A trip to the dentist is not something most kids look forward to.
But for 230 kids from seven Nebraska communities, Children’s Dental Day at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry is more like going to a carnival.
"It’s awesome," said 11-year-old Yessica Hurtado, of Lexington, Neb.
Even if she was facing getting her teeth worked on, Hurtado wasn’t worried. In fact, she said, she would come back again.
The 13th annual dental day provided around $125,000 in services to needy children from Lexington, Grand Island, Hastings, Madison, Columbus, Norfolk and Lincoln.
Services provided at the one-day event included: cleanings, fluoride treatments, sealants, cavity fillings, education and emergency care as needed.
Last year nearly 500 children received more than $200,000 worth of services through Children’s Dental Day events held at the UNMC College of Dentistry in Lincoln, as well as Hastings and several communities in the Nebraska Panhandle. The UNMC College of Dentistry hosted its first Children’s Dental Day in the fall of 2001. The value of care delivered over the past six years by the UNMC College of Dentistry exceeds $1 million.
“Children’s Dental Day is an opportunity for the college to exercise both its education and outreach missions,” said David Brown, Ph.D., executive associate dean, UNMC College of Dentistry and the coordinator of the event. “The annual event helps underserved Nebraska children, while providing an opportunity for dental and dental hygiene students to gain more clinical experience.”
While upper level dental and dental hygiene students work in the clinics, many of the first-year students facilitate games with the children, including those that teach good snack choices, how soda pop affects their teeth, what decay looks like and how to brush and floss. Lunch and healthy snacks are also provided and each child receives a goody bag of items, including a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, activity book and stickers.
"This event not only provides badly needed care for underserved children, but also strengthens the spirit of volunteerism among our students, faculty, and staff," said Dean John Reinhardt, D.D.S. "We give a lot on Children’s Dental Day but I think we receive even more."
Children participating in the event are identified and pre-screened in their communities by volunteers including school nurses, members of faith-based organizations, Head Start, dentists and dental hygienists. These volunteers donate their time to identifying needy children, providing oral health screenings that indicate the type of care the children will need when they come to the college, and in many cases coming with the children for emotional support and translation services.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $80 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.