What is Give Kids a Smile Day?
Give Kids A Smile Day is an annual volunteer program. It provides free educational, preventative and restorative services to children from low-income families. It is part of National Children’s Dental Health Month. Many of these children are unable to eat, sleep or pay attention in school. This ultimately risks more serious health problems because of their poor oral health. The color white represents dental health. Dental hygiene is represented by the color green. Wear an enamel white or green awareness ribbon pin, fabric ribbon, or silicone wristband to call attention to this awareness month.
The ADA’s Give Kids A Smile program is the annual centerpiece of National Children’s Dental Health Month. Celebrated nationally, Give Kids a Smile Day is on the first Friday in February. This is when the nation’s dentists begin providing free oral health care services to underserved children across the country. In addition to helping children in need, Give Kids A Smile highlights for policymakers the ongoing challenges that disadvantaged children face in accessing dental care.
Give Kids a Smile Day Started by the American Dental Association
The American Dental Association started Give Kids a Smile Day in 2003. It is a program through which dental professionals throughout the U.S. volunteer on one designated day. The objective is to provide needed oral health care and education. Children are selected from area schools that serve low-income populations. Screening occurs at local youth clubs, HeadStart programs, social service agencies, and other organizations that serve disadvantaged children. Oral health education is an important component of this program because children may share toothbrushes with other family members and often don’t know how to brush properly. Parents may not know what causes a cavity or even realize that their child is in pain from tooth decay. Sadly, for some children, pain from dental disease is a way of life.
Helping Younger Patients Achieve Optimal Oral Health
Under the Give Kids A Smile program, dental schools across the country organize local health fairs to benefit hundreds of children. Student dentists, pediatric dentistry residents, and faculty, visit local elementary and junior high schools the week before. It is then that they screen kids to receive dental treatment at the event.
The intent of the National Give Kids A Smile Day events are to provide education, screenings, preventive, and restorative services for children. In addition, it is to create awareness about the access to dental care problem that exists in the U.S. This is particularly significant given the daunting statistic that more than 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental-related illness. (Oral Health in America: A Report of the U.S. Surgeon General, 2003)
Statistics About Oral Health
Cavities (also known as caries or tooth decay) are the most common chronic disease of childhood in the United States. Untreated cavities can cause pain and infections that may lead to problems with eating, speaking, playing, and learning. Children who have poor oral health often miss more school and receive lower grades than children who don’t.
- More than half of children aged 6 to 8 have had a cavity in at least one of their baby (primary) teeth.
- More than half of adolescents aged 12 to 19 have had a cavity in at least one of their permanent teeth.
- Children aged 5 to 19 years from low-income families are twice as likely (25%) to have cavities, compared with children from higher-income households (11%).
