Volunteer Dentists Provide Critical Oral Health Services For Children
Volunteer Dentists Provide Critical Oral Health Services For ChildrenThrough The Pankey Institute and America’s Toothfairy® Partnership(Charlotte, NC—January 8, 2010) National Children’s Oral Health Foundation America’s Toothfairy® (NCOHF) and The Pankey Institute have formed a partnership to provide volunteer dental services
Volunteer Dentists Provide Critical Oral Health Services For Children
Through The Pankey Institute and America’s Toothfairy® Partnership
(Charlotte, NC—January 8, 2010) National Children’s Oral Health Foundation: America’s Toothfairy® (NCOHF) and The Pankey Institute have formed a partnership to provide volunteer dental services to promising at-risk teens and underserved children throughout America through the America’s Toothfairy Dental Home and Tomorrow’s SMILES© programs.
Tomorrow’s SMILES© was created and initially funded by a gift from Dr. Ronald Goldstein, a highly respected clinician, author and lecturer. Through this partnership, Pankey Institute volunteer dental professionals will provide comprehensive restorative and esthetic treatment for at-risk students while educating them about the importance of good oral health and maintaining their healthy Tomorrow’s SMILES. In return, Tomorrow’s SMILES students share these valuable lessons with elementary school children through the program’s Pay-It-Forward component, ensuring that good oral hygiene habits are instilled early in a child’s life.
Through the America’s Toothfairy Dental Home program, Pankey members across the country will adopt the care of underserved children in their area and give them a “dental home.” Volunteer dental professionals donate comprehensive oral health care to a child in need, providing the building blocks necessary to ensure proper oral health practices and increased opportunities for future success. By becoming a Dental Home provider, caring Pankey volunteer professionals have a direct impact on America’s pediatric dental disease epidemic by helping to close the gap in healthcare access for underserved children.
Dr. Nancy Ward of Baltimore, MD, a Board Member of the Pankey Foundation and Visiting Faculty, who chairs its Pankey Dental Access Days Committee, said, “I am very excited about getting involved with this program and having our Pankey dentists participate. I believe the large community of Pankey trained dentists will appreciate this means to give back to their own communities. One of the Pankey Foundation’s nonprofit objectives is improving oral healthcare worldwide through education and also facilitating programs for our alumni that provide oral care to the underserved. Through the Institute’s Pankey Dental Access Days clinics, organized by Pankey alumni in their own communities, we have provided care to mainly adults. NCOHF is the only singularly-focused independent organization dedicated to saving children from pediatric dental disease. I believe Pankey dentists will be able to more effectively help underserved children and teens through this new partnership.”
Dr. James F. Otten of Lawrence, KS, who is Chairman of the Pankey Institute’s Provost Committee, a member of the Board of Advisors, and a member of the Lead Visiting Faculty, has already begun working as a volunteer with NCOHF in the Tomorrows Smiles program. According to Dr. Otten, “I look forward to facilitating growing involvement by my colleagues. NCOHF is an innovative children’s health organization that has made great strides to eliminate pediatric dental disease since its founding only four years ago. The Pankey Institute looks forward to a strong partnership that gives our members the opportunity to be matched with local underserved children and combat the oral health crisis in their own communities. This is just one of several alliances that can help bring the philanthropic mission of both organizations to fruition, with the oral health of our nation’s children being the beneficiary. Bringing together great organizations with a rich tradition of giving leverages the positive impact we can have on children’s health.”
Fern Ingber, NCOHF President and CEO, stated, “We are thrilled that The Pankey Institute has partnered with NCOHF to expand vital oral healthcare for underserved children and deserving teens across the country. Pankey-trained dentists are renowned for their relationship-based, values-driven practices, creating an ideal environment to deliver quality care for those who need it most.”
About The Pankey Institute
Founded in 1972, The Pankey Institute is a nonprofit organization that promotes optimal oral health care through advanced continuing education for dentists (www.pankey.org). It was the first institute of its kind and remains among the most prestigious, attracting dentists from 42 nations to its educational programs. Over 20,000 dentists and specialists have attended its courses and now serve millions of patients worldwide.
About National Children’s Oral Health Foundation: America’s Toothfairy® (NCOHF) National Children’s Oral Health Foundation: America’s Toothfairy® (NCOHF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, dedicated to raising awareness of the #1 chronic childhood illness: pediatric dental disease, facilitating delivery of comprehensive pediatric oral health services to vulnerable populations, and eliminating this preventable disease from future generations. NCOHF draws on vast national resources to secure and distribute product and financial donations along with innovative preventive programs to a growing network of not-for-profit university and community based dental clinics, health centers, and mobile programs throughout America. For more information about NCOHF, please visit www.AmericasToothfairy.org.
