CHICAGO, October 4, 2017 — Oral Health America (OHA) is pleased to kick-off a new project funded by Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), focused on the oral health needs of children 0 to 6 years in the U.S. In the first year of this three-year contingent grant, OHA is working with historic Smiles Across America® network partners, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine (UNLV SDM), Kids Smiles, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA), Children’s Dental Services (Minneapolis, MN) and University Hospital Health Systems, Inc. dba Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Ronald McDonald Care Mobile (Cleveland, OH) to the Smiles Across America® (SAA) network.
Through this three-year initiative, RMHC, OHA and partners have established a mutual goal of impacting the oral and overall health of children aged birth to six years old through the Early Childhood Caries Prevention Project. This Project is working to reduce the incidence of childhood tooth decay by providing parent engagement and education and bi-annual oral health screenings and fluoride varnish applications as well as working with families to establish a dental home and providing case management for those children identified as high risk.
“This grant continues Oral Health America’s partnership with RMHC, and strategically positions OHA to impact the health of very young children through coalition building, partnership development, campaign/communications strategies and advocacy across the country,” said Beth Truett, President and CEO of Oral Health America. “We are excited to begin this initiative with our esteemed researchers and partners, with a goal to impact the lives of low-income children and their families.”
On Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at Acelero Learning – Spring Valley Learning Center, the partners came together to celebrate with a short program, a tour of Acelero Learning and oral health screenings and education.
Oral Health America supports oral health programs across the country through grant funding, technical assistance in the areas of communications and coalition building, product donations and demonstration projects to engage communities in the design of oral health programs. Each year, SAA reaches more than 500,000 children and distributes more than 500,000 units of donated dental product.
For more information about Oral Health America and its Smiles Across America® program, please visit oralhealthamerica.org.
