An area dentist has gathered six colleagues to participate in the program run by Catholic Charities last year.
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

NORWAY – Seven Oxford Hills dentists have cleared their Friday schedules to provide free dental services to 80 deserving children.

The kids will get fillings and have teeth pulled, if need be. The free dental work would cost an estimated $16,000 if billed normally, said Dr. Maurice Convey of Oxford Hills Dental of Norway.

Convey participated last year when Maine first came on board with the national Give Kids A Smile program. Last year’s program, held in Bath, involved 16 dentists, and was run by Catholic Charities of Maine, he said.

The charity organization is not doing the program this year, so Convey said he thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to do it in our area.”

Local dentists who have agreed to participate with Convey in the Give Kids A Smile program are Dr. Michael Justiss, also of Oxford Hills Dental; Dr. Chris Cifizzari of Norway; Dr. Glenn Wood of Norway; Dr. James Weigand of Poland; and Dr. Myung Kim and Dr. Jonathan Lee of Crossway Family Dental in Paris.

By providing free dental care, The Give Kids A Smile Program, according to its Web site, “is calling national attention to the silent epidemic of dental disease that prevents children from eating, sleeping and paying attention in school.” The Web site states that tooth decay is the single most common chronic childhood disease.

Yet many children come from families that cannot afford dental care.

“There’s got to be hundreds of kids” in the Oxford Hills who don’t receive proper dental care, Convey said. “There’s such a need.”

Convey said he worked with dental hygienist Cindy Leavitt, who provides dental health screenings for SAD 17 schools. Leavitt gave Convey a list of 80 students, aged five to 17, who could most benefit from the free dental care, he said.

Convey said his goal is to expand the Give Kids A Smile program to other school systems throughout the state. One day of free dental care a year isn’t sufficient to address dental care for needy children, but it’s a start, Convey said.

“This is triage. We’re doing what we can.”