Community and Preventive Dentistry Program
The following represents a few of the highlights from the annual Community and Preventive Dentistry calendar:
SIU School of Dental Medicine’s Give Kids a Smile Day - 2025
Illinois Legislators Tour SIU SDM During Free Dental Care Event to Give Kids A Smile
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“They cleaned my teeth really good, and now they feel a lot better,” said eight-year-old Kazan Mohammad who visited Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine (SIU SDM) during Give Kids A Smile (GKAS), a day of free comprehensive dental care for children aged three to 13. This day of care, which involved all D1 through D4 students, many graduate students, alumni, dental and biomedical faculty, is in its 20th year. The total value of treatment: $89,352.
“We’ve been calling around for almost two years trying to find a dentist for him. A lot of places have really long waiting lists, or they’re not taking new patients,” said Kazan’s father, Eddie Mohammad. “A few clinics we tried even closed down. When we saw the flyer from his school about this event, we signed up right away.”
“We really are grateful for the opportunity to take time to reach out to our community and provide these dental services, especially to many who would otherwise have a difficult time finding a dentist,” said organizer Katie Kosten, DMD, FACD, FICD, FPFA, Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Community Dentistry. “We're not just doing cleanings and exams. We're doing fillings, stainless-steel crowns, baby root canals, extractions and referring kids for general anesthesia and orthodontics if they need it.”
Four-year old Lucas Ahlvars has been seeing the dentist since he was two years old. During the free dental care event he got a cavity filled. “Not very many dentists in the area actually accept our insurance,” said Lucas’ mother, Taylor Ahlvars. “It's great for the community.”
“Our clinic is a safety net clinic for central and southern Illinois, for families that can't afford to go to private dentists,” said Saulius Drukteinis, DMD, MS, PhD, Dean of SIU SDM. “Sixty-five percent of our care is through Medicaid, and our fees are much lower than going to a private dentist. So we rely on that support to provide the care that we provide to our patients.”
Drukteinis, SIUE Chancellor James T. Minor, PhD, Provost Denise Cobb, PhD, Interim Assistant Dean for Clinical Affairs Dan Ketteman, DDS, and Kosten hosted a gathering of local legislators to experience GKAS in person and tour the facilities. Staff for State Reps. Kevin Schmidt of the 114th District and Jay Hoffmann of the 113th District joined Rep. Amy Elik of the 111th District, Rep. Paul Jacobs of the 118th District and Rep. Katie Stuart of the 112th District for the visit.
“It was truly a special day to have our regional State Legislators and representatives from the Illinois State Dental Society share in our Give Kids A Smile event and see the clinics and training facilities for our exceptional students,” said Drukteinis. “We were also very glad to have our guests express appreciation for the dedication of our SIU School of Dental Medicine faculty, staff, and students in caring for the families of our communities in need of oral healthcare.”
For a number of young patients and their families, GKAS was their first dental visit. The patients started their day in the campus gym next door to the clinic where they received balloon animals, played educational games and took photos with two tooth fairies.
“They're obviously kind of scared walking around here, so it's a nice time to kind of sit here with them and take a picture,” said D1 student Andy Burns who dressed the part. “They can kind of smile and have a good time.”
Tooth fairy Brailey McGrath, a D1 student, also comforted the patients.
“They hear about the tooth fairy, but they never get to see one,” said McGrath, who had memories of her own when she was their age. “I busted out my front teeth at eight years old. The missing front teeth are cosmetic at that point, so Medicaid doesn't cover that. Having a dentist that was able to say, ‘Hey, you know what? I'm going to do this for you and your family,' I was like, I want to be a dentist.”
As Drukteinis noted, families who took part in GKAS overcame the fear of both going to the dentist because of pain and the fear of the cost of dental treatment.
"We're looking to increase access to care by overcoming the obstacle of seeing the dentist,” said Drukteinis. “Providing free dental care, free screenings, free preventive care, free restorative care for children to get the families in the habit of coming to the dentist and not being afraid. If we can do that earlier on, it helps save costs later on in their lives, because dental care can become very expensive if you wait to treat them for dental disease.”
“This program is a blessing. I hope they keep doing it because it really helps families who just want to take care of their kids,” said Eddie Mohammad.
His son Kazan was thankful for the student practitioners. “I just want to tell them thank you for helping me—except the stuff they put in my mouth tasted really bad,” he added with a laugh.
