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DO GOOD: Making A Big Difference For Little Ones by Paul Amundsen

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According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, about 62.6 million Americans participated in some type of formal volunteer service in 2014, while another 138 million informally volunteered by helping neighbors with tasks such as watching their children, grocery shopping or house sitting. Americans aren't shy about pitching in.

Americans also aren't shy about giving. In 2013, Americans donated more than $335 billion in charitable contributions, according to the Giving USA Foundation.

And most dentists aren't shy about pitching in to help or give to charitable causes, either. It seems that one cannot attend a dental conference without encountering a dentist who is about to leave for, or who has returned from, some type of mission abroad or a domestic Mission of Mercy. Even in their private practices, thousands of dentists provide care for many of their patients on a pro-bono basis, and many practices employ a give- until-it-hurts policy when it comes to helping families with limited resources.



Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children (HSHC): The Foundation of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry is a microcosm of dentistry's do-good spirit.

HSHC was established in 1987. In 2010, its kids-first emphasis resulted in the introduction of $20,000 Access to Care Grants targeted to community-based programs providing dental homes for children whose families cannot afford dental care.

Since then, HSHC has awarded more than $3 million in Access to Care Grants to 70 organizations in 26 states. So far, HSHC grantees have helped provide dental homes to more than 290,000 children.

"We never in our wildest dreams thought Access to Care would grow the way it has," said Dr. Beverly Largent, HSHC president and a pediatric dentist practicing in Paducah, Kentucky.

Enter Access to Care
When HSHC issued its first call for Access to Care Grant applications, it earmarked $100,000 for five grants of up to $20,000 each.

"We didn't really know what to expect that first year," said Tracey Schilligo, MS, CFRE, HSHC's manager of grants and corporate relations. "We sent a mass email call for applications with a two-month deadline for submissions and were quite surprised to receive more than 60 applications that first year."

The foundation issued $97,000 in Access to Care Grants to five organizations during its first round of funding.

"We were pleased with the response, but immediately after announcing the 2010 awards, we began receiving inquiries about what our plans were for 2011," Schilligo explained.

The number of applications doubled in each of the next two years. The foundation has received more than 1,300 Access to Care Grant applications during its first six grant cycles.

After four years of offering $20,000 grants, last year HSHC expanded its reach with the introduction of $375,000 multiyear Access to Care Grants. Clinics in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Burbank, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Waukesha, Wisconsin are the first recipients of these $75,000-per-year grants.

"The multiyear grants will provide amazing opportunities," explained Dr. Anupama Tate, an HSHC trustee and pediatric dentist from Washington, D.C. "Besides providing sustaining financial support for the recipients, we will be able to follow patients over a longer period of time, which will help us better understand the nuances associated with caring for kids living in poverty."

Tate, who is chair of the foundation's grants and programs committee, said the outcomes effort also will help HSHC better understand how to recruit and deploy dentists who want to help in their communities.

"We hear the heartwarming stories of [how] children's lives [are] changed. We see the favorable numbers in grantee reports," Largent said. "As dentists, we know intuitively [that] a dental-home setting makes all the difference."

However, HSHC leadership recognizes that more needs to be done, beyond identifying the markers of good or poor oral health—needs such as parental oral-health literacy, and financial, transportation and scheduling barriers must be addressed.

"In a peer-reviewed sense, we need to quantify the effectiveness of implementing the current dental-home concept to improve the oral health of at-risk children and people with special health-care needs," Largent said.

Doing good, up close and personal




Helping these at-risk kids and others with special health-care needs is a core component of AAPD's and HSHC's Dental Home Day. Held during the Academy's Annual Session each Memorial Day weekend, Dental Home Day is a two-phase approach to helping the underserved.

Phase 1 is a one-day screening and treatment event held at a clinic in the AAPD's Annual Session host city. Working with clinic personnel, local pediatric dentists, and volunteers from across the country, AAPD's first goal is to provide care for at least 100 underserved children during the screening/treatment day.

Phase 2 covers the other 364 days of the year. Dental Home Day was established with the idea that every child deserves a dental home. The participating clinic ensures that check-ups, cleanings and restorative work (either that day or for future follow up) will be provided to participating children for the coming year.

On Wednesday, May 20, the Center for Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Washington will host Dental Home Day to kick off AAPD 2015 in Seattle. Parents often are grateful for the care their children receive at these events.

"For [the kids] to get the knowledge that they got here about cleaning their teeth, flossing, not drinking so much soda... you couldn't ask for more," said Kyle Tucker, whose daughter Makayla was a 2013 Dental Home Day patient. "I wish they would have had this when I was a kid because I would have better teeth. Most of my pain throughout my life was tooth pain. One thing I want for my child is for her not to feel the pain that I felt."

Alicia Tucker, Makayla's mom, agreed: "The dentists took the time to get to know her, explain the tools they were using in her mouth, showing her fun ways to clean her mouth and make it a life-changing thing."

Makayla received a complete exam, X-rays, a restoration, and was scheduled for a six-month follow up. "Then they gave her a nice little care package, which was awfully sweet of them," Alicia Tucker said.

Something... for something
Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children has a network of volunteers working behind the scenes in multiple ways. In addition to its 16-member volunteer board of trustees, HSHC is supported by 25 committee members and 35 grant reviewers. HSHC also encourages and cultivates volunteerism throughout the AAPD membership ranks, connecting interested dentists with volunteer opportunities among its grantees. Including those who have signed up for the 2015 Dental Home Day, more than 120 volunteers have participated in the event over its three-year history.



Paul Amundsen, MNA, CFRE, is senior director of development and charitable programs for Healthy Smiles, Healthy Children at The Foundation of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. He can be reached at pamundsen@aapd.org.


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