In an effort to assist families on Medicaid who have poor access to dental care, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare, manufacturer of Aquafresh and Sensodyne, has donated 10,000 toothbrushes and 30,000 tubes of toothpaste to Kids First Dental Care, a Kentucky-based organization that works to bring dental care to children across the state.
Polident, another brand in GSK's oral care portfolio, has also contributed a generous amount of Polident Partials for use in cleaning partial dentures as well as Polident Dentu-Gel denture toothpaste, according to the company.
Kids First Dental Care was formed in 2004 when Edwin Smith, D.M.D., collaborated with local school personnel to explore ways to provide dental care to school children. Agreeing that the best way to gain access for children was to take the care directly to them in school, he purchased a used CT scan trailer and outfitted it with used dental equipment.
In Kentucky, nearly one out of every two of the state's children is enrolled in Medicaid, but barely a quarter of the dentists accept the insurance, according to GSK. As a result, families on Medicaid are left with few options when it comes to seeing a dentist or receiving dental care.
Dr. Smith's efforts to address the situation in Kentucky was part of a special TV segment, "A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains," that aired in February on ABC's "20/20" news program, GSK said.
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