After a four-year hiatus, we brought back our annual Open House & Community Appreciation Reception on Sunday, February 22, 2026! More than 50 community partners, supporters and friends helped us celebrate National Children’s Dental Health Month, while looking back at what we’ve accomplished together and ahead to the future. Sponsored by Farmer & Merchants Bank and the Port of Long Beach, the event was hosted in our main clinic in the Buffum Medical Pavilion on the MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center campus, which gave us an opportunity to show appreciation to all those who make our work possible, while also welcoming new friends to tour the clinic and learn more about becoming a partner or supporter.
Our Executive Director and Dental Director, Dr. Mackenzie Kate Martin, began her remarks by saying, “I hope today helps you see a little bit of the magic in this clinic.” As part of the event’s traditional “State of the Clinic” address, she featured highlights of what we accomplished in 2025 in partnership with our partners in the community.
“I want to take a little bit of a look back at 2025,” Dr. Mackenzie said. “It was a year we accomplished a lot together as a clinic. It was also a year full of change and growth with many of us starting new leadership positions – myself as the Executive Director, Dr. Khoa Le as our Pediatric Residency Director, and Dr. John Blake as our Board President.”
Dr. Mackenzie, a Long Beach native who began volunteering at the clinic at age 12 and graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School, took over for Dr. Blake in late 2024 when he retired after 21 years as the clinic’s Executive Director and Dental Director. Dr. Blake had been a board member prior to stepping into that leadership position. He rejoined the board and was named President following his retirement.
In continuing her remarks, Dr. Mackenzie recounted the number of children and families we helped in the clinic and in the community in 2025, as well as the number of residents and student clinicians who gained hands-on experience through our training partnerships with the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center, Cerritos College and West Coast University. The total number surpassed the average 5,500 we serve annually. She also touched on the many team members who celebrated major milestones – from 10 years to 35 years with the clinic – and introduced some of the new team members in our “CDHC family” who joined in 2025.
Among the accomplishments from the past year, she highlighted the first year partnering with the DreamSafe Anesthesia team – three medical anesthesiologist who help us provide treatment under intravenous (IV) sedation in the clinic. “This group of compassionate medical providers has been instrumental in allowing us to complete more complex cases under general anesthesia in our clinic,” she said, and she went on to explain how this helps patients who are otherwise on the 16-month wait list for treatment by our team in the operating rooms at Miller Children’s Hospital. She also mentioned the addition of dental exams through our Early Intervention Program, which provides a gentle introduction to the dental setting for children ages 0 to 5 and their parents, now allowing for quicker referrals and triage care for those with more urgent concerns. She closed by mentioning some crucial technology upgrades that ensured that our state-of-the-art clinic remained that way, which were made possible by support from The Ahmanson Foundation and L.A. Care Health Plan.
Dr. Mackenzie also acknowledged the many community partners in attendance, including members of the Children’s Benefit League (CBL) and the Porsche Club of America (PCA) Grand Prix Region. CDHC is one of five local organizations supported by CBL, and we are the official charity partner for PCA’s local chapter. One especially touching moment was when she introduced some special guests. The family of Robert E. Anderson – who founded the organization in 1932 when he was the Dental Examiner for Long Beach public schools – were in attendance that afternoon, including his daughter, Ruth Anderson Weaver. CDHC’s new Director of Advancement, Liz Reinhardt – who joined the team in 2025 – closed the formal remarks with a personal look at how she herself found many ways to support the local community starting as a teen, while thanking everyone for doing the same for CDHC and the families we serve.
As the safety-net oral health care provider for low-income children and young adults in greater Long Beach and southern Los Angeles County, the Children’s Dental Health Clinic (CDHC) is a non-profit organization with a nearly 100-year history of helping the most vulnerable members of the community through the Multi-Specialty, Orthodontics and Early Intervention programs, as well as through oral health education and outreach efforts in the community. In addition to the hospital-based clinic in Long Beach, there is a school-based, satellite clinic in Avalon on Catalina Island, and the programs and facilities are designed to support the unique needs of disabled or medically-complex children.
Click here to learn more about us and our programs.
Click here for ways to help us make a difference for the children and families our community.