Volunteers and a patient at the 2017 Give Kids a Smile clinic (Photo courtesy VCU)
Free dental care to Richmond children in need will be provided on Friday, Feb. 2, courtesy of the Give Kids a Smile campaign.
The pediatric dentistry department of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry will stage a clinic from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Lyons Dental Building. A full range of services will be offered, including cleaning and exams, and also fillings, extractions and more complex treatments such as root canals as needed.
The clinic expects to see 100 to 120 children up to age 18, says William Dahlke, chair of the pediatric dentistry department. There are no appointments available, but as many walk-ins are taken as can be handled.
An array of students and faculty provide the care and additional services. There is one booth set aside to help families determine whether they may be eligible for Medicaid coverage, and some volunteers will be on hand to serve as interpreters for families that don’t speak English.
For some of these families, it’s the only chance they get to have their children seen by a dentist. Several families come back each year. “We’ve seen some of these kids grow up,” Dahlke says.
Good dental health is a key to overall health. Elizabeth Berry, an associate professor of pediatric dentistry, notes that the clinic’s work heads off potential complications that would have landed the children into expensive treatment in an emergency room.
The VCU event is one of many across the country in support of the American Dental Association’s Give Kids a Smile Day campaign. The total value of donated services at VCU has been estimated at more than $80,000 a year, says Berry.
She has run the clinic for nine years, and also was involved while a student. She noted that the clinic saw 200 children last year. Private providers in the community also help out and provide free follow-up care for some of the children.
“It really is one of my favorite days of the year,” says Berry.
Dahlke is also a veteran of these clinics. He worked them since 2003, when he was in Las Vegas, and since he moved to Richmond three years ago.
“It really is an amazing service to provide to these kids who otherwise wouldn’t have care,” he says.
