Bucks orthodontist helps teen patients with Girl Scouts cookie sales

Dr. Jason Yang, an orthodontist with offices in Middletown and Newtown townships, bought 750 boxes of Girl Scout cookies worth about $3,000 to support the young girls and teens who come to him for braces on their teeth.

The dentist, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh Dental School and has been in practice since 2018, said he started to notice as his list of orthodontic patients  grew that some were Girl Scouts. Over the past few years, he’s been helping them sell their cookies, while realigning their teeth.

This year, with the girls and teens doing their sales online instead of in person, has been especially hard on their business so he decided he needed to do more. 

The pandemic, he said, “has been challenging. Like other businesses, we have been affected,” he said, though he takes precautions to keep his patients safe.

But he felt sorry that the girls can’t congregate outside grocery stories and other shops where they used to sell the cookies.  “We’ve bought a little more than usual,” he said.

He also purchased some Girl Scout labeled sacks for the approximately 20 girls in his practice who are Scouts. They’ll come in handy with delivering cookies they sold.

Thin Mints are the favorites, he’s found, though Yang himself is particularly fond of Caramel DeLites.

The cookies he’s bought will go quickly. He plans to donate them to essential workers at hospitals and first responders as well as to other patients, including the adults who make up about one-third of his practice. Yang is telling them to enjoy the treats, as long as they continue to brush their teeth.  

And that’s something to smile about.

While the drive by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania has ended, Girl Scout cookies are still available for sale online at https://www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies/all-about-cookies/FAQs.html#