Illustration by Travis Foster
While many kids make regular trips to the dentist, others have never received dental care. In St. Louis, two dentists have been working to change that. In 2002, Dr. Jeff Dalin and Dr. Ray Storm created Give Kids A Smile, a program dedicated to providing education and preventive and restorative care to children of low-income families who otherwise would not have access to it.
Every February and October, at the Center for Advanced Dental Education at Saint Louis University, Dalin and Storm recruit fellow dentists and staff to give these kids the same care and treatment they would receive at a routine dental checkup. In many cases, Dalin’s review of their X-rays determines that more serious work is needed. In one recent instance, a young girl would not look at him, talk to him or open her mouth. “I told her that it was OK, that I was a dentist and it was my job to look at her teeth,” Dalin says. When she did open her mouth, he discovered that she had discolored teeth and was in need of braces. An orthodontist who overheard agreed to do the orthodontics if Dalin agreed to do the implants.
In an effort to prevent initial problems and treat those that already exist, Give Kids A Smile has developed two additional programs. Tiny Smiles—for babies to 4-year-olds—educates parents about oral health, while The Smile Factory lines up dentists willing to finish kids’ dental work in their own private offices.
In the seven years since Give Kids A Smile was founded, attendance has greatly increased. The program now delivers full-service dental care to 650 kids, ages 4 through 15, per clinic each year. The program went national after being adopted by the American Dental Association as its National Children’s Dental Access Day, held the first Friday in February.
“It just gives you such a good feeling to put that child out of pain and make them feel good about themselves,” Dalin says. “These are the kids that just have no access and are not able to get the help. It doesn’t get any better than to help somebody like that out.”
