Santa Fe Community College Dental Department Celebrates National Children's Dental Health Month With Give Kids A Smile Events

Good oral health habits start early, and the foundation set for children today can lead to a lifetime of healthy smiles. Each year, National Children's Dental Health Month is in February to promote good oral hygiene. To celebrate, the Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) Dental Department, located in Santa Fe, NM, hosted and participated in the national Give Kids A Smile^® (GKAS) events during February. 

The kickstart event was at the SFCC Kids Campus with oral screening and oral health education. The next event was in conjunction with Santa Fe Public Schools held with students in kindergarten, first and second grade. Approximately 2,205 kids from the ages six months to eight years old were served.

SFCC’s dental assistant certificate program and community dental health coordinators certificate program created fun, age-appropriate activities to help the children learn about the importance of oral health and careers in oral health.

SFCC thanks the American Dental Association Foundation and Henry Schein for the donation of dental giveaways for students. SFCC also thanks La Familia Dental staff and dental students, SFCC Kids Campus staff, Santa Fe Public Schools nurses and teachers and SFCC Dental Department staff, faculty and students. The events were led by Aamna Nayyar, DDS., B.Sc., B.D.S., GPR, the SFCC Academic Dental Director.

The SFCC Dental Department is a local leader of the Santa Fe community as an effective and efficient teaching and learning center of allied dental health care. As offered through SFCC, community dental health coordinators (CDHC) are health care workers who help promote oral health in underserved communities. A CDHC is a community health worker (CHW) with an emphasized skill set related to oral health. CDHCs work in communities, personal homes and other locations under a similar concept of a CHW.

Learn more about SFCC’s dental programs here.

Courtesy of Santa Fe Community College