Salina Dental Arts dentists and staff will be sponsoring a Give Kids A Smile event this Friday. They will provide underserved children in the Kansas area with free dental services.

Nearly one in four children under the age of five already has cavities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many children enrolled in Medicaid receive no dental services throughout the year.

Give Kids A Smile is held annually to:

Provide free, easily accessible dental services to qualifying individuals.

Raise awareness of the epidemic of untreated dental disease occurring locally and nationally and create local public and private partnerships to increase access to oral health care to solve this crisis.

This is the first year the event has been hosted by Salina Dental Arts and the first year a dental office in Salina, Kansas has hosted a Give Kids a Smile event in over 15 years.

The ADA Foundation’s Give Kids A Smile program was launched nationally in 2003 as a way for dentists to join with others in the community to provide dental services to underserved children. Each year, about 350,000 to 400,000 children benefit from more than 1,500 events, all because of the efforts of 40,000 or more annual volunteers nationwide.

The high volume of patients participating in charitable events like Give Kids A Smile highlights a clear gap between those with and without good dental health. Considering that oral health is connected to total health, financial barriers to care should be of major concern to the leaders of our state.

As it stands now, the Medicaid system that provides for children in need is underfunded. Even with sufficient support from outside resources, many individuals most often go without preventative care, which often leads to a need for more costly emergency treatment.

The event will be held at Salina Dental Arts located at 1829 S. Ohio, Salina Kansas 67401, Friday February 2nd, from 8am to 3pm. Children must be between the ages of 3-12 years of age and must have all necessary paperwork turned into the office no later than Tuesday January 30th, 2018 at 12 noon. All patients will be reserved and scheduled on a first come first serve basis. For more information on the event visit our Salina Dental Arts facebook page or call us directly at 785-823-2472.

For more information about Give Kids A Smile events, visit adafoundation.org/givekidsasmile.