By Ishmael Swiney
When children go to a Miles for Smiles event, the students are receiving care directly with the goal of improving their access to quality dental care. The program is intended to reach students where they are, thus removing obstacles that make regular dental care difficult to receive.
“We like being in the community, so we like to be able to provide for the kids and for the parents, as well,” said Terry from Miles for Smiles. “With this program, the kids don’t have to miss school and the parents won’t have to miss work.”
According to Terry, every Miles for Smiles visit takes place at the school, turning a campus into a temporary dental clinic, so that students can have exams and cleanings performed without leaving the school. The process for each visit is uniform to ensure that every student receives the highest level of care possible.
“We take X-rays when they first come in, then we get the patients in the chair to clean their teeth and do an extensive exam,” said Terry. “If time allows, we can also do a healing system on them.”
The team serves multiple students from numerous parishes, such as Caddo Parish or Bossier Parish. On Tuesday alone, they processed around 40 kids, between 8am-2pm.
Beyond just the actual care, the program intends to reach students that would normally not have access to dental care and provide educational support and preventive care for long-term success. Terry sees educating patients consistently about the importance of dental hygiene and regular dentist visits is his higher purpose, so that they can develop healthy habits.
“It’s important that they return every 6 months for cleaning and put the energy into their dental hygiene and to help maintain their oral health long term, because there are many people who are under the impression that if they go longer than their appointment time they are going to lose teeth or sustain an injury or problem, when in fact if you brush your teeth twice a day and come in every 6 months you can maintain your oral health and not have issues.”
Terry stated that he has not encountered any challenges expanding the program and providing services to children at various schools and neighborhoods; instead, the primary focus has been on how accessible and consistent these services can be.
Terry sees the effect of this program as he witnesses children come to the office for the first time, particularly those who have never had a dental check-up before.
“When you think about it, for many of these children, they won’t ever have a dental visit until they’re much older,” he said, reflecting on the importance of preventing problems before they start. “For us to go into a school and provide early prevention is critical.”
Miles for Smiles is currently providing preventative dental treatment to children in schools through professional and community volunteers who have the ability to provide accessible and consistent care while reinforcing the value of preventative oral health.
For more information, contact freshman counselor, Lori Dye by calling (318) 865-7137.