Paterson, New Jersey — On Feb. 6 an Dr. El Achi, a dentist in Paterson, New Jersey will be providing FREE, SCREENINGS, AND CLEANINGS, as part of national Give Kids A Smile® day.
Children, and their parents, from the City of Paterson are invited to participate in the program and are urged to contact Dr. El Achi’s office for more details and to register for the program. Last year, more than 48,000 dental team members nationwide participated in Give Kids A Smile®, a program first held in 2003 by the American Dental Association (ADA) to provide care and raise awareness of the importance of access to dental care for poor children.
“It’s heartbreaking to see a child’s smile destroyed by severe tooth decay,” said Dr. El Achi
“Imagine not being able to eat, sleep and pay attention in school because you have a mouthful of toothaches,”
Nearly 1 in 4 children, aged 2 to 11 years old have untreated cavities in their baby teeth,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While poor diet and oral hygiene certainly play a role, cavities are actually caused by a disease called caries, which is five times more common than asthma. The National Institutes of Health report that 80 percent of tooth decay is found in just 25 percent of children, primarily from low-income families.
Public health programs such as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) are supposed to help underserved children, but utilization rates are low.
“Here in New Jersey, only a tiny percentage of children enrolled in Medicaid received any dental service in 2005,” Dr. El Achi said. “That isn’t surprising when you learn that our state Medicaid program is under so much financial pressure.”
“Dentists can’t do this alone,” Dr. El Achi said. “With Give Kids A Smile, we can help some children get the dental care they need, but a one-day event will never be enough. Our event is not a cure all, it’s a wake up call. Charity is not a health care system.”
“Children’
