Give Kids a Smile 2024: We’re going to flip those frowns around and start the Give Kids a Smile initiative on the first Friday of February. The American Dentist Association (ADA) launched the program, which gives children who typically cannot afford to visit a dentist the chance to receive some free dental care. Across the nation, dentists, dental hygienists, assistants, and other volunteers donate their time and skills to make sure that kids receive the necessary and deserving dental treatment.
History Of Give Kids a Smile
The American Dentist Association launched the Give Kids A Smile initiative in 2003. It served as a means for dentists to collaborate with their local communities to offer children from low-income families in the United States access to dental services such as education, screenings, oral health care, and treatment.
The February festival began as a one-day affair but has since expanded to become an annual national event. Ten million children under the age of eighteen have no dental care, and nearly one in four children under the age of five already have cavities. A vital component of the American Dental Association’s Action for Dental Health is smile at Kids. Their goal is to eradicate all oral health issues in the United States by treating everyone, but especially those who are most in need.
Observing Give Kids a Smile
Take up voluntary work.
To locate volunteer opportunities near Give Kids A Smile events in your community, search the GKAS website or give the hotline a call. The thousands of dental offices that are always happy to have volunteers can greatly impact a child’s life.
Social networks
Use the hashtag to share GKAS tales, images, and messages with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Exchange logos
To raise awareness of the national activities, print off the logo and distribute it to your friends and family in honor of Smile at Kids. On the GKAS Facebook page, logos are available.
Five Things About Giving Kids a Smile
- Smile at Kids has provided free dental care to over 5.5 million kids since its national inception in 2003.
- February is a month to celebrate! It turns out that February is the ADA’s National Children’s Dental Health Month, coinciding with Smile at Kids’s launch on the first Friday of the month.
- Smile at Kids is one of the biggest dental health charity initiatives globally.
- There were just 15 patient chairs available for the roughly 400 youngsters attending the inaugural GKAS event, which was hosted in a dilapidated dental clinic that was about to be razed.
- Cavities are the most common infectious disease in children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By the time they enter kindergarten, over 40% of newborns and preschoolers, as well as about half of all children from lower-income households, are impacted.
Reasons We Should Give Kids a Smile
Dental health is crucial.
Oral health should be accessible to all. Imagine, as a child, being unable to wash your teeth every day or experiencing a constant, excruciating toothache due to a cavity. How painful would it be to be powerless to stop it? Everyone has a right to dental health and care, but children in particular.
A village is needed.
Smile at Kids would not be possible without the innumerable dentists, their teams, and volunteers who donate their time and energy to this cause.
Children are important.
The largest unmet health need among children in America is dental care. It is crucial to give children in need of dental care access so they do not have to suffer because their family cannot afford to pay for their treatment.
GIVE KIDS A SMILE DATES
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | February 5 | Friday |
| 2022 | February 4 | Friday |
| 2023 | February 3 | Friday |
| 2024 | February 2 | Friday |
| 2025 | February 7 | Friday |
