Trident, SAA, Cincinnati

PARSIPPANY, New Jersey--Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease in America, yet more than eight in 10 (84%) of American parents don't realize this.

Smiles Across America, an Oral Health America program--in conjunction with Trident gum--has welcomed Cincinnati-based CincySmiles Foundation to the SAA network. This effort is part of an ongoing commitment by Oral Health America and Trident to help fight cavities among this nation’s youth.

With the help of a $1.5 million, three-year commitment by Trident to the SAA program, Oral Health America supports dental services to more than 250,000 children annually in underserved communities nationwide. Together with local communities, SAA and Trident are working to address the need for school-based and school-linked oral disease prevention services.

With the help of Trident, the program will expand its reach to Cincinnati. Community leaders join Trident, SAA, CincySmiles Foundation, and Cincinnati partners--including Growing Well Cincinnati--to bring attention to the importance of healthy mouths for children living in Cincinnati and nationwide.

With the new partnership, CincySmiles Foundation will change its model of delivering preventive oral health care, and will deliver services to an additional 1,000 elementary school students during the 2010-11 school year, and an additional 5,000 children per year within three years.

The financial commitment of Trident is key to Oral Health America’s expansion of services to dental programs in need of SAA-funding, such as CincySmiles Foundation.

“We are very pleased to welcome CincySmiles Foundation to our family of care providers,” said Beth Truett, president and CEO of Oral Health America.

“Through our combined efforts, we can raise public awareness about the importance of healthy mouths for healthy lives, and proactively provide education and services in schools to prevent tooth decay for uninsured and underserved children.”

Tooth decay affects nearly 50% of second graders and almost 80% of 17-year-olds. Despite this, nearly three-quarters (74%) of U.S. parents don’t necessarily consider tooth decay to be a chronic childhood disease. But many parents do recognize that, if left untreated, tooth decay can negatively impact a child’s well-being, self-esteem, or even concentration level.

Each year, more than 51 million school hours are lost as a result of problems related to tooth decay. The contributions of Trident help SAA link local governments, businesses, and supporters with care providers and schools to help fight untreated oral disease in children and prevent the loss of pivotal hours in the classroom.

“We are so excited to help expand the number of children nationally who currently receive oral health services and education in schools and extend our reach to now include Cincinnati," said Maurice Herrera, Trident.

“Providing oral health care solutions to children has always been a primary goal of Trident, and we are pleased to continue funding partnerships like the one with CincySmiles Foundation to help shed light on the importance of oral health care in underserviced communities.”

Thanks to contributions from supporters like Trident, SAA provides its network with the funding and technical assistance in the areas of communication and coalition building that enables them to reach more underserved and uninsured children and address barriers to care--lack of resources and transportation, low literacy, and language diversity.

To support the partnership, Walgreens and Plackers dental flossers have provided supplies for the Cincinnati program.

To learn more about the Trident and Smiles Across America partnership, visit Trident on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tridentgum.

To read more about Smiles Across America, go to SAA.

To comment on this subject, go to community.pennwelldentalgroup.com/.

References available from company upon request.