Henry Schein Inc. is looking for dentists and other oral health professionals to mark their calendars and donate their time and talent to the ADA Foundation’s 15th annual Give Kids A Smile (GKAS) program. The program will kick off on February 3, 2017, and continue throughout next year, providing free oral screenings, treatment, and education to children in need. Registration is now open for volunteers.
Launched in 2003, GKAS is the result of a partnership between the ADA Foundation, Henry Schein, Colgate-Palmolive, and Dexis. As the official professional products sponsor, Henry Schein has joined its supplier partners to donate more than $14 million in oral healthcare products to provide free oral health services to more than 5.5 million children. In 2016, about 300,000 children received care at 1,300 locations from more than 7,000 dentists and nearly 30,000 volunteers.
“At Henry Schein, we are pleased to support healthcare professionals who share our commitment to expanding access to care for children in need, and we urge dentists and oral health professionals across the country to volunteer for this wonderful program,” said Stanley M. Bergman, chairman of the board and CEO of Henry Schein. “GKAS ensures that each participating child is set on the path to good oral health, and we urge care providers to join us in helping health happen.”
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dental caries represents the most common chronic disease for children ages 6 to 11 years and adolescents ages 12 to 19 years. Also, the ADA notes that while dental caries is a multifactorial disease with many behavioral and community determinants, children for sociologically disadvantaged backgrounds have a higher than average incidence of tooth decay.
Volunteers who register by November 7, 2016, also are eligible for free product donations to use at their events. Henry Schein will provide 3,000 professional kits, with gloves, bibs, masks, gauze pads, prophy angles and paste, fluoride varnish, Colgate children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste, and more, including introductory sealant kit from 3M that can provide approximately 140 sealant applications.
To learn more about the program, visit Henry Schein’s Helping Health Happen blog, “15 Reasons to Give Kids A Smile” or the company’s Facebook page to watch a short video about the program. To register, visit adafoundation.org/gkas.
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