Give Kids a Smile a Huge Success

GIVE KIDS A SMILE PHOTO ALBUM

On Friday, February 21, 2003 dental students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry provided a variety of dental care services to 100 kids in the local area. Dental care included examinations, X-rays, cleanings, fluoride treatments and sealants for children from the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Durham and Orange Counties, Inc program and the Chapel Hill Day Care Center.

Nolan Davis ' 04 orchestrated the UNC School of Dentistry initiative as part of the "Give Kids A Smile/National Children's Dental Access Day." Special thanks go to Ms. Pamela Houck BSDH"80, Patient Care Coordinator in the AEGD program and Dr. Tony Molina DDS '86,  for their assistance with this project. 

GKS organizer Nolan Davis '04 with Mari Hull '05.	Pam Houck, Patient Care Coordinator for AEGD helped the students manage the many details.
Kristen West '05 and Kiara R. talk about oral hygiene.	Triankenya B. enjoyed her first visit to the dentist.
Open wide!	Kenneth's winning smile says it all!
Antonio Braithwaite gives Andre B. a thorough examination.	"Horsing around" with a toothy hand puppet help Rob Sanborn gain his patient's confidence.
McKenzie Steen gives her patient a thorough checkup.	Teamwork gets the job done.

Students worked under the supervision of the school's advanced general dentistry residents (AEGD)  in the AEGD clinic and School of Dentistry faculty Tony Molina, DDS '86 and Frank Brantley, DDS '69. The goal of the "Give Kids a Smile" day was to improve the oral health of large numbers of needy children and also highlight the access-to-care issue for policymakers. The U.S. Surgeon General's 2000 report titled "Oral Health in America" has reported that dental decay is the most common disease affecting U.S. children, occurring at five times the rate of asthma and seven times that of hay fever. Millions of children suffer from untreated, easily preventable oral diseases that affect overall health, including speech, eating patterns and ability to concentrate in school, the American Dental Association has reported. About 23 million children in the United States do not have dental insurance.

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