Smiles at Sunnybrook

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2019

“Smiles at Sunnybrook” is a special grant-funded initiative through the N.C. Office of Rural Health, offered at the Wake County Human Services Dental Clinic, to ensure uninsured children have access to preventative dental care, a need that many times gets overlooked due to finances. Our clinic has been providing preventative dental visits at no cost to uninsured children ages 0 to 20 years since October 2017. Since that time, we have provided more than 1,584 preventative dental visits to uninsured children with 537 being new patients. These visits include a dental exam, cleaning, any necessary x-rays, and fluoride varnish. Children ages six to nine also qualify for sealants on first permanent molars at no charge. Since July 2018, we have been actively engaged in our community to promote this program and established strong collaborations with community partners including the Poe Health Center and Boys and Girls Clubs of Wake County. Additionally, “Smiles at Sunnybrook” has been incorporated into all Wake County Human Services Regional Centers by providing dental education and screenings. In response to the program’s outreach, over 1,000 children have received dental screenings and more than 2,000 children and approximately 1,200 parents have received dental education.