Annual Give Kids a Smile® Day held
Posted: April 15, 2011
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Approximately 350 underprivileged elementary school children went home with brighter smiles because of Give Kids a Smile Day (GKAS) held April 15 on the A.T. Still University campus in Mesa, Ariz. Students from the Mesa and Apache Junction Public School Districts and, for the first time children from the Catholic Healthcare West dental program, visited ATSU’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health to receive free basic dental care. Through a partnership with the Arizona Dental Foundation (ADF), ATSU-ASDOH students and faculty took part in Give Kids a Smile® Day for the sixth consecutive year along with volunteers and volunteer dentists from around the Valley. More than 400 volunteers participated in the event.
Give Kids a Smile® was established by the Greater St. Louis Dental Society in 2002 when a group of dentists set up a temporary full-service clinic that treated nearly 400 children over two days. With the support of the American Dental Association, the program has grown to approximately 2,000 locations and millions of children have been treated nationwide. ATSU-ASDOH’s GKAS® event has historically been the largest in the state of Arizona.
ATSU-ASDOH prepares caring, technologically-adept dental students to become community and educational leaders serving those in need. The school promotes delivery of optimal patient care and the transfer of newly-acquired knowledge, skills, and technology to the dental profession and the community. “GKAS Day aligns with our mission and instills in our students a commitment to public health and to serve people in need,” said ASDOH Dean Jack Dillenberg, D.D.S., M.P.H.
According to Ginger Froncek, executive director of the ADF, the donated oral healthcare provided through GKAS is approximately the equivalent of $300 per child, with this year’s ATSU-ASDOH’s event totaling $105,000 in care. Froncek said that the next GKAS Day events will be held sometime in the fall at the Rio Salado College School of Dental Hygiene, the Dave Pratt Dental Clinic of the Metro Phoenix Boys and Girls Club, and at St. Vincent de Paul’s Virginia G. Piper Medical and Dental Clinic in the Valley.