‘Give Kids a Smile’ at CLC Provides Free Dental Care to Local Children

Every year, dental professionals across Minnesota participate in “Give Kids a Smile,” which provides free dental care to children. The Central Lakes College Dental Assisting Program and a few local dental professionals did their part in Brainerd on Friday.

During the event, local kids were given a free trip to the dentist. This not only benefited the children receiving the care, but the students in the CLC Dental Assisting Program got some valuable experience from it.

“I think it’s a great experience for us because it’s like a real office space,” said CLC Dental Assisting Program student Nola Blais. “We’ve been working at about like two-hour time frames, but now it’s condensed down to one, which is more like real life. It’s also good experience because we’ve been working on a lot of adults and no kids. So to have all these kids in is just, it’s good to see how that would work, too, for the students that want to work in a pediatric office.”

The day also provided a learning opportunity for not only the students but also the children, teaching the young ones about the importance of proper oral hygiene.

“Just knowing that your patients go out with care makes us really happy, and then us to learn also helps us kind of feel better and just kind of teach the younger children how to take care of their teeth,” explained Dental Assisting student Kaiden Holtz.

“Give Kids a Smile” has been going on for two decades, and for those who provide the free dental care, it is always a special experience.

“It is so cool to see these kids that obviously couldn’t go somewhere else,” added Dental Assisting student Sydney Suska. “To see them come in and just have their smiles brighter, to fix their teeth. We have many volunteers today. We have dentists, we have hygienists, and then obviously us assisting that just want to make these kids have awesome smiles and keep their gums perfect.”

The goal on Friday was to make this dental experience as comfortable as possible for these children, and to show them that the dentist’s office is no place to be scared of.

“We always, our goal is to make it a fun environment and enjoyable experience so that they want to come back to the dentist and continue that in the future,” said Dental Assisting Program director Katie Thalberg.

25 children were given free dental care last Friday at CLC. Over the past 20 years, Minnesota dentists have provided free care to over 84,000 children through “Give Kids a Smile.”