National Children’s Dental Health Month 2020
Community Events
Second District
Dr. Barry Cohen from the Second
District visited local preschools
and kindergarten classrooms.
The children learned about taking
care of their teeth and visiting
the dentist.
Fifth District
Lancaster County
For the 38 th year, Dr. Robert Berstecher
from the Lancaster County Dental Society
visited more than 200 students in the
Eastern Lancaster County (ELANCO)
School District. The students participated
by holding cardboard cutouts of teeth and
healthy and unhealthy snacks during his
presentation, and then watched a short
video “Dudley and Dee Dee in Nutrition
Land.” They ended the school day by
receiving a hygiene kit containing a brush,
toothpaste, floss, and a National Institutes
of Health (NIH) pamphlet titled “Snack
Smart for Healthy Teeth.”
The Alliance of Lancaster County
Dental Society
The Alliance of the Lancaster County
Dental Society holds an annual event to
foster community building and to honor
NCDHM. Their dental kit stuffing event in
February again was a collaboration with
the Boy Scouts of Troop 84. Overall, this
was the sixth consecutive year that the
alliance teamed up with this scout troop.
The older scouts instructed the younger
scouts in how to assemble a dental health
kit with a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
and mouthwash. In no time at all, they
had completed over 1,000 kits, to be
distributed to grateful area shelters and
organizations, some directly involved in
promoting dental health, like Water Street
Rescue Mission’s Dental Clinic.
Others work in an indirect way,
for example, providing temporary
housing for women and children
seeking shelter from domestic abuse.
Still others help out by providing material
goods for people who have none; some
who have just been made homeless by a
fire, or lived on the streets to begin with.
Members of the local alliance delivered
the completed kits to the organizations.
“We are proud that the Alliance to the
Lancaster County Dental Society is able,
albeit in a small way, to touch the lives
of so many in our community,” said
Stephanie Grambau.
The alliance has been able to support
numerous dental health organizations
because of funding raised during their
December holiday card sharing project.
In addition to funding cash awards for
their NCDHM contest, they give cash
awards to deserving graduates of the
Lancaster County Career and Technology
Center’s Dental Assistant Program; and,
with the funds left over, they gave cash
donations to organizations that directly
support dental health in the community.
This year, the alliance made sizable
donations to Water Street Dental Health
Clinic and Welsh Mountain Dental Clinic
to provide direct support to their dental
patient programs.
“We thank all of those who support us
through generous donations and allow us
to make such a big difference in the dental
health of Lancaster County,” Grambau said.
The alliance continued its annual poster
contest to promote Children’s Dental
Health Month, using the ADA-sponsored
theme. The top three winners in each
category received ribbons and prize
money, with $50 for first prize, $35 for
second and $20 for third.
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MAY/JUNE 2020 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL