Direct Relief USA’s Healthy Smiles Program provides low-income children in Santa Barbara County with dental hygiene supplies and professional dental care to improve their health and well-being. Since its inception in 1994, the Healthy Smiles Program has leveraged economies of scale through partnerships with multiple healthcare companies and local charitable agencies to address one of Santa Barbara County’s greatest unmet health needs. Learn more at http://directrelief.org

1. Healthy Smiles Program
PROVIDING NO-COST DENTAL SUPPLIES AND CARE TO LOW-INCOME CHILDREN
Direct Relief USA’s Healthy Smiles Program provides low-income children in Santa Barbara
County with dental hygiene supplies and professional dental care to improve their health and
well-being. Since its inception in 1994, the Healthy Smiles Program has leveraged economies of scale
through partnerships with multiple healthcare companies and local charitable agencies to address one of
Santa Barbara County’s greatest unmet health needs.
WHY IT MATTERS
Health assessment surveys have found that dental
care is the greatest unmet health need in Santa
Barbara County, especially among children. Among
Santa Barbara County children in Head Start, 37%
have untreated dental decay, compared to 28%
among all California children in Head Start.
Untreated cavities can cause pain, dysfunction,
school absences, difficulty concentrating, and poor
appearance – problems that greatly affect a child’s
quality of life and ability to succeed. Children from
low-income families are most likely to suffer from these problems.
DENTAL KITS
Direct Relief has developed partnerships with multiple healthcare manufacturers that donate needed
dental hygiene supplies – toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss – as well as partnerships with 10 charitable
agencies in Santa Barbara County that provide direct services to low-income children and their families.
Direct Relief volunteers assemble kits with donated dental supplies, which Direct Relief then allocates to
their local partner agencies. These agencies distribute the dental kits to the low-income children and
families whom they already serve. Each year, Direct Relief distributes approximately 1,000 child dental kits
and 3,400 family dental kits (each of which serves a family of five.)
DENTAL CLINICS
Several times a year, Direct Relief organizes dental day-clinics throughout Santa Barbara County, which
provide free dental care to low-income children with dental disease. These clinics are staffed by dozens of
volunteer dentists, dental hygienists, and high school students. Low-income children who are identified by
their schools as needing professional dental care are treated and volunteers teach them and their families
about dental hygiene. Since 1994, Healthy Smiles has provided dental treatment to approximately 1,800
low-income children.
DIRECT RELIEF USA / 27 S. LA PATERA LANE, SANTA BARBARA, CA 93117 / T (805) 964-4767 / F (805) 681-4838 / DIRECTRELIEF.ORG