After a bout of bad weather the previous week, the East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBRPSS) helped kick-off the district-wide Give Kids A Smile (GKAS) program on Friday, February 11, with support from community organizations. 

Selected first- and second-grade students in need from several schools were able to see local dentists for care free of charge.  The services will continue with local dentists donating time and services two additional Fridays, February 18 and 25.  Last Friday, Associates in Pediatric Dentistry and Fallin and Fallin Family Dentistry volunteered their services to screen and provide oral hygiene instruction and supplies. Dentists who volunteer for the program may do a general dental check-up, cleaning and/or apply sealants (protective coatings for the outside of the teeth) to children in need.

During a visit last Friday, Villa Del Rey Elementary School students (pictured) played dental “Hokey Pokey” with hygienists (left to right) Lindsey Scott, Dana Bergeron, Amber Harris and Pam Simms at Associates in Pediatric Dentistry and Dudley the Dinosaur.

The Louisiana Dental Association (LDA), the Greater Baton Rouge Dental Association, Health Centers in Schools (HCS), the Children’s Coalition of Greater Baton Rouge and EBRPSS teamed up to provide free educational materials and free dental screenings, as well as preventive care, to selected low-income children who do not have access to proper dental care. The effort is part of the American Dental Association’s (ADA) National Give Kids A Smile (GKAS) program and also, in part, to acknowledge February as national Children’s Dental Health Month.