The New York State Dental Foundation’s Give Kids a Smile (GKAS) Awards spotlight innovative and engaging oral health programs and activities from organizations across the State.
This year the Foundation awarded more than $10,000 in cash and materials to three organizations in support of their pediatric oral health outreaches.
 
This year’s GKAS winners are: the Discovery Center of the Southern Tier, PRASAD Children’s Dental Health Program and Touro College of Dental Medicine.
 
A key factor in determining which organizations will receive a GKAS Award is to recognize which groups are making significant impacts on the most vulnerable of our population. Often, these organizations are working against all odds, with limited budgets. In 2020, the sheer scale of the COVID-19 crisis put grant makers, including the Foundation, in triage mode. The Foundation’s Charitable Awards Committee, which makes funding recommendations to the full Board, has had to make hard choices to determine which urgent needs most warranted support. There is little doubt that this decision framework will carry well into 2021.
 
COVID-19 is not the only external factor impacting the Foundation’s GKAS Award decision making. “Children and adolescents in the U.S. have made substantial oral health gains in recent years,” states Foundation Chair, Dr. G. Kirk Gleason. “However, there remain persistent disparities in oral health status between white and other racial/ethnic groups and between higher- and lower-income groups of all ages.”
 
Discovery Center of the Southern Tier of New York
 
The Foundation donated $4,000 to the Discovery Center of the Southern Tier to help completion of the revamped “Open Wide” dental exhibit.
The Discovery Center is a chartered educational children's museum that offers interactive learning support for families and public and private educational facilities. Exhibits, many of which interactive, at the Discovery Center serve as an educational tool for schools, families and organizations that seek to foster educational and community learning activities. The mission of the Discovery Center of the Southern Tier is to develop the intellectual, physical and emotional well-being of the children of the Southern Tier through participatory exhibits and programs that engage the senses, challenge the mind and offer a diverse framework for discovery in the arts, sciences and humanities.
Open Wide, which was first established in 2009 to provide children with an introduction to the idea of dental care and treatment, does not, in and of itself, serve as a mechanism for providing direct dental care, but it is able to educate children through role play throughout the year about the importance of good oral health, while at the same time promoting an interest in dental profession as a future career. The interactive nature of the exhibit, which enables kids to "diagnose" x-rays and "examine" the oral cavity further serves to demystify the dental visit experience, which for some kids, can be daunting.
 
PRASAD Children's Dental Health Program (PRASAD CDHP)
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The Foundation donated $2,900 worth of supplies inventory and $2,500 in GKAS Award cash for dental education and flyers. PRASAD CDHP sets a higher standard of oral health and quality to better meet the challenges in the community by delivering dental health education classes and providing a full range of preventive and restorative services, including cleanings, fillings, x-rays, extractions, sealants, cavity prevention and fluoride treatment. Since its inception in 1998, PRASAD CDHP has brought oral health care to children in a rural community. The program is designed to address community barriers to access care such as poor health education, poverty and lack of transportation. A state-of-the-art mobile clinic serves children where they are, at the schools, and ensures that they are able to receive the dental care they need. This strategy has made dental care and health education accessible to thousands of children. Each year PRASAD serves more than 4,000 children. PRASAD CDHP actively collaborates with state and local groups that seek to improve health outcomes including the New York State Oral Health Coalition, the Rural Health Network, school districts and the Sullivan County Oral Health Coalition. Through partnerships with community health organizations and work in the schools, the program is able to educate teachers, students and parents about the importance of good oral health.
 
Touro College of Dental Medicine
 
The Foundation awarded Touro College of Dental Medicine (TCDM) a $3,500 “combined” grant to provide materials/supplies needed for both its 2019 Veterans Smile and 2020 pediatric oral health outreaches.  TCDM has expanded its Pediatrics Oral Health Education and Outreach Program beyond the clinic, to improve the oral health of its communities and partnered with the Ossining Union Free School District (OUFSD), whose 2017/2018 enrollment statistics label 61% of their 4817 students as economically disadvantaged. Through the partnership with OUFSD, TCDM planned a variety of oral health education events, including Cavity Fighters Club Seminars in OUFSD’s K-5 schools and a First Steps Program aimed at parents and their toddlers.
 
Each year, Community health centers or service programs are encouraged to submit electronic entries for the GKAS Award to the Foundation, which can be accessed at www.nysdentalfoundation.org or by emailing Laura Clark Leon at lbleon@nysdental.org. 

​Continuing Education- Some regulations restrict licensees to a certain percentage of self-study for continuing education requirements. In response to the evolving situation with the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and for those licensees whose registrations are due to renew March 1, 2020 – January 1, 2022, the Department will grant an adjustment to all licensees to complete up to 100% of the continuing education as self-study, provided that it is taken from a Department-approved provider and is in an acceptable subject area for the specific profession.

Additionally, the Department will grant an adjustment to all licensees, regardless of registration renewal date, to utilize self-study for any coursework taken during the period from March 1, 2020 – January 1, 2022, provided that it is taken from a Department-approved provider and is in an acceptable subject area for the specific profession.  Coursework taken outside that timeframe must meet the continuing education requirements in each individual profession’s laws and regulations.

SED is working closely with other New York State agencies and the Governor’s Office to tackle issues relating to COVID-19. Please continue to monitor the Department’s website for updated guidance. 

The Nominating Committee of the New York State Dental Foundation (NYSDF) will meet in September to select candidates to serve on the NYSDF Board of Trustees. The Nominating Committee will submit its recommended slate of Trustee candidates and Board officers for consideration at the Foundation’s annual meeting on 6 November 2020.
Terms of office for Foundation trustees are three years.
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Additionally, the New York State Dental Association shall nominate two NYSDA members to serve one- year (January – December 2021) terms of office as members of the NYSDF Board of Trustees. Such nominations will be forwarded to the NYSDF Board for review and ratification at the annual meeting.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

​During this stressful and disquieting time, we at the New York State Dental Foundation understand how the current situation may affect your life and  practice. As a small gesture of support, we are offering all our online courses (except the infection control/opioid bundle) at a discount of 50%. To take advantage of this opportunity, simply use the following codes:

NYS Mandated Infection Control Course : PAUSE
NYS Requirements for Prescribing Opioid Drugs: PAUSE1
Oral Cancer: Prevention and Early Detection: PAUSE2

We are currently offering the: Ethics and Jurisprudence for the Dental Practitioner for the flat fee of $30.00 for all NYS Licensed Dentists.

These coupons will be in place until the NYS "PAUSE" is lifted.

Some regulations restrict licensees to a certain percentage of self-study for continuing education requirements. In response to the evolving situation with the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and for those licensees whose registrations are due to renew March 1-September 1, 2020, the Department will grant an adjustment to all licensees to complete up to 100% of the continuing education as self-study, so long as it is taken from a Department-approved provider and is in an acceptable subject area for the specific profession. The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is working closely with other New York State agencies and the Governor’s Office to tackle issues relating to COVID-19. Please continue to monitor the Department’s website for updated guidance.

(NYSDA members should refer often to nysdental.org/CONVID-19 for communications from their leadership.)
 
In the meantime, the NYSDA/Foundation offices are temporarily closed to ensure the safety of all staff and volunteers. What that means is for the time being, entry of CE credits may be delayed, although staff is entirely committed to trying to stay on top of these credits by working remotely to the extent possible.
 
We are all in this together. And we assure you we are doing everything possible to maintain and promote optimum communications and ongoing efficiencies.