Special Smiles helps out at winter Special Olympics

Boise, Idaho鈥擬ore than 300 dental professional volunteers were on hand to help athletes smile during the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games Feb. 7-13.

About half of the 2,000 athletes who traveled to the Gem State’s capital to compete received dental care through the Special Smiles program.

Volunteer dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants and students from Idaho鈥?62 in all鈥攚ere joined by 25 other U.S. volunteer dentists and 15 international dentists and hygienists for the event, said Dr. Quinn Dufurrena, executive director, Idaho State Dental Association.

“The needs of this population are tremendous,” said Dr. Dufurrena. “Some 200 athletes had acute care (pain) problems, 500 had urgent needs and another 500 had maintenance needs. Idaho dentists showed the world their dedication to the access needs of this special needs population. The athletes were passionate about victory and honor and the volunteers were passionate about supporting the athletes. There were a lot of smiles.”

Dr. Sanford Fenton, chair of pediatric dentistry at the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston and global clinical advisor for Special Olympics, trained 35 pediatric and general dentists for the event. These volunteers will use their training to become local clinical directors for Special Olympics Special Smiles events around the world and to work effectively with this special needs group.

“They left with knowledge on how to treat patients with developmental and intellectual disabilities,” said Dr. Fenton. “I, along with the trainees, performed oral screenings for the athletes. We also talked to them about oral hygiene and good nutrition. During the examination, the athletes were also fitted for mouthguards for the games.”

Founded in 1968, Special Olympics celebrated its 40th anniversary with almost 3 million athletes in more than 180 countries around the world. For more than 10 years, Special Olympics has offered free health screenings and health information at local, regional and World Games. Special Smiles is one of seven health screening areas provided to athletes through the Healthy Athletes initiative. For more information, log on to the Web site: www.specialolympics.org/healthy_athletes.aspx.聽