Healthy Athletes Update

Special Olympics Minnesota Athlete Ron Hermansen at a Special Smiles screening

A Model Smile: Healthy Athletes Helps Relieve Fear of the Dentist 

By Renee Dease, Healthy Athletes Outreach Coordinator and Special Olympics Athlete

Before going through Healthy Athletes, Ron Hermansen, a Special Olympics Athlete from Minnesota, feared going to doctors and especially dentists. While this is a common trepidation among many people, it is particularly understandable in his case.

“A previous experience with a dentist made me afraid.  My old dentist didn’t give me Novocain or anything. He just told me to deal with the pain,” Hermansen explained.

But this all changed when he attended his first Special Smiles about five years ago. That was when he met Carol Dahlke. Dahlke is a volunteer with Healthy Athletes in Minnesota and did her best to make him feel relaxed at Special Smiles. Unfortunately, due to his previous lack of care, his screening found significant decay that required follow-up care. Dahlke arranged for her boss, Dr. John Krechmeyer, and Dr. Dan Sampson, an oral surgeon/medical doctor, to volunteer their services to help Hermansen.

“They didn’t do any work right away. They took x-rays and looked in my mouth.  I felt comfortable because I got to meet the dentist and he was really nice,” Hermansen said. “When he was working in my mouth, he took his time and he said that if I had any pain, I could just raise my hand.”

His subsequent appointments went well, and when Hermansen had a follow-up appointment a year later, the dentists found that his oral health was much improved. Now, he goes to the dentist regularly.

Hermansen has a lot to smile about these days. In addition to his success in Special Smiles, he has a number of great accomplishments in Special Olympics. He plays several sports like poly hockey, softball, athletics, and swimming; he coaches bowling and basketball. He has earned over 650 medals and has bowled a perfect 300 game.   He is a global messenger and participates in the Athlete Leadership Program. In 2006, he was named “Outstanding Male Athlete” for Special Olympics Minnesota.

Special Olympics has given Hermansen increased self-esteem and helped him with another fear as well. “I used to be afraid of the water,” he explained. “I didn’t know how to swim very well. I used the life jackets for about 2 years.  Then on the last day of practice in 2005, my coach suggested that I take the life jackets off and I was able to swim from the shallow end to the deep end without them.” Now, he swims the 25, 50, and 100 meter freestyle.

His next goal is to be on the board of directors for the Program in his state.

“It’s been 23 years and I am still going strong. I’m never going to retire. I am going to be in Special Olympics until I am 360 years old.”

Another goal is to stay active in Healthy Athletes, which he does by talking about his experiences and encouraging other athletes to go to Special Smiles. “I let them know it will be ok and that there is no drill or anything like that and the dentists are just going to look in their mouths,” he said. He was also the pilot athlete for ‘Save a Smile’, a program designed by Special Olympics Minnesota to apply a more thorough follow-up care system for Healthy Athletes. He has also stayed friends with Carol Dahlke and even presented her with an Outstanding Service Award on behalf of Special Olympics Minnesota.

“These days I’m feeling good about myself,” Hermansen said. “I know how going through a Special Smiles screening and having a healthy smile have changed my life.”