A new grant is helping Bethany for Children and Families provide dental care to hundreds of at-risk kids.

  • (Bethany for Children and Families)
  • (Bethany for Children and Families)

The group recently received a grant from the American Dental Association that will provide dental kids to over 400 at-risk children, including:

  • children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste
  • oral health education cards
  • goody bags
  • sealant
  • gloves
  • masks
  • fluoride varnish
  • prophy angles
  • prophy paste
  • plastic cups
  • gauge sponges

“Here’s toothpaste for the children to take home, and also some sealant if they’re eligible for sealants,” said Christina McNamara-Schmidt, a Bethany’s for Children and Families spokesperson.

Bethany’s received dental kits on Tuesday, to better care for children in need.

“In the kits there’s masks for the dentists, included with gloves,” McNamara-Schmidt said. “There’s fluoride, toothbrushes, varnish, and all of the supplies that are needed to provide dental cleaning for a child on the bus.”

Bethany’s will utilize their mobile dental bus with their brand-new supplies to help children in the area.

“The bus travels to local schools in the Quad Cities are and provides services to kids that may otherwise not get any preventative dental care,” McNamara-Schmidt said.

The dental bus is only just getting back to caring for children recently. “We’re getting the bus back out on the streets now,” McNamara-Schmidt said. “The program was suspended in March 2020 with COVID, and so we hope to serve 400 kids by May, and more than 1,000 kids by next year.”

With new supplies, the agency needs all of the help they can get.

“We do need volunteers to make the give kids a smile mobile dental clinic a success,” McNamara-Schmidt said. “We need volunteer dentists, and volunteer hygienists.”

Bethany expects to receive these supplies later this month and hopes to serve as many as 1,000 kids between January and May of this year. The donation supports Bethany’s Give Kids a Smile Mobile Dental Program, which provides exams and preventative care to children who do not have access to oral health care. A mobile dental bus travels to schools throughout Iowa and Illinois, providing care from licensed dental staff members. Permission forms can be found at the child’s school nurse’s office.

For more information about Bethany, click here.