Kaskaskia College Dental Assisting Students helped with Children’s Dental Health Month.  The annual observance of children’s dental health began as a one-day event in Cleveland, Ohio on February 3, 1941 and a one-week event in Akron, Ohio during February 1941.  The American Dental Association held the first national observance of Children’s Dental Health Day on February 8, 1949.  The single day observance became a week-long event in 1955.  In 1981, the program was extended to a month-long celebration known today as National Children’s Dental Health Month.  Today, NCDHM is a nationwide program and its messages reach millions of people in communities across the country and at numerous armed service bases abroad.  To celebrate Children’s Dental Health Month, the Kaskaskia College Dental Assisting Class visits daycares, Head Start, and schools to present oral health education.  Every child is given a toothbrush and paste, which is part of the fundraising efforts done by the KC Dental Assisting Club.  KC Dental Assisting Students are visiting grade schools to do oral health presentations in celebration of Children’s Dental Health Month.  The theme for this year’s campaign is “Sugar Wars,” featuring two sets of twins – Flossy and Buck McGrinn and Den and Gen Smiley.

Pictured are KC Dental Assisting Students Sierra Ehret of Nashville and Taryn Pabst of Pinckneyville doing a presentation at the KC Children’s Learning Center.