CONTACTS:
Dr. Joseph Brofsky
Give Kids A Smile Chair
516-295-3733
Jbrofs123@aol.com
Luciana Montuoro
LI McDonald’s® Marketing & PR Director
631-827-3516
missmacmarketing@aol.com
January 11, 2011, Long Island, NY - Local Event Highlights Disadvantaged Children’s Need for Dental Care and Ronald McDonald® will be present to help ease any anxiety and entertain children as they wait to get their free dental check up!
At the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City on February 4, 2011 an estimated 1,500 children from local low-income families will receive free dental services ranging from screenings, fluoride varnishes and follow-up fillings as part of the National Give Kids A Smile® day. Children will begin arriving at 9:30 a.m., and the event is expected to end sometime by 12:00 p.m. And who better to greet the children as they anxiously await before they enter to get their check up but Ronald McDonald himself! And Long Island McDonald’s will be providing the children with coupons for a free apple dipper.
Children from underserved communities in Nassau County were selected and invited by their school’s nurses and principles to attend. Last year, more than 44,650 dental team members nationwide participated in Give Kids A Smile®, a program first held in 2003 by the American Dental Association (ADA) to provide care and raise awareness of the importance of access to dental care for poor children. “It’s heartbreaking to see a child’s smile destroyed by severe tooth decay,” said Dr. Joseph Brofsky, Nassau County Dental Society “Give Kids A Smile” Chair. “Imagine not being able to eat, sleep and pay attention in school because you have a mouthful of toothaches,” Dr. Brofsky said. “Some children have reached the point where the only alternative is a mouth full of crowns or pulling the teeth that can’t be saved.
It’s tragic. Our state needs to do more to help children get the dental care they need.” Nearly 1 in 4 children, aged 2 to 11 years, has untreated cavities in their baby teeth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While poor diet and oral hygiene certainly play a role, cavities are actually caused by a disease called caries, which is five times more common than asthma. The National Institutes of Health reports that 80 percent of tooth decay is found in just 25 percent of children, primarily from low-income families. Public health programs such as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) are supposed to help underserved children, but utilization rates are low. “Many children enrolled in Medicaid receive no dental service in throughout the year,” Dr. Brofsky said, “The Percent of Children Enrolled in Medicaid receiving Any Dental Service is only 25.3%.
“That number isn’t surprising when you learn that our state Medicaid program spends just 1.01% on dental services for children and adults.” “Dentists can’t do this alone,” Dr. Brofsky said. “With Give Kids A Smile, we can help some children get the dental care they need, but a one-day event will never be enough. Our event is not a cure all; it’s a wake up call. Charity is not a health care system. Children’s oral health is everyone’s business—not just dentists. We need to participate as a community and as a nation. We need to find the political will to solve this problem, Dr. Brofsky said. “It won’t happen overnight. But if enough people start working on it, it will happen.”
About McDonald’s
McDonald’s is the world’s best known brand and is the global leader in food service. Of the 620 McDonald’s Restaurants in the New York Tri-State area, 85 restaurants are located throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Visit www.LIMcDonalds.com for a list of our restaurant locations, and for more information on Long Island McDonald’s programs.