The American Dental Association (ADA) established Give Kids A Smile in 2002 to provide access to dental services for children from lowincome families. This nationwide event helps raise awareness of the epidemic of untreated dental disease around the country and the need to build local public and private partnerships to help solve the problem. For the past five years, Palm Beach State College Dental Health Services dental hygiene and dental assisting students, along with their faculty, have helped brighten the smiles of hundreds of local Head Start children during their annual "Give Kids a Smile" program. Free preventive dental services including oral health lessons, dental exams, oral prophylaxis/cleanings and fluoride varnish applications are provided. This year, more than 200 local Head Start children visited the clinic and learned that going to the dentist is a very good thing! Since oral health is integral to overall health, Palm Beach State College Dental Health Services has partnered with Head Start to provide these services to children in hopes of giving them a healthy head start on not only their oral health but their overall health as well. It is a winwin situation with the children receiving the early intervention of these preventive services that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to receive. Plus, our students and faculty get to experience true teamwork and help make a difference in the children's lives.

www.PalmBeachState.edu/programs/DentalHealth