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By Arlene Furlong

St. Louis—In the city where it all began, gratitude was the theme of the 8th annual Give Kids A Smile program celebrated here Feb. 5 and 6.

	Leadership: Dr. Findley, shown here with Dr. Tawana Ware and six-year-old Nahili, highlighted the importance of access-to-care advocacy during GKAS activities in St. Louis Feb. 6.

"Thank you, St. Louis," ADA President John Findley told the league of volunteers. "Thank you for having the vision. And thank you for your courage."

Dr. Findley said the access problem is increasingly severe and that no child in the U.S. should have to go to bed with dental pain.

"It's not a problem the government will fix alone and it's not a problem dentistry will fix alone," Dr. Findley said. "It's the community that will come together to solve this problem. It's people like you, the community, with the heart and soul to do it."

Red Valentine's Day hearts decorated the operatories and everyone from dental staff to administrators to clean-up staff wore T-shirts saying "Healthy Smiles are Everyday Valentines."

"Smile in the faces of the children," Dr. B. Ray Storm told volunteers during orientation. Dr. Storm cofounded GKAS in St. Louis with Dr. Jeff Dalin the year before it was adopted as a national program by the ADA. "Whether you're providing dentistry today by emptying a trash can or extracting a tooth, you're giving dental care. There is no way that this gets done without each and every one of you. Thank you."

St. Louis held the first Give Kids A Smile in February 2002 in a run-down, soon-to-be-demolished dental clinic where 15 patient chairs were scraped together to deliver free care. To date, more than 7,500 St. Louis-area underserved children have benefited from almost $2.5 million worth of care. The St. Louis University Center for Advanced Dental Education provides 60 chairs for patient treatment during two-day programs each February and October.

"Their hearts are as big as the arch," Dr. Dalin said about the volunteers. "We have the best people in the world here in St. Louis."

Dr. Dalin thought this year's GKAS ran more smoothly than ever before. Early estimates show that 586 kids received free dental care valued at $431,000.

"And everyone had a great time," said Dr. Dalin.

Missouri Sen. Jane Cunningham, 7th District, attends every year. "It's something you have to see to believe," she said. "I wouldn't be able to picture this process if I didn't see it with my own eyes."

It all got started with the power of one, said Candy Ross, director of clinical affairs for DEXIS Digital X-ray Systems, which for the 7th year has donated dental radiographic equipment for GKAS events at dental schools across the country.

"One vision, one kid at a time, one group of people who would not give up," Ms. Ross described. "It doesn't get any better than this."

Steve Kess, chair of the ADA GKAS National Advisory Board and vice president of global professional relations for Henry Schein Dental, called GKAS "a jewel in the crown." Schein donates thousands of dental professional product kits to GKAS events all over the country.

Dan Sabanosh, Colgate Palmolive Co. brand manager, said GKAS is aligned with the company's core values about caring for children's oral health. The company donates products children take home to stay in the habit of brushing and maintaining their oral health.

Henry Schein Dental, DEXIS Digital X-ray Systems and Colgate Palmolive Co. are the program's three national sponsors. Community sponsors include Daughters of Charity, St. Louis University, Service International and Delta Dental of Missouri.

Dr. Dalin said GKAS in St. Louis is always scrambling to find volunteers, particularly dentists and dental personnel, and always hustling for financial support. He said the GKAS program in St. Louis is "at a critical financial juncture in history."

Jan Storm, a registered dental hygienist and the wife of Dr. B. Ray Storm, said 38 hygiene students and 24 dental assisting students were volunteering from area schools. She's cultivated relationships with administrators and students since GKAS began.

"I knew that if we could get schools involved we could get a community that would give back," said Ms. Storm. "We'd build from the bottom up."

Sandra Pritchard, who will graduate from the hygiene program at St. Louis Community College in May, and often volunteers at Federally Qualified Health Centers, says she's always surprised at the dental needs of the children she meets.

"Last year I saw a 13-year-old girl who was being fitted for a partial [denture]," said Ms. Pritchard. "Many children and their parents know very little at all about oral health and they suffer the consequences."

Throughout the program's history, its progress has depended on collaborations—both national and community-based.

Some 475,000 children nationally are treated throughout the year in programs that follow the GKAS model developed in St. Louis.

"The model of care that is offered throughout the country and the year is one that helps us work with community-based programs," said Mr. Kess. "We can do it. We have the model. It's no longer a matter of having to reinvent the wheel."