By Sara Behunek
Sunday, 17 July 2011

Dr. Alan Schauer has many causes “close to his heart,” he said. Education, cancer and domestic violence all touch him or his seven-person staff in one way or another. So the dentist, who has worked from his Northwest Austin office on Hymeadow Drive for 18 years, makes it his mission to address each of these issues on a local level.
This month, Schauer (pronounced “shower”) is putting the finishing touches on a full-mouth reconstruction for a victim of domestic violence referred to him by the American Cosmetic Dentistry Association. Over the course of her three-year reconstruction, Mary Cirilli has required tens of thousands of dollars of dental work, all of which has been donated by Schauer and his staff. The story is so compelling that Cirilli will be featured on Discovery Channel in October.

“What’s great is seeing not just the change in her smile, but the change in her personality. She is much more confident, much more outgoing,” said Tim Davis, a dental hygienist who has worked for Schauer for 16 years.

With the project nearly complete, Schauer and his team are turning their attention to education. For the 2011–12 school year, he has set up a $1,000 college scholarship to go to an area high school student. “With all the cutbacks to education and issues with education, it just made sense,” he said. “We are looking for someone who is strong scholastically and involved in the community, but also who could really use the money.” Schauer is coordinating primarily with Round Rock ISD school officials to spread the word about the scholarship because “that is the community that I serve,” he said.

This fall, Schauer is launching another charity program: the donation of customized sports mouthguards, which typically cost $200–$500 each, for a boys’ program and a girls’ program. He has agreed to do the mouthguards for the Westwood High School football team and is still looking for a girls’ program. “Because we treat so many patients that have traumatic injuries from sports, and we’re always putting teeth back in and fixing teeth or doing implants because people are losing teeth, we thought it would be a good idea." Schauer said. He recently purchased a machine that laboratories use to make the mouthguards on-site, lowering the cost of production.

Schauer’s goodwill has spread throughout the office. Dental assistant and cancer survivor Marty Heilman began last year donating her own artwork for auction to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and each year Schauer and the entire office participate in the Walk For the Cure. Together, the team raised $5,000 for Schauer’s hairdresser’s daughter, who was diagnosed with cancer, and, lacking health insurance, was struggling with the medical costs.

But how, with the health care reform putting financial pressure on medical providers, is Schauer able to do all this?

For him, it is about priorities. “There is always going to be someone less fortunate that needs your help,” he said.