Ohio Dental Volunteers to Give Over $1.1M in Free Care and Improve Oral Health of 18,000 Children in Need Through 6th Annual Give Kids A Smile...( NOTE TO MEDIA: Due to the need fo...),Health

NOTE TO MEDIA: Due to the need for signed parental consent and health history forms, Give Kids A Smile! Day events have already determined and scheduled the youth population they will see on February 1 - primarily coming from children's clubs, HeadStart programs, area schools, social service agencies and such. PLEASE DO NOT INDICATE TO THE PUBLIC THAT THE EVENT IS OPEN TO UNREGISTERED CHILDREN.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In conjunction with the Ohio Dental Association's sixth annual Give Kids A Smile! Day Ohio, dentists and other volunteers across Ohio are joining together on Friday, Feb. 1 and subsequent weeks to bring smiles to the faces of disadvantaged children. In many cases, free dental care and ongoing GKAS programs will continue throughout the year. GKAS! Day is an annual program of the ODA and American Dental Association in which dentists and other dental volunteers provide free dental services and programs to children from low-income families; these are children who otherwise would not seek or cannot afford such services. Many of these programs are in partnership with local colleges and dental clinics.

In 2007, more than $1,116,000 in free dental services and programs were provided to Ohio children through this children's dental access program. This year, an estimated 1,800 Ohio dentists and other volunteers will reach out to children in need, with the anticipated dollar value exceeding $1,135,895 and the expected number of Ohio children to be seen at 18,000 or more. This is particularly significant given the daunting statistic that more than 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental-related illness. (Oral Health in America: A Report of the U.S. Surgeon General, 2003)

President of the Ohio Dental Association, Dr. Henry Fields, said the success of Give Kids A Smile! Day and the commitment of dentists to help underserved children is significant - but so is the access to dental care issue th
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