Hoping to serve 100 children

Burlington, N.C.鈥擥ive Kids A Smile is a real community event in the heart of the North Carolina Piedmont and they’re excited about Feb. 2, the dental professionals, volunteers, sponsors, schools, local businesses, parents and, need we say, children. GKAS here, as in some other locations, falls on a different date than the scheduled Feb. 1 kickoff events around the country.

Here, the Colgate/Family Dollar Bright Smiles, Bright Futures dental van will be on hand this year. The children will meet Dr. Rabbit and the Tooth Fairy. Dentists, dental students, predental students, dental assistants, hygienists, interpreters, high school students, Boy Scouts and community volunteers will serve in shifts.

The North Carolina Dental Society, which kept this event going in its early years, supports, encourages and monitors the state’s GKAS events.

Colgate, national product sponsor of Give Kids A Smile day, will bring toothbrushes and toothpaste. Local businesses donate healthy snacks, school supplies, lip balm and food coupons. Breakfast and lunch for volunteers comes courtesy of local restaurants.

Johnny Bakatsias, owner of Western Steak House, has been providing full-course meals for GKAS the past four years. The Mid Carolina Bank gave tee-shirts for the kids and this year provides backpacks. The event also has local Family Dollar store support.

The Alamance/Caswell Dental Society and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry are among the professional supporters of GKAS in the Piedmont.

Dr. LaRosa Pinnix-Bailey has organized GKAS events here since 2003. “This is our year for the big 100,” she exults in anticipation of serving 100 children for the first time this year. “I’m so excited about the 2008 GKAS day for Alamance/Caswell County and I’m so proud to be a part of it,” adds Margaret Hooper, the retired director of the dental assisting program at Alamance Community College recruited by Dr. Pinnix-Bailey to coordinate GKAS activities and Colgate participation. “The support that we get from our local dental family is phenomenal.”

The children they serve “tend to fall between the cracks,” said Dr. Pinnix-Bailey. An Adopt A Smile component of the event here encourages dental care follow-through. More than $11,500 worth of dental treatment was provided to children “adopted” in 2007 and seen later in private practice dental offices.

Will they meet their 100 children goal this year? We’ll tell you on ADA.org and in the Feb. 18 ADA News. Stay tuned.

Colgate, GKAS national consumer products sponsor, introduced Bright Smiles, Bright Futures in 1991. A major component of this oral health education program is a mobile dental van operating six days a week and visiting more than 110 cities annually, next stop Burlington, N.C., Feb. 2

A fleet of eight dental vans is supported by a network of dental professional volunteers who provide free visual screenings, education and treatment referrals. Bright Smiles Bright Futures made “an aggressive commitment” in 2002 to reach 100 million children in the United States by 2010 with positive oral care messages. Colgate says it is three-fourths of the way there.