Dental News - ADA celebrates 20th annual Give Kids A Smile program

Dental Tribune America

Sat. 19 February 2022

save

The American Dental Association is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Give Kids A Smile (GKAS) program, which has provided free oral health care education and services to more than 7 million underserved children in the United States.

In 2022, nearly 1,000 GKAS events are scheduled to take place throughout the United States, and it is estimated that 300,000 underserved children will receive free oral health education and preventive and restorative services, such as cleanings and fillings. These services will be provided by more than 20,000 dental team volunteers, including approximately 5,000 dentists using supplies from 3,200 kits of essential oral health care products donated by Henry Schein, Colgate-Palmolive and Henry Schein’s supplier partners.

Henry Schein has served as the exclusive professional product sponsor since the program’s inception, and Colgate-Palmolive has served as the exclusive sponsor of health and hygiene consumer products since 2007.

“What began as a grassroots effort has become a national movement to ensure access to quality health care for all children,” said Dr. Cesar R. Sabates, president of the American Dental Association. “The success of GKAS would not be possible without the nearly 37,000 dental professionals who volunteer at local events each year, in addition to national sponsors, Henry Schein and Colgate, and long-time supporters like the ADA Foundation. My sincere appreciation and thanks to all of you who have been a part of the program, some from the very first day. We are all involved for the right reason — to Give Kids A Smile and help children in need.”

Over the years, Henry Schein’s support has included donations from its supplier partners, which have contributed to the $20 million in oral health care products made available to the program, and thousands of hours preparing and sending more than 40,000 dental kits that helped ensure volunteers had the supplies they needed to deliver much needed oral health care.

“Henry Schein is pleased to be a part of Give Kids A Smile’s evolution and its long-term success since the program’s inception, alongside our industry partners who provide the supplies and products to help dentists and their teams deliver quality care,” said AJ Caffentzis, president, U.S. Dental Distribution, Henry Schein Inc. “The program exemplifies our commitment to the profession’s ideals, enhancing oral health literacy and expanding access to care to those who need it most. Congratulations and thank you to the American Dental Association for your leadership, our supplier partners for their collaboration, and all the dental volunteers, dental school faculty, staff and students who have donated their time and talents to make GKAS the success it is today — one of the largest, charitable dental health programs in the country.”

Colgate-Palmolive’s support of GKAS helps build proper oral care habits and reflects the company’s mission to reimagine a healthier future for all. In addition to supporting GKAS, Colgate-Palmolive promotes health equity and optimal health and wellbeing among underserved children and their families through its Bright Smiles, Bright Futures initiative. Established in 1991, the initiative leads global social impact efforts that empower children and families to achieve healthy and bright futures and has reached more than 1.4 billion children in more than 100 countries across the world.

“Colgate-Palmolive is proud to be a long-time supporter of the Give Kids A Smile program and promote oral health literacy, which is foundational for children’s overall health and well-being,” said Dr. Barbara Shearer, worldwide director, professional strategy and innovation, Colgate-Palmolive, and chair, Give Kids A Smile National Advisory Committee. “As the worldwide leader in oral care, Colgate is on a mission to empower people to Know Your OQ –— your oral health quotient — and for people to understand that your healthier future starts with oral health.”

Supplier partners that are supporting the 2022 Give Kids A Smile program through product donations include 3M, Centrix, DASH Medical, Dentsply Sirona, DMG America, Dukal Corporation, Medicom, PacDent, Premier, Richmond, Sempermed USA, Sunstar, TIDI Products and WaterPik.

More information on Give Kids A Smile is available at www.ada.org/GKAS.

(Source: Henry Schein Dental)

Tags:

Access to care

To post a reply please login or register

ADA announces commencement of 2021 Give Kids a Smile program

The 19th annual Give Kids a Smile program virtually kicked off this month with more than 1,000 events across the country providing free dental health care ...

ADA and Henry Schein celebrate Give Kids A Smile at Nasdaq opening

NEW YORK, N.Y., USA: There were smiles all around Wednesday morning, Feb. 5, for the opening of Nasdaq. To help mark the 18th anniversary of Give Kids A ...

DUX Dental supports Give Kids a Smile program

OXNARD, Calif., USA: In support of National Children’s Dental Health Month and the 10th anniversary of Give Kids a Smile day, DUX Dental recently ...

Give Kids A Smile celebrates 14 years of providing services

CHICAGO, Ill., USA: The ADA Foundation’s annual Give Kids A Smile program, which provides hundreds of thousands of children in need with free oral ...

Mydent donates products to ADA’s Give Kids A Smile program

Mydent International has donated children’s face masks, along with prophy paste, gloves, barrier products, patient bibs, cups, sponges and cotton ...

Give Kids A Smile grant recipients honored at annual gala

COSTA MESA, CA / NEW YORK, NY, USA: Five grant recipients of the Give Kids A Smile Program Growth Fund were honored at the third American Dental Association...

2014 Give Kids A Smile ‘Smile Champion’ awardees announced

CHICAGO, Ill., USA: The ADA Foundation (ADAF) has announced the winners of the 2014 Smile Champion awards for Give Kids A Smile (GKAS). Cindy Hearn, vice ...

CareCredit supports Give Kids A Smile Fund

COSTA MESA, Calif., USA: For the ninth consecutive year, CareCredit has donated $100,000 to the ADA Foundation (ADAF) Give Kids A Smile (GKAS) Fund. The ...

Give Kids A Smile grant recipients are honored

COSTA MESA, CA, USA: Give Kids A Smile Fund grant recipients were honored at the fourth annual American Dental Association Foundation Give Kids A Smile ...