Volunteers and Dental Companies Help Deliver Much Needed Care to the Country’s Youngest Citizens

Working with the American Dental Association to guarantee that underserved children have access to dental care, DEXIS® and Henry Schein Dental® provide assistance for Give Kids A Smile® for the eighth consecutive year.

Des Plaines, IL (February 25, 2010) As advocates of dental health, DEXIS and Henry Schein Dental are proud to announce their ongoing support of the American Dental Association’s Give Kids A Smile® (GKAS) program. Every day, children across the nation suffer from the pain caused by lack of proper and consistent dental attention. With the philosophy that a healthy smile should be possible for every child, GKAS events, starting during the ADA®’s Children’s Dental Health Month® (NCDHM), provide dental education and treatment to children whose families lack the funds for adequate care.

The first Friday in February heralds the kickoff for the GKAS program that delivers dental care to children all over the country. Services from X-rays and cleanings to restorative and oral surgery, are provided to hundreds of thousands of kids that may otherwise go untreated.

Once held for a single weekend, GKAS events now begin in the first week of February and continue for months thereafter, thus increasing the number of children that can be accommodated. Because of the generosity of volunteers and corporate partners, nearly 13,000 dentists and greater than 36,000 support staff in over 2,000 locations have treated more than 325,000 children—all within the first three weeks of February.

“We realize that the success of this important initiative takes all of us doing our part, from the corporate to the clinical,” states Henrik Roos, President of DEXIS. “As one of its founding sponsors, DEXIS is pleased to be able to continue its commitment to GKAS to help care for those children who are in such need.”

As founding sponsors of the Give Kids A Smile program, DEXIS and Henry Schein Dental have pledged and delivered long-term assistance to this important endeavor. For example, in 2010, Henry Schein Dental will furnish enough professional dental kits to serve 15,000 young patients.

DEXIS serves the dental community, as well as the public, by providing the use of digital X-ray systems and personnel to assist in taking radiographs for GKAS events at dental schools. DEXIS has encouraged the use of dental schools because these larger facilities, along with the utilization of its systems, allow clinicians to provide for a greater number of patients. “You can’t effectively run these events without digital radiography,” states Dr. Jeff Dalin. “The bottleneck in any large-scale screening tends to be standard radiographs. DEXIS allows us to have instant, clear images, and we were able to see more children, from toddlers to teens, with its use.”

Since its debut, coordinated by Dr. Dalin and his colleagues in 2002, GKAS has experienced remarkable growth. An estimated 4.5 million children have received much needed dental health care to date. The program has expanded to encompass both Mission of Mercy (MOM) and TeamSmile™ outreach initiatives for which DEXIS is also a participant.

For more information on the GKAS program, including the latest statistics, information on its background and sponsors, and how to volunteer, visit www.ada.org.

DEXIS is an industry leader in developing high quality digital imaging solutions for the dental community. In 1997, DEXIS introduced digital radiography on laptop computers — making it the first truly portable and affordable digital X-ray system. In 2001, DEXIS became the first intra-oral digital radiography system to be accepted by the American Dental Association into the highly prestigious ADA Seal Program. Today, DEXIS is the most highly awarded intra-oral digital X-ray system with numerous awards from dental researchers and well-respected dental publications. For more information on the DEXIS Platinum Sensor and to learn about DEXIS imaging solutions, visit www.dexis.com.