New Jersey Dental Association Give Kids A Smile! Day

Volunteering your time as a dental professional is wonderful and much-needed endeavor.  The stat’s GKAS program needs dedicated dentists and auxiliaries to help drive the mission of the program, which is to improve the oral health of all New Jersey’s children despite various access barriers.

There are two ways to volunteer your time and talent: 1) open your own dental office up as a participating location, or 2) volunteer at a third-party participating location.  Here, we will give instructions pursuing both options. Dental professionals in New Jersey, who complete three hours or more of volunteer time on GKAS day at a participating location, will receive three (3) continuing education units.

DENTISTS/DENTAL AUXILIARIES-Using Their Own Office

For this option, the dental office must register at www.givekidsasmile.ada.org prior to December 4, 2011. Step-by-step instructions will walk you through the process of registering your site as an participating location and securing preventive supplies from Henry Schein and Colgate. (In order to be eligible to be selected as a recipient of supplies, you must register by November 1, 2011.)  The NJDA alerts every public school nurse in the state with the list of participating locations and other program information.  They are instructed to have parents contact your office and book an appointment on GKAS day. It behooves you to contact your local school nurse and introduce your office as a participating location.

DENTISTS/DENTAL AUXILIARIES-Volunteering at a Location Other than Their Own

If you are a licensed or certified dental professional (DMD, DDS, RDH, RDA, or CDA), email your name, credentials and general geographic area in which you’d like to volunteer on GKAS day to gkas@njda.org , and NJDA will link you with a location needed clinical volunteers. Please be aware that some locations, such as federal, state or country-run facilities may have eligibility requirements for volunteers or may require documentation to prove licensure, certification or insurance coverage, and some locations may not allow volunteers at all.  In the case of the latter, every attempt will be made to find alternative locations in your specified geographic area.

For Dental Volunteers