Jeffrey Doebler, RDH, a staff member in Dr. Bradley Kaufman's office in Rochester, N.Y., submitted the winning entry in a contest about the 2009 National Children's Dental Health Month for the PennWell Dental Community.
The essay contest, which was sponsored by Ultradent, resulted in the efforts of Dr. Kaufman's staff to be featured in an upcoming issue of RDH magazine.
Doebler wrote about the staff's planning and activities in setting "aside Fridays in February to specifically reach out and educate children" for the past 10 years.
"Our doctor, assistants, hygienists, and desk staff all team up as dental professionals to volunteer at the schools in our community to teach the importance of good dental health," Doebler said.
He added, "Since our program's inception, we have educated over 6,000 elementary school children. Our program gets bigger, better, and reaches further every year, and by the end of our February 2009 program we will have educated close to 1000 students in more than 12 schools this year alone. Yes, we are all exhaused by the end of February, but this program represents why we all became dental professionals, in dentistry's two most basic forms: education and prevention. And that is why we all do what we do."
