FirstHealth Dental is one of 39 nonprofit organizations in North Carolina to be awarded a 2023 Smile for Kids Grant from the Delta Dental Foundation to support oral health care services for underserved children in our state.
The $2,118 grant from the Delta Dental Foundation will support FirstHealth Dental in its mission to provide quality dental care to underserved children in Moore and Montgomery counties. The grant will provide vital oral care supplies to children, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and more, as the clinics prepare to expand their outreach to daycares in the service area in the upcoming months.
“Providing quality health care to children who otherwise would not receive it is at the heart of what we do,” said Sharon Nicholson Harrell, DDS, MPH, director of FirstHealth Dental. “Community support from organizations like the Delta Dental Foundation is vital in helping us improve the oral health of the communities we serve, and we are incredibly grateful to receive this grant.”
The dentists and staff at FirstHealth Dental provide care for children from birth to 21 years of age who receive Medicaid, Health Choice or are uninsured and qualify by income level. Since 1998, the program has provided dental care to more than 30,000 underserved children in Moore and Montgomery counties.
Since the inception of the Smiles for Kids Grant program in 2011, the Delta Dental Foundation has invested more than $750,000 in grants, which has touched the lives of more than 500,000 children and families in more than half of North Carolina counties.
Contributed.
