Open wide and say "ahhhh"
Central-Hower dental clinic provides free care to Akron students

Kitana Perez has a dilemma. Her front tooth fell out some time ago and never grew back. The first-grader plans to consult her dentist about the problem. While other children might be anxious at a dentist's office, Kitana remains fearless. It is not her first trip to the dentist, so she knows she has nothing to fear. However, for some of the nearly 60 Leggett first- and third-graders taking part in the national Give Kids A Smile event at the Central-Hower dental clinic, it was their first time in the dentist's chair.

"For 92 percent of the kids here, today is their first trip to the dentist," explains Central-Hower dental clinic teacher Theresa Gadomski. "We adopted Leggett and invited students to get dental checkups, cleanings and fluoride treatments completely free of charge."

Following the Give Kids A Smile event, mom and dad receive a written report on the checkup and instructions for follow-up care. Low-income students with no insurance or access to dental care can return to the Central-Hower dental clinic for free assistance.

The Central-Hower dental clinic is a unique way to provide Akron Public Schools high school students with on-the-job experience while teaching younger students about the importance of proper dental care.

This year, more than 30 11th- and 12th-graders are enrolled in Akron Public Schools dental assisting program. Students graduate from high school with a dental assisting certificate and may choose to take the state certification exam or pursue higher education in the field. Gadomski estimates that 95% of her students choose a health care profession after they finish her two-year program, which includes an 11th-grade shadowing experience and a 12th-grade internship.

"In addition to classroom instruction, we operate 30 school clinics a year for Akron youngsters," explains Gadomski. "A licensed dentist works with our dental assisting students to provide the free care. We're the best-kept secret in Akron, Ohio."

To ease pre-exam jitters on Give Kids A Smile Day, each dental assisting high school student is assigned a patient for the day. Together, the students visit learning stations on dental nutrition, oral hygiene and general dental knowledge before receiving tooth prints that they take home. Tooth prints help authorities identify missing children.

The final stop on their oral health journey is the dentist's chair. High school students not comforting the small patients assist dentists with charting records and giving exams.

The personal attention given to the young patients pays off in a unique way.

"I have two or three students every year who tell me they were patients in the clinic when they were little, and those visits inspired them to pursue dental assisting as a career," says Gadomski, who, like her teaching partner Michelle Johnson, was a former student in the dental assisting program.

Dr. Raj Vij, a local dentist and organizer of Akron's Give Kids A Smile Day, has high praise for the teaching and learning at the clinic.

"There are only a few dental assisting programs like this out there, and this group is very well organized," says Vij. "Dental care is a great, unmet need in our society; and this is a wonderful avenue to make sure these little kiddies get a start in that direction."

Give Kids a Smile Day is a national event sponsored by the Ohio Dental Association, the American Dental Association and locally by the Akron Dental Society. Eight Akron dentists, assisted by more than 30 dental assisting students from Akron Public Schools, spent the day introducing children to the joys of healthy teeth and gums. Another 60 students from Barrett Academy took part in the program at an off-site location.

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