Cincy Smiles
A Tri-State dental care organization bring a healthy smile to underprivileged kids, while hosting fun and unique events to fundraise. See how you can get involved in this pearly white worthwhile cause!

The Cincy Smiles Foundation "Dental Road Crew" Van visits local neighborhoods, institutions and events

Look around. You'll see a lot more healthy smiles in Cincinnati thanks to the Cincinnati Smiles Foundation. Cincy Smiles began in 1909 with the goal of providing dental care to underserved populations. Since then, they've grown to a prestigious organization, spreading their organization over several counties. "Today [Cincy Smiles] is the only agency in the region solely dedicated to expanding access to dental disease prevention and treatment to underserved and vulnerable populations," says Laura Everhart, director of development at Cincy Smiles.

"Cincy Smiles began as a program to screen children from low-income families for untreated dental decay," says Everhart. Staffed with an army of over 250 volunteer dentists as well as paid staff, the organization has worked hard over the years to achieve their original goals. In 1984 Cincy Smiles, along with the Cincinnati Health department developed one of the first sealant programs in the country to focus on schools. Today, the foundation is able to provide care through school sealant programs, but also through their Dental Road Crew, conveniently bringing the technology of a dental office to schools through a converted mobile vehicle.

More recently, the organization has expanded their services to other members of the community who are unable afford adequate dental care. "We have done much to improve access to care," explains Everhart. The McMicken Dental Center, located on East McMicken Avenue in Cincinnati, was established to specifically serve the homeless population in Cincinnati, as well as those facing extreme financial difficulty.

Cincy Smiles has recently been involved in hosting a number of fundraising events to benefit the organization. In December of 2011 and March of 2012 Cincy Smiles hosted line dancing events at Bellvue Veterans Club in Bellvue, Kentucky. "Both evenings were highly successful," says Everhart. This June, Cincy Smiles will be hosting an upcoming line dancing event where donations can be made to the foundation. "CincySmiles was fortunate to have been given a Challenge Grant from the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati," explains Everhart. The Health Foundation has agreed to match individual donations up to $25,000 through the end of 2012; they will also generously match any donations from the line dancing event.

In the future, Everhart states that Cincy Smiles "hopes to increase community capacity to do a better job at preventing disease before it ever begins." This includes recent efforts made by the organization to work with local early childhood development programs, pediatricians, and Obstetricians and Gynecologists in addition with already established programs such as Head Start in order to teach better dental hygiene to upcoming generatioins.

For more information about Cincy Smiles, their healthcare locations, or to make a donation call the office of the Cincinnati Smiles Foundation, or click here.

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