2010 ODA Humanitarian Award Winner: Dr. James E. Nicholls!

It's Official!

    Northstone Dental Group is celebrating the recent news that co-owner and founder Dr. James Nicholls has been announced as the 2010 recipient of the Ohio Dental Association's Marvin Fisk Humanitarian Award. This award is given to dentists who have provided oral health care to those in need by donating their time, skill and personal resources. The Columbus Dental Society nominated "Dr. Jim" for his accomplishments over his thirty years in practice, particularly for his participation in Doctors With A Heart Day at his office starting in the late 1980s. 


A Career of Caring

     Dr. Nicholls graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in pharmacy, then worked as a pharmacist in the Northland community while attending dental school at OSU. He began his practice on Schrock Rd in 1979 and a few short years later moved across the street to the larger building where the practice(now Northstone Dental Group) is located today. He first participated in Doctors With a Heart Day, a day of donating free  health care to the community, in 1988. The concept, started by Iowa dentist Duane Schmidt, is simple: any health professional can pick one day a year to open up the office doors and donate free care to those in his or her community that can't afford basic services. The idea is that anyone can do this at their own office. If every health care provider would pick a day to give back then access to care for at-risk individuals in a community could be improved and the burden on the usual safety net clinics might be reduced. The offering has grown over the years to include several other area general dentists and specialists volunteering with Dr. Nicholls and Dr. Halderman. Recently other dentists in Central Ohio have even formed similar events at their own offices.


    "It's great to be picked for this award," says Dr. Jim, "back when I started this I never imagined I'd be recognized for it some day". He will be presented with the award at the 144th Ohio Dental Association Annual Session in September in Columbus.