CareCredit GKAS

CareCredit, a patient payment program, has continued its support as founding donor of the American Dental Association Foundation Give Kids A Smile Fund with a fifth consecutive $100,000 donation. To read more about CareCredit, go to CareCredit.The donation was made Feb. 23, 2011, at the Give Kids A Smile National Advisory Board meeting in Chicago, Ill. The funding will help the American Dental Association Foundation continue to make grants that support the Give Kids A Smile program.The American Dental Association’s Give Kids A Smile program has several objectives:• to raise awareness of the high level of oral disease suffered by children primarily from low-income families; • to demonstrate dentistry’s commitment to addressing access to care; • to enable volunteer dental teams across the country to provide free dental care, screening, and education to children in need; and• to urge policymakers to increase funding for children’s oral health. In 2010, with the help of CareCredit’s contribution, the ADA Foundation awarded grants to the Hispanic Dental Association, the National Dental Association, and Oral Health America. The HDA is using its grant to fund local dental-student-led oral health programs in Los Angeles, Calif., San Antonio, Texas, and Boston, Mass., to expand the mobile dental van program and participation in local health clinics. The NDA is enhancing the Deamonte Driver Dental Project, a memorial to a young boy who died from an infection in his brain that was caused by untreated dental decay, to reach more elementary schools and expand mobile dental van services. Oral Health America’s grant funds have been distributed to Smiles Across America sites in California, Minnesota, and Nevada. This has enabled thousands of children to receive education, preventive care, and restorative services.“Dental disease among children is a serious issue in the United States,” stated Cindy Hearn, board member and senior vice president of marketing at CareCredit "When a child has disease and pain, it makes it difficult for them to eat, sleep and learn. CareCredit became the founding donor of the American Dental Association Foundation Give Kids A Smile Fund to help increase children’s access to treatment throughout the year. Each year we are so impressed with how the grant recipients use the funds to reach out in their community.” Added Dr. David A. Whiston, president, ADA Foundation: “The ADA Foundation and its Give Kids A Smile Fund greatly appreciate CareCredit’s continuing support. CareCredit’s generosity will play a key role in helping Give Kids A Smile achieve its goal of cavity-free kids by 2020.”For more information, call (800) 300-3046, ext. 4519 or visit www.carecredit.com/dental. Information on Give Kids A Smile® can be found at www.givekidsasmile.ada.org.To comment on this topic, go to community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/.