NSU College of Dental Medicine to Kick Off National Gives Kids A Smile® Program

Student Organized Program Offers Pro-Bono Dental Care to Children in Need

MEDIA ADVISORY

 

WHAT: Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) College of Dental Medicine is expected to provide pro-bono dental services to more than 500 children and special needs patients in South Florida on Friday, February 5, 2016 to help kick off the ADA Foundation’s Give Kids A Smile (GKAS) Day program. NSU was selected by the ADA Foundation as the national launch site due to the university’s leading efforts since launching the program more than a decade ago. The NSU program includes participation from other health professional students, including those enrolled in optometry, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, and physician assistant programs at the university.

Children ages 2-18 will receive pro-bono, limited one-time dental screenings, examinations and preventive treatments. This event is open to the public by appointment. Pompano Beach Elementary School and Park Ridge Elementary School (Pompano Beach) are partner schools for this year’s program.

Attendees will enjoy a fun carnival atmosphere with Miami Dolphins and Florida Panthers players and cheerleaders, face painters, balloon artists, music, characters from “Star Wars,” Elsa and Anna from “Frozen,” and the “Timmy the Tooth” and “Razor the Shark” mascots.

NSU’s GKAS program is student organized and led and includes monthly maintenance visits at different local schools. NSU faculty members participate in this community service event and supervise dental students in this worthwhile project. Sponsors include Henry Schein Cares; Colgate Oral Pharmaceuticals; Inc.; KaVo Kerr Group; American Student Dental Association; and NSU College of Dental Medicine’s Student Government Association.

 

WHEN: Friday, February 5, 2016, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

WHERE: NSU’s College of Dental Medicine, 3200 S. University Drive, Davie, FL (Located on NSU’s main campus on the corner of 30^th Street and University Drive)

 

APPOINTMENTS: 

To make an appointment, please contact NSU’s Give Kids A Smile team at 407-291-KIDS (5437) or GiveKidsASmileDay@gmail.com by Friday, January 29 and leave a message, including:

• The names and ages of children attending.
• Your preferred dental appointment time (i.e. 1:45 p.m., 2:15 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 2:45 p.m.)

Please arrive 15 minutes early to fill out necessary paperwork and medical history.

 A PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN MUST ACCOMPANY EACH CHILD AT THE EVENT.

 

WHO: Interview opportunities with:

• Grateful patients and parents
• Kelly Cundy and Adam Saltz, NSU dental student organizers, Give Kids A Smile Day
• Linda Niessen, D.M.D., M.P.H., M.P.P., dean, NSU’s College of Dental Medicine
• Carol Gomez Summerhays, D.D.S., ADA president
• Reneida Reyes, D.D.S., M.P.H., ADA Foundation president
• Stanley M. Bergman, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, Henry Schein

 

WHY: To provide education, screenings, and preventive and restorative services for South Florida children, and to create awareness about the access to dental care issue that exists in the United States. This is particularly significant given that the U.S. Surgeon General reports that tooth decay is the most common disease of childhood, five times more common than asthma, and children don’t learn when they are suffering from dental pain. In addition, it is estimated that more than 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental-related illness. The Pew Children’s Dental Campaign describes dental care as “the single greatest unmet need for health services among children” in its latest report.

 

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Give Kids A Smile: The ADA Foundation’s Give Kids A Smile program is one of the world’s largest oral health charitable programs. Launched nationally by the American Dental Association in 2003, Give Kids A Smile is an access-to-care endeavor designed to encourage parents, health professionals, and policymakers to address the year-round need for oral health care and education for all children. Each year the Give Kids A Smile program supports approximately 10,000 dentists, 30,000 dental team members, and other community volunteers in providing free oral health care services including exams, fluoride treatments, sealants, fillings, crowns, and extractions, to more than 350,000 children from low-income families across the country. To find out more about Give Kids A Smile, visit www.adafoundation.org/GKAS.

About NSU College of Dental Medicine: Students of the college benefit from state-of-the-art educational and clinical facilities, which feature the latest in computer and video technology, and from our distinguished professors, recruited from throughout the United States. The college’s facilities, faculty, and dynamic curriculum have attracted worldwide attention. Students and professionals come from diverse backgrounds to pursue their courses of study at the college. For more information, please visit http://dental.nova.edu/

 About Nova Southeastern University (NSU): Located in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional degree levels. A private, not-for-profit institution with more than 26,000 students, NSU has campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Miramar, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Tampa, Florida, as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, while maintaining a presence online globally. For more than 50 years, NSU has been awarding degrees in a wide range of fields, while fostering groundbreaking research and an impactful commitment to community. Classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, NSU is 1 of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification, and is also the largest private, not-for-profit institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Education’s criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution. Please visit www.nova.edu for more information about NSU and realizingpotential.nova.edu for more information on the largest fundraising campaign in NSU history.

 

February 4, 2016

Jeremy Katzman, M.B.A., APR
Associate Director of Public Affairs
Nova Southeastern University
954.262.5408 (Downtown) | 954.262.1535 (HPD) | 954.661.7000 (Cell)
j.katzman@nova.edu | nsunews.nova.edu

 

 

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