Volunteers to Provide Free Dental Care during Children’s Dental Health Month

February is Children’s Dental Health Month, and the national Give Kids a Smile event sponsored by ADA (American Dental Association) took start.

Throughout the month, dental professionals from all across the country will join their forces to offer free dental care to children who come from underserved families. According to estimations, there will be around 450,000 children and adolescents who will get dental treatment.

The ADA is now expressing its gratitude to all those dental professionals who donate their time and skills in order to support such a noble cause. According to Dr. William R. Calnon, there are well over 16 million children struggling with tooth decay who need help to get proper treatment.

The state dental societies together with the ADA will do everything in their power to convince policymakers to allocate even more funding which will be used to provide dental services to children who need them. What they want is to make these dental services available through the State Children’s Health Insurance programs and Medicaid as well.

According to some recent statistics, around 80% of the tooth decay cases in the country are suffered by 25% of its children. These results are extremely saddening, and it is once again proved that children do not have access to proper dental care services.

The Medicaid allocates only around 2% of its budget for dental services, and this shows that there is needed a greater implication of these state organizations into matters of health concerning children.

If it weren’t for the thousands of dentists, hygienists and other civil volunteers, the Give Kids a Smile program would not even exist. Moreover, there are several sponsors who continuously donate professional dental products (Colgate-Palmolive Co.) and equipment (DEXIS, LLC).

A very little help from the part of such sponsors and volunteers can make a big difference in the lives of so many needy children of the country.

In 2012 alone, there will be around 40,000 volunteer dentists and teams who will make Give Kids a Smile event possible. Every year, around 450,000 children receive free professional dental care, and there are around 1,600 locations where the event is held each year.