Health
Giving Children Healthy Smiles
- A St. Agnes Catholic School student receives an oral checkup.
- Photo/Beth Dunham
By Beth Dunham on February 9, 2010 7:55 AM
More than 100 students at St. Agnes Catholic School, a member of the USC Family of Schools, received free oral health screenings and education as part of Give Kids a Smile Day 2010.
Give Kids a Smile Day is the American Dental Association’s annual outreach effort to encourage communities and policymakers to address the critical issue of children’s oral health and is held each year on the first Friday in February. This year, the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC and thousands of other organizations provided free dental care to children at more than 2,000 sites across the United States on Feb. 5, ushering in February’s National Children’s Dental Health Month.
USC dentistry students performed the oral health screenings and taught youngters about the importance of taking good care of their teeth. Each St. Agnes student also received gift bags full of oral hygiene supplies as well as a free book courtesy of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.
Dental caries, the bacterial infection responsible for tooth decay, is the most prevalent chronic illness in children, affecting 72 percent of underprivileged children under 5 in Los Angeles. It’s critical for the Ostrow School of Dentistry to help the community battle potentially serious oral health problems in children, said Roseann Mulligan, chair of the Division of Dental Public Health and Pediatric Dentistry.
“These events not only help bring care to children, but also make others aware of the silent epidemic of dental caries in children and the resources needed to fight it,” Mulligan said.
Rebecca Cohen, a first-year Advanced Pediatric Dentistry resident, agreed. “It’s really important to come out here and work in the community,” she said. “So many kids in Los Angeles have untreated caries, and for many of them, it’s been a very long time since they’ve seen a dentist.”
TAGS: dentistry
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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