Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children Event Provides Dental Homes to Underserved Youth

In concert with the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) Annual Session, the fourth annual Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children’s Dental Home Day event was held in May to help underserved children in San Antonio. The event — which differs from other charitable clinical initiatives in that it provides patients with treatment for a year — was held at the Ricardo Salinas Pediatric Dental Clinic and University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA).

Thanks to 50 volunteers and underwriting from Sunstar Americas, 203 San Antonio children now have dental homes. While clinicians delivered dental care, other volunteers supervised children’s activities and provided oral health education and support. Children requiring more extensive care were scheduled for recall appointments, and, by the end of the day, two-thirds of the Dental Home Day patients were scheduled for follow-up visits.

As the AAPD’s charitable arm, Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children has awarded a $25,000 Access to Care Grant to UTHSCSA to fund ongoing treatment for Dental Home Day patients.

From Decisions in Dentistry. August 2016;2(08):8.