In celebration of National Children's Dental Health Month, the South Florida Community College Dental Clinic will provide free preventive health care to children ages 3-6 each Thursday in February.
Appointments are required by calling the dental clinic between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 784-7020 and leaving a message.
Dental hygiene students in their final semester will clean teeth, administer fluoride treatments, take X-rays, if required and look for early signs of disease.
Preventive dental care is frequently neglected for children in this age group, said Becky Sroda, SFCC director of Dental Education.
"Parents don't usually take children to the dentist at this age until they start school or develop pain," she said. "Good oral hygiene habits can start earlier than that."
The American Dental Health Association recommends that children visit an oral health provider by age 1 and regularly after that.
These examinations are important for diagnosing disease such as Early Childhood Carries. This tooth-rotting disease, which is caused by being fed or drinking sugary beverages at night, affects half of all children by middle childhood and 75 percent by late adolescence.
The free dental care is being made possible through a generous grant from the Highlands County Hospital District Board.
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