posted on 9/13/2008
Recently, the Kansas City Chiefs and TeamSmile held the third annual “Kansas City Oral Health Care Day.” This dental outreach program included hundreds of metro-area youth, professionals from the dental field donating their services, and Chiefs players spreading cheer. In all, over 500 patients were seen as they received $440,000 worth of donated dental services.
Dr. Bill Busch, founder of TeamSmile echoed that sentiment by noting, “Earlier this year with the help of the Royals, Willie Wilson Baseball and TeamSmile were able to treat 133 children with $104,000 worth of free dental work. Our goal was to quadruple that with this Chiefs event and I’m happy to say that we exceeded that!”
TeamSmile is a non-profit organization that partners with local sports and dental professionals to provide quality dental care to the underserved children of Kansas City. With the help of committed sponsors and select dental manufacturers, TeamSmile provides dental treatment, multi-media oral health education, dental screenings and cleanings to area children. The UMKC dental school again served as part of the program as they volunteered their time to provide dental screenings to the underserved children of Kansas City. TeamSmile is a state-of-the-art program; it is the first dental outreach program on record to have integrated a complete computer network.
Local organizations served this year included Operation Breakthrough, El Centro, Shriners Hospital for Children, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. For the first time this year, ‘Kansas City Oral Health Care Day’ was open to the public. Children ages two through seventeen received a free dental screening, fluoride treatment, and a Colgate backpack loaded with goodies. Chiefs players visiting these to offer encouragement included not only Colquitt but the likes of TE Tony Gonzalez, G Brian Waters and C Rudy Niswanger, just to name a few.
Additionally, there were free giveaways, games, and face painting as well as appearances by Willie Wilson, KC Wolf, the Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleaders, and Shriner Clowns. Some lucky individuals even were able to win Chiefs game tickets and free athletic mouth guards. Those attending the event not only left with clean teeth but full bellies as lunch was served free to visitors all day.
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