February 5th is National Give Kids a Smile Day, when dentists across the country provide free dental services to children in an effort to raise public awareness about the importance of oral health.
On Saturday, February 6th, UCSF students and faculty will extend the celebration by providing free day of dental care for kids — dental sealants, fluoride treatments, oral health education, and dental screenings– which will satisfy the Kindergarten/1st grade Oral Health Assessment requirement
The event will take place at the UCSF Parnassus Campus. No appointments are necessary, and children will be seen on a first come first serve basis while supplies last. The event will begin at 9:00 AM, and registration will end at 3:00 PM.
For more information, please contact smilesforkids@gmail.com or (415) 476-6100, ext 52883.
UCSF has created posters in a variety of languages, including English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. If you are willing to help publicize the event, contact: smilesforkids@gmail.com or (415) 476-6100, ext 52883.
Photo used under Creative Commons license, courtesy of lepiaf.geo.
The problem is that dentists neglect children the rest of the 364 days of the year.
over 80% of dentists refuse Medicaid patients and 130 million Americans lack dental insurance. Untreated tooth decay is a growing US problem. US children have died from the consequences of untreated tooth decay.
Yes, dentists can’t treat people for free all the time. But organized dentistry blocks any other viable groups from taking care of the people who dentists won’t – keeping dental care unavailable to too many Americans and keeping dentistry a very lucrative monopoly
Meanwhile dentists choose to treat water supplies instead of low-income people. But science shows that fluoridation has failed to reduce tooth decay and exposes people unnecessarily to fluoride’s adverse effects See http://www.FluorideAction.Net/health
We need to stop fluoridation and use the millions of dollars saved to actually treat dentist neglected children.
Give Kids A Smile Day is just another PR stunt to make even more money for dentists and the corporations that benefit from tooth decay.