Faculty and students from the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine will team up with local dentists and their spouses from the Greater Cleveland Dental Society February 6 for the Ohio Dental Association's second annual Give Kids A Smile!SM Day Ohio.

Approximately 200 children from the Cleveland Boys & Girls Clubs will come to the Case dental clinic to have their teeth cleaned, sealed and checked. The children also will be toothprinted, a simple process by which they bite into a thin wafer that then holds the bite imprint and contains DNA. This type of identification can help authorities identify missing children.

Children in need of further dental services will return to the clinic in March or visit an area volunteer dentist to correct any oral health problems, according to Ronald Occhionero, associate dean for administration at the dental school and coordinator of the activity at Case.

Dentists will provide an anticipated $900,000 in care and services by the volunteer dentists and others throughout the state. More than $33,000 in dental services was provided to nearly 200 youth at Case last year. The university provided an in-kind donation of approximately $25,000 from outside revenue lost from closing the dental clinic for that day to all but Give Kids A Smile! day patients.

Occhionero, a past president of the Ohio Dental Association, said the university's role in an event such as Give Kids A Smile! Day Ohio is another important step in improving access to dental care for children in Cleveland.

He added that last year's event was a resounding success for the children of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland, The Greater Cleveland Dental Society, the Alliance (spouses of dentists)
and the Case School of Dental Medicine.

Over 200 children were examined x-rayed and had their teeth preventively sealed by local dentists and Case students, with the Dental Society's Alliance providing instruction in home
care techniques.

"We are eagerly looking forward to expanding the service to these children this year by providing needed restorative dentistry (fillings), tooth imprinting for identification purposes and follow-up care at no charge to them if they have no heath care coverage," Occhionero said, adding that this effort continues Case's focus on being a good neighbor to Cleveland and Cleveland-area residents.

Tom Kelly, past president of the Greater Cleveland Dental Society, is coordinating the Cleveland events for the second year. He said he is gratified by the response from the local dental community.
" Last year's event brought together members of the dental society, staff from the university and dental clinic, dental students and so many others-all with a common goal: to help children. It's no surprise the response is even higher this year."

Many youth served in large-scale events in Ohio will come from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Ohio. Gregory Ashe, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs in Cleveland, said seeing the smiling faces of the children as they were examined at the Case dental clinic last year was priceless.

"These children really had a fun day at the dentist. They not only were provided with dental care but were taught in a fun way the importance of taking care of their teeth. Helping our children form good daily habits for their oral health certainly fits in with our club goals," Ashe said.

Give Kids A Smile! Day is an annual program of the American Dental Association in which dentists and other dental professionals provide oral health care education and services to children from low-income families; these are children who otherwise would not seek or could not afford such services.
It is expected that thousands of dentists and other dental volunteers throughout the country will participate on this day.

Occhionero said Give Kids A Smile! Day Ohio would not be successful without sponsorship and donations from others in the dental community.

Give Kids A Smile! Day is supported nationally by Procter & Gamble (Crest Healthy Smiles 2010), Sullivan Schein Dental Supply, Ivoclar Vivadent and ProVision Dental Systems Inc. In Ohio, the program is supported by the Ohio Dental Association and through grants received by the ADA Samuel Harris Foundation, the Delta Dental Plan of Ohio, Heart of Gold Foundation and Volunteers in Health.

Crest Healthy Smiles 2010 is a national outreach program committed to improving the state of oral hygiene for America's children. The goal is to reach at least 50 million children and their families in the next seven years by providing them with tools, education and access to dental professionals.
For more information on the program, visit http://www.cresthealthysmiles.com or call 877-289-6322.

The Ohio Dental Association serves 5,400 members in Ohio-approximately 80 percent of Ohio's practicing dentists.

To learn more about public service programs, oral health issues, and dentistry in Ohio, visit http://www.oda.org.

Return to the online edition of the 2-5-04 Campus News.