A Sioux Center dentist plans to provide free dental care for one day to kids in the community. Sioux Center Dental, owned and operated by Doctor Trevor Kuiper, will donate its facilities and staff to provide the free dental care to children on February 13th.
Dr. Kuiper says the need is always there, and right now the need in Sioux Center is even greater because fewer dentists are practicing in town.
“We’re trying to help these kids who haven’t either had the means or the opportunity to be able to smile or eat comfortably for a long period of time,” he says.
The state organization, I-Smile, is assisting Kuiper and his staff in organizing this first-time event for Sioux Center Dental. The event is a spinoff of the American Dental Association’s National “Give Kids a Smile Day”, so Kuiper is calling the event “Give Kids a Smile”. He says they hope to serve between 25 and 40 kids that day.
“Obviously there’s a certain limit to what we’re able to do in one day but we’re going to try and get as much done as we can,” he says.
Sioux Center Dental Registered Dental Hygienist Amanda Van Beek and I-Smile Coordinator Dawn Ericson, also a registered dental hygienist, conducted more than 150 student screenings in Sioux Center schools in preparation for the event. School nurses continue to evaluate and identify dental needs, sending forms home for parents of children identified with those needs.
Kuiper says they plan to provide basic services, but understands there may be more complex cases that come in.
“And that children that we identify that do have cavities or abscessed baby teeth in particular, we’ll provide as much treatment as we can in terms of fillings or even extracting baby teeth,” he says. “We hope it’s not too many but if there are adult teeth that need extraction or fillings, we will do the same thing for those as well.”
The school is providing transportation for the children to the clinic on the day of the event. Sioux Center Dental is currently in contact with Sioux Center Christian School, hoping to get them involved next year. If you want more information on the Give Kids a Smile event, call Sioux Center Dental at 712-722-5155.
(By Mark Buss, KSOU radio, Sioux Center)
If you have any questions about our Give Kids a Smile Day, contact us today!