Highland dental offices donate care for children in need

On Feb. 28, The Smile Shoppe in Highland welcomed their first wave of patients for the annual Give Kids A Smile Day. Thirty school-aged kids arrived at the dental office via school bus for the yearly event that provides free dental care to kids in need.

“It’s our favorite event of the year,” says Dr. Byron Barker.

While team members from The Smile Shoppe look forward to participating in Give Kids A Smile every February, 2020 is a particularly exciting anniversary for the family dental office. This year they are celebrating their 30th year of providing free dental care to the kids of the Highland community.

Originally started by Dr. Karen Barker of The Smile Shoppe in 1991, the goal of this event (formerly called Have A Heart Day) is to ensure dental health care is accessible to all kids, and that they are receiving that care on a regular basis.

The Smile Shoppe isn’t alone in this endeavor. Cedar Creek Dental and Plaza Dental — both of Highland — have also participated in Give Kids A Smile for many years in Highland. Together, the three offices have provided hundreds of thousands of dollars of dentistry to over 2000 children.

In 2003 the American Dental Associate created Give Kids A Smile as a nationwide program to address the crisis of poor childhood dental health. It has provided over 6 million children with free dental care since it started.

Dentists cherish giving back to the community

The Smile Shoppe, Cedar Creek Dental, and Plaza Dental join forces with the Highland school district to participate in this event every year. Jae Kuberski is the coordinator for the schools.

She organizes the participating kids, arranges bus transport between the schools and dental offices, and stays on-site with the kids while they receive treatment. Wendy Phillips, Monica Martin, Gina Ashby, Karen Duckworth, Donna Suhre, and Mike Farell also attended the dental offices with the kids.

“We just love serving the community, and we love partnering with Highland Community Schools for this program,” Barker said. “We look forward to many more years of Give Kids A Smile!”