Dental School's Kids Club Steers Patient Education during "Give Kids a Smile"

    While IU School of Dentistry faculty, staff, and alumni managed the screening, dental hygiene, and treatment clinics during Give Kids a Smile, more than 70 dental and dental assisting students offered patients and their families wide-ranging services designed to promote the oral health of each of the disadvantaged children who participated in the event on Feb. 6.         

     
    Give Kids a Smile is an annual American Dental Association program in which thousands of volunteers from dental offices, clinics, and schools nationwide spend the first Friday of February donating dental services to children from low-income families without access to dental insurance. Each year the IU dental school serves as one of Indiana’s largest treatment sites. The Indiana Dental Association manages the statewide volunteer effort.

     “The Kids Club is a student-run volunteer group that meets monthly to talk about children and their treatment, and that connects with community organizations to provide dental education to youngsters,” says Kids Club mentor Dr. Joan Kowolik, director of Pediatric Dentistry. During Give Kids a Smile, the students conducted tooth-brushing lessons, assisted with treatment chair-side, served as translators for Spanish- and Vietnamese-speaking families, guided participants from one clinic to another, and set up an information booth to engage older kids and their parents in discussions of the health problems associated with tobacco use.

                Third-year dental student Sean Morgan, of Stanwood, Wash., a Kids Club member since his first year of dental school, was new to Give Kids a Smile in 2009. “I joined the Kids Club and volunteered for this event because I really want to gain experiences in dental school that will show me how to relate to patients in need in my future practice,” he says. “Children are one of the most at-risk groups for dental disease because they’re so dependent on their caregivers for their oral health. If taught proper oral hygiene at an early age, children will learn habits that promote good oral health for the rest of their lives, and it’s exciting to play a role in making that happen.”       

                About 100 children participated in the IU dental school’s 2009 program, which included several pre-event screenings in the community as well as restorative care in the school’s Pediatric Dentistry clinic. Thanks to a $15,000 grant from the National Children’s Oral Health Foundation made possible with a donation from the Heraeus Kulzer dental company, IU will be able to provide additional treatment to children whose dental needs were too extensive to be fully addressed during the event.