National Children's Dental Health Month | A message from the Dean

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, designed by the American Dental Association (ADA) to be an opportunity to promote the benefits of good oral health, specifically children’s oral health. We know that establishing good oral health and oral hygiene practices early in life will contribute to good oral health throughout one’s life. On the contrary, children with poor health are three times more likely to miss school, absences due to pain are associated with poorer performance, over 34 million school hours are missed annually in the US due to dental issues and approximately 30% of U.S. children aged 6-12 have missed school due to oral health problems. The silver lining in these data points is that it is an improvement when compared to some 20th century data points. However, there is still a high need to improve the oral health of children and teenagers, and a month promoting children’s oral health is a great idea. 

This past weekend we, like many others across the nation, hosted an annual program, Give Kids a Smile (GKAS), an ADA initiative. It is estimated that over 300,000 children will receive free oral health education, screenings and preventive and restorative treatment. I am thankful for our GKAS Co-Chairs, Jamisen Hannafin, Martha Lucas, Brianna Murano, Dr. Fong, and the committee who organized this event. Although events within our community created additional challenges, our volunteers were committed to be here for those who would come. Although these programs don’t solve the problem of untreated disease in children, it is just one pebble creating the ripple that leads to a solution. The School of Dentistry will continue to be here for the community. 

Our graduate pediatric dental clinic is housed on the West Bank of the Mississippi. It is a fourteen-chair clinic made possible by Delta Dental of Minnesota. Our faculty, graduate students and dental students provide a variety of services for pediatric patients—some of whom are medically compromised, have special health care needs, or have significant anxiety. Some of these patients require care to be performed in the operating room by our faculty and residents. This team of providers cared for approximately 7,000 patients in 2025. In addition, our pre-doctoral students provided care to approximately 3,000 patients in Moos Tower in 2025. As a school, we are deeply committed to caring for the oral health needs of children and teenagers, whether it is in one of our clinics, the operating room or in the community. I am grateful for the faculty, staff and residents in our Division of Pediatric Dentistry.