The University of Mississippi School of Dentistry will be hosting UMMC Dental Mission Week in combination with Give Kids A Smile Day. This will result in a full week of service learning for the students who attend the school, which will provide free dental treatment for under served adults and children in the area. Dental Mission Week will be February 6-10, 2017. Give Kids A Smile Day will now be extended to include Mississippi Boys and Girls Clubs after-school care, which will allow a full day for providing care to children. This event seeks to raise awareness about issues related to access to dental care for the under served in Mississippi and to provide dental care to this population.

The School of Dentistry is estimating administering dental treatment and pain relief to as many as 800 adults in the under served community. The patients will be from the state’s free dental clinics, shelters that provide for homeless men, women and children and community outreach centers. Immediate treatment will be given to patients’ chief complaints to be sure they are out of pain. Adults will receive preventive dental treatment (exams, X-rays, cleanings), amalgam and composite restorations, extractions, and anterior root canals. The school will also provide 30 new dentures to the homeless and under served individuals in the community during the week. The school estimates they will treat up to 1,100 children for Give Kids A Smile Day on Friday, February 10, 2017. Children will receive examinations, dental cleanings and sealants.

Garreco Dental is happy to help the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry by donating Labstone, Flask It, Fastone, Mounting Stone, Resilience, and Silaform 70 to help make dentures for the under served community during this wonderful event. Our Research and Developmental Chemist will be at the event assisting patients to their appointments and also to provide some hands-on help to the students making dentures.

For more information on UMMC Dental Mission Week contact the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry. And don’t forget to check out the ADA’s Give Kids a Smile Day.