Reno’s Healthy Smile Healthy Child Program and 6th Annual Give Kids a Smile® Event

Reno’s Healthy Smile Healthy Child Program and 6th Annual Give Kids a Smile® Event to Provide Free Dental Care to 100+ Children in Need February 6th

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— In observance of National Children’s Dental Health Month, Northern Nevada Dental Health Programs’ Healthy Smile Healthy Child program, in partnership with the Northern Nevada New Dentist Committee and Community Health Alliance, is arranging free dental care services for over 100 of Northern Nevada’s at-risk youth during the 6th Annual Give Kids a Smile® event.

Sponsored by the Northern Nevada New Dentist Committee, Give Kids a Smile® is a one-day event taking place from 8am to 3pm on Saturday, February 6th at the Community Health Alliance Wells Avenue Dental Health Center (1055 S Wells Ave in Reno), during which volunteer dentists will provide free educational, preventative and restorative services to children from low-income families. The Northern Nevada New Dentists Committee partnered with Northern Nevada Dental Health Programs and its Healthy Smile Healthy Child program to recruit at-risk children under the age of 18 to participate in the event and receive the dental care they need, but cannot otherwise afford nor obtain.

“The earlier you can take care of a child’s oral hygiene the better,” said Dental Program Supervisor for Healthy Smile Healthy Child, Monica Vazquez. “No age is too young to start with educational and preventative services – it’s much better to start early with dental care than to wait until there is a problem.”

This year’s Give Kids a Smile® will be made possible by 17 volunteer dental providers, five volunteer dental hygienists, multiple volunteer dental assistants and other community volunteers, along with 19 operatories for treating patients throughout the day provided by the Community Health Alliance Wells Avenue Dental Health Center. “Our hope is to beat the record from last year’s event and treat more than 105 children this year. And for those children who end up needing additional treatment after the event, the Healthy Smile Healthy Child program will take over their case and ensure their required remaining treatment is followed through with,” said Vazquez.

In order to schedule a child an appointment for the event parents/guardians must call Healthy Smile Healthy Child offices at 775-870-4309 as soon as possible and prior to February 6th. At that time, children will be setup with a pre-screening appointment to take place prior to the event in order to expedite the treatment process and ensure as many needs as possible are met during their actual appointment on the day of the event. While every effort will be made to also treat walk-ins the day of the event, it is highly recommended an appointment be made as walk-ins could experience long wait times and there is no guarantee they will be able to be seen if all appointment times previously become filled.

Interesting Facts:

  • Eight out of 10 Nevada children suffer with untreated tooth decay
  • Oral health decay affects a child’s health by 1) impacting their growth and development; 2) affecting their ability to focus and learn in school; 3) increases their frequency of catching colds and flu; 4) lowering their self-esteem and confidence; 5) raising their risk of developing other diseases and 6) worsening existing health conditions like allergies, asthma,  diabetes, etc.
  • Children typically don’t have access to preventative or general dentistry because 1) they cannot afford it; 2) they are uninsured; 3) their medical insurance doesn’t cover it and 4) they cannot find a dental provider to accept their Medicaid or Nevada Check Up
  • Untreated oral diseases are so common amongst our low-income children that the Department of Health and Human Services calls it an “epidemic”

For more information about Northern Nevada Dental Health Programs’ Healthy Smile Healthy Child and/or the Give Kids a Smile® event please contact Kaity Ocean at [email protected] or 775-544-9647 or visit www.nndhp.org.

About Healthy Smile Healthy Child

Healthy Smile Healthy Child (HSHC), originally started as The Pediatric Dental Care Program in 1982 by a modest group of concerned doctors, is a long-standing dental health care program providing no-cost to low-cost treatment to Northern Nevada’s at-risk children. The program provides preventative dental care education, preventative oral health care (i.e., sealants, nutritional education, teeth cleaning, etc.) and general and specialty oral health care (i.e. root canals, fillings, crowns, orthodontics, etc.) to at-risk children and is the largest program in Nevada serving uninsured children.

 

 

 

About Northern Nevada Dental Health Programs

Originally started as The Pediatric Dental Care Program in 1982 by a modest group of concerned doctors, Northern Nevada Dental Health Programs (NNDHP) is now the largest volunteer organization in Nevada providing no-cost to low-cost dental care to uninsured, at-risk children and to low-income veterans who do not qualify for dental care at the VA. A model for other communities, the organization consists of two programs including Healthy Smile Healthy Child and the Adopt a Vet Dental Program, both of which are administered by Community Health Alliance.

About Give Kids a Smile®

With the support of the ADA Foundation’s Give Kids A Smile program, launched nationally by the American Dental Association in 2003, more than five million underserved children have received free oral health services over the last 13 years. These free services are provided by approximately 10,000 dentists annually, along with 30,000 other dental team members.