, and he remains at risk for more cavities.
“I was very fortunate that he was super cooperative and very grateful,” said Quearney, who recently became an assistant professor in pediatric dentistry at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics.
Unfortunately, she’s seen many cases like Xavier’s both in her native Ireland and in A&M Dentistry’s pediatric dentistry clinic.
Children’s oral health is a growing public health challenge, particularly among low-income and underserved populations. Emergency department visits among children 14 and under for preventable dental problems rose nearly 60% from 2019 to 2022, national nonprofit CareQuest Institute for Oral Health reported in 2025. Visits for nontraumatic dental conditions were more common than injuries involving firearms, motor vehicles or other types of transportation, drowning or poisoning.
Of those children, nearly 75 percent had Medicaid dental insurance.
“Recognizing that many children in our community lacked access to regular dental care and a consistent dental home, we saw an opportunity to help address a critical health need,” said John Mahalik, CEO of MHA. “Metrocrest Hospital Authority exists to improve access to healthcare for the people we serve, and this partnership allowed us to transform an identified community need into meaningful care. Every child deserves the opportunity to develop healthy habits, receive preventive dental care, and smile with confidence.”
A second child recently finished treatment. The two other children didn’t participate in the program.
Noureldin said the offer of dental treatment remains available to those children. However, she’s researching ways to improve the program and outreach before pursuing more funds and additional patients.
“As healthcare providers and educators, our responsibility extends beyond identifying disease– it is to ensure that every child has access to the care they need,” Noureldin said. “Xavier’s story reminds us that one act of partnership can change the course of a child’s life. Together with Metrocrest Hospital Authority, we transformed concern into action, pain into relief, and uncertainty into hope.”
For Xavier’s mother, the care provided is worth more than a healthy mouth.
“Xavier is everything to me,” she said. “To see him now pain-free and smiling makes me so happy. I (never) imagined we could get this care.”