Over the past 25 years, thousands of inner-city children have received dental care through a partnership between the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry and the Winnipeg School Division.
The dental college celebrated this milestone at an event in April. At the celebration, it was announced that the Dr. Alfred E. Deacon Medical Research Foundation and the Cholakis Dental Group will now sponsor the children’s dental outreach program. With this support, it will now be known as the Cholakis Dental Group: Kids Dental Outreach Program.
The program was launched with Shaughnessy Park School in 1998 by Dr. Charles Lekic, then head of pediatric dentistry at the dental school. It has since expanded to provide care at no cost to children from 18 Winnipeg School Division schools.
“The program provides much-needed oral health care to kids, and it plays an important part in the education of our dental and dental hygiene students,” said Anastasia Kelekis-Cholakis [DMD/92, Dip. Perio/98], dean of the Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry.
“We value the strong partnership we have with participating schools and the school division, and we’re thankful for the generous support from our new sponsors.”
Peter Nickerson [B.Sc.(Med.)/86, MD/86], dean of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, announced the new funding and expressed gratitude to the Dr. Alfred E. Deacon Medical Research Foundation and the Cholakis Dental Group.
“Thanks to your support, UM will be able to offer vital dental services to inner-city elementary students for decades to come,” Nickerson said.
Mohammad Rezai, assistant superintendent with the Winnipeg School Division, thanked the college for making dental care accessible to many children whose parents are unable to pay for it.
“It means a lot to a lot of families,” Rezai said.
In 2022-23, UM dental students screened more than 2,500 children in kindergarten to Grade 6. More than 1,000 treatments were provided to 209 of these children through the Children’s Dental Outreach Program and another program called SMILE plus, a partnership with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
Each Friday during the school year, about 40 children are bussed to the dental school’s clinic.
“Many children come to us in significant pain and discomfort,” said Jim Ksionzyk [BA/88, B.Sc.(Dent.)/93, DMD/93], assistant professor and director of undergraduate pediatric dentistry at the dental college.
“We’re able to alleviate that pain, and for a lot of the children, we’re able to prevent them from having further complications with their adult teeth by treating their baby teeth.”
Providing care to kids through the outreach program inspired 2024 dentistry grad Navi Mann [DMD/24] to pursue a one-year residency in pediatric dentistry at SickKids Hospital in Toronto.
“Treating kids comes down to how you interact with them,” Mann said. “You have to make dentistry less scary for them. Staying positive, trying to show the kids what you’re doing [and] being creative with them really helps.”
The outreach program has a positive impact on its young patients, said Kim Storer, a community support worker at Lord Nelson School and Weston School.
“A lot of them have never been to see a dentist, and at first they’re a little bit anxious,” Storer said. “But the dental students are so great with them.”
BY MATTHEW KRUCHAK