(SDA) — From 2012 to 2020, about 400 underserved children have received free oral health care costing about $106,000 from Saipan Seventh-day Adventist Clinic. Every first Friday of February, the SDA Clinic hosts “Give Kids a Smile,” also known as GKAS. GKAS is an opportunity offered to the CNMI community children who do not have Medicaid or other dental insurance to receive free oral health services including dental exams, extractions, fillings and fluoride treatment.
GKAS at the Saipan SDA Clinic is part of the nationwide “Give Kids a Smile” program of the American Dental Association conducted since 2003. This year, Saipan SDA Clinic is celebrating its 50th year of serving the CNMI community and kicking off the celebration with GKAS makes the commemoration more eventful and meaningful.
Planning a GKAS event during the Covid-19 pandemic has become creative. Nevertheless, SDA Clinic moved forward with plans for 2022 GKAS activities, in hopes to continue address the needs of the children who require dental health services now, more than ever.
The morning of February 4, 2022 brought the SDA Clinic’s teams of volunteers to an educational event that took place at four schools in Saipan: Da’Ok Academy (9th-12th grades), GTC Elementary School (5th grade), Tanapag Middle School (6th grade), and Saipan SDA Elementary School (1st-8th grade) and Daycare. Dentists, dental hygienist, dental assistants and dental lab technician provided oral health lectures and demonstrations. With Power Point presentations, videos, songs, tooth mascots and study models, the 260 students became interested, engaged and interactive. Valuable information including oral cancer was shared and the students were captivated. “I had fun experience learning to brush,” according to a grade three pupil. “Overall, I strongly agree that oral hygiene is very important for the body,” an eight-grader responded.
Since the educational event took place in school settings, there were no other health services provided. However, each participant received goody bag that contains child size toothbrush, dental floss, and oral health education card. Winners in the question and answer portion also received the clinic custom-made facemasks.
The dental health professionals who participated in the Give Kids a Smile had an opportunity to also encourage the young learners develop health behavior management. In a survey conducted after the health lectures, most of the children strongly agree that the topic presented was important and signified they will be able to apply the knowledge learned. “I found oral hygiene education to be one of the most effective ways to help communities” said Dr. Jonathan Min, one of the dentists. “Although we cannot see direct results right away, good oral hygiene will prevent so much dental problems in the future. Good education is the ultimate key to improve oral health in our community,” Dr. Min concluded.
“It is rewarding to help improve a child’s view on dental health,” said Jocelyn Sonsona, SDA Clinic office manager. “The reward is even greater when kids are inspired to take good care of their teeth and took time to write positive impressions,” she added. In the evaluation questionnaires, children wrote, “Thank you for teaching us how to brush and floss”; “for making time to do this”; “From now on I will brush my teeth…the way Dr. Lee said to.”
Catching a glimpse of a child’s radiant smile gives us great reason to keep GKAS an ongoing and expanding outreach program in spite of the pandemic. Give Kids a Smile is changing lives meaningfully, one smile at a time.
This year, Saipan SDA Clinic served 260 students through its “Give Kids a Smile” annual program.
Dr. Anna Lee
Dr. Jonathan Min
