By JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer
Down the hallway comes a tall man in scrubs adorned with Sesame Street characters with funny mustaches.
He sits down in the exam room, gently speaking in a soft voice.
He gets the proper tools, spends a few minutes inside the patient’s mouth and then exclaims, “Cavity’s gone! Bye, bye cavity! Yay!”
Dr. Maxim Sulla of Tender Smiles 4 Kids in North Brunswick was one participant in the American Dental Association’s Give Kids a Smile Day on Feb. 3, an annual, national effort to provide free pediatric dental care to the uninsured or underinsured.
“Since we don’t have dental insurance, I figured this was a good opportunity to make sure my kids get seen,” said Freda Silber of Edison, who brought her son and two daughters to see Sulla. “They’re amazing. They were so nice here and [my son Isaac] is so phobic. They were so understanding and accommodating.”
The 7-year-old was more fazed by the giant TV in the exam room than the exam itself, though he said the visit was “good.” He said he was not scared and that he likes the dentist “to get my teeth checked.”
Mahmoud Alquzwini of Piscataway had a similar experience with his daughter Maha, 7, who needed a baby tooth extracted, and his daughter, Dima, 10, who only had a cleaning.
“We heard about the event and we came to check up if something is wrong,” Alquzwini said, noting that last year he was able to take advantage of the program and have a few of Maha’s cavities filled. “It’s important for me and for other families [who] do not have dental insurance.”
Sulla said he takes part in Give Kids a Smile at his North Brunswick, Freehold and Edison locations because community service is important to him throughout the year.
“We do a lot of things with our community, and this is another way to recognize there is still a need to allow uninsured patients and patients in financial need to achieve the goal of proper oral health and good dental care,” he said, noting that his staff members cater to children with special needs; collaborate with other health-care providers to provide dental care in hospital settings under sedation; and offer age-appropriate presentations to children and parents in schools, daycare centers and libraries.
On Feb. 3, his three offices saw around 85 patients, offering cleanings, fluoride treatments, X-rays, sealants, fillings, extractions, caps and crowns and the treatment of nerves, if needed.
He also provided information on how to get coverage through NJ FamilyCare.
“We are a very successful, well-known, respected practice in the community and not to open the doors to those in need would not be in the vision of my practice,” Sulla said. “Charity starts at home, so why not do it here?”
Dr. Kuma Kalaria of American Family Dentistry in Kendall Park feels the same way. She said as a dental resident in 2009, she participated in her hospital’s Give Kids a Smile program, “which gave me a chance to volunteer and give my service back to the community.”
She took her time explaining each procedure to 6-year-old Devarsh Bhuvanagiri of Monmouth Junction, who visited for his very first dental exam.
With a motto of tell-show-do, Kalaria had Devarsh look at and touch each of the tools that would be used in his cleaning, explaining the saliva sucker as “Mr. Thirsty.” She tried to alleviate any fears he may have had.
“We want to start his checkups,” his mother Suchitra Bhuvanagiri said. “They are eating a lot of chocolate nowadays and a lot of sweets, so we have to check up regularly. We can’t stop [them from eating sweets], so we have to take them for regular checkups.”
Kalaria expressed the same encouragement for proper dental care.
“Some parents don’t know they should take their kids for cleaning visits. This gives them the chance, thinking if it’s free, to take them over. Many times, there are dental issues they didn’t even know about,” she said. “This is great because sometimes they need a lot of work and parents can’t afford it.”
Brushing properly is very important at a young age, she said, and parents should check the teeth and have their children brush again, if necessary. Also, she said parents can add a few drops of food coloring to water, have the child swish the liquid around and check for any staining, which would indicate plaque.
“Kids feel it’s fun and will try to remove the stain from their tooth,” she said.
For more information, visit njda.org.
Contact Jennifer Amato at [email protected].