The continuing efforts of SIU SDM students, faculty and alumni volunteers to introduce children to a dentist early through GKAS is one Kosten sees as an essential first step.
"This is always a special day for us here at SIU SDM,” she said. “The families who come see us are always such a joy, and we appreciate them entrusting us with their care. Our students, staff, and faculty are simply the best, and I really appreciate everything they all do each year to make this event a success."
Bottom Photo: Eight-year-old Kazan Mohammad (in dentist chair);
Photos by Howard Ash.
SIU School of Dental Medicine’s Veterans Dental Care Day - 2025
Service for All Who Served; SIU SDM Students Host Free Dental Care Day for Veterans and Receive a Lifetime of Memories
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Fighting the war in Vietnam; being deployed to armed conflict in Bosnia; and training in Fort McClellan as a woman medic in the first integrated unit are just a handful of stories shared by patients who arrived at Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine (SIU SDM) Veterans Dental Care Day. On Thursday, Nov. 13, 112 third and fourth-year dental students, supervised by faculty, provided free comprehensive dental care for 92 veterans. The total value of the care: $49,779.00.
Randolph Rogers, who served four years as a Navy torpedoman, is a returning customer. “I found out last year when I went to the Alton farmers’ market. They had a flyer, and so I responded to the flyer.”
Rogers discovered Veterans Dental Care Day having just retired from a career with the U.S. Postal Service. “I did 36 years there,” said Rogers. “So I have served this country for 40 years.”
“Many of these veterans don't have a dental home and go for long periods of time without dental care since the overwhelming majority of them do not quality for dental services through the VA,” said organizer Katie Kosten, DMD, Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Community Dentistry. “Some people think that we're strictly an emergency clinic, but we provide comprehensive care—everything from cleanings all the way to implant placement, root canals, orthodontics, fillings, everything in between.”
Vietnam Vet Bob Myers drove the two-hour trip from Sullivan which, for him, made the most financial sense.
“I'm 80% disabled. Oh, but to be 100% that's the only way you can get free dental. So, I've got a deal in right now to try to get the 100%,” said Myers. “I don't know if I'll get it or not. I had the opportunity to come down here, so I took it.”
Myers was drafted by the U.S. Army at 17 years old and ended up in Vietnam after some stateside training. He retired two years ago from a 43-year career working on a pipeline where he started working right after a year in combat in Vietnam. While there, he lost a cousin whose Navy boat was hit by a rocket.
“I grew up in Casey, Ill., and when I came back, of course, back in those days, there was no parade, no nothing. You just hopped on a plane, and you showed up home. And of course, I went to work right after I got back,” remembered Myers.
“I come from a long line of veterans--a long line that goes back to World War Two. And my daughter was in the Navy. My Daddy, he didn't want me to join,” said Linda Tucker. This is the fourth year Tucker, mother of Telisha Reinhardt, SIUE Assistant Director of Military and Veteran Services, has attended Veterans Dental Care Day. She joined the military as a medic in 1979 when an all-female unit first integrated with men for basic training in Fort McClellan in Alabama.
“We trained a lot with the Rangers and the Green Berets, and every time they went out for training in the field, they had to have a medical team. And we were always in the field with them,” said Tucker. “It was always hard. We were trained to be in war even though we weren’t actually in war. And they graded us for speed and accuracy--how to treat the soldier that's wounded, and how fast do we get this person burning in the helicopter back to the medical unit. The training was very intense.”
Of the number of students who are also military who treated veterans that day was D3 student Emily Bone. Bone is a member of the U.S. Air Force and attends SIU SDM on full scholarship thanks to the Health Professions Scholarship Program. She will work as a dentist on base, upon graduation.
“It's been really nice to get to be a full-time student right now and getting to be a part of the greater Air Force community later on in life,” said Bone. “The scholarship gives me the opportunity to be able to serve and do what I've always wanted to do, just be a dentist. Both of my grandpas actually served in the Vietnam War, so there’s a history with people serving in my family.”
Ikenya Margrum drove an hour and a half for a dental cleaning. He left home at 19 to serve six years in the U.S. Army in both infantry and intelligence, with service in Bosnia during the war.
“My town is probably 1100 people. So, you go from straight out of high school to training, and all of a sudden you see different things, you know. Leave it at that. You see things that you aren't really prepared to see,” said Margrum. “And that's the one thing. I'm always grateful for my infantry training, because I think without that going in as a soldier—not taking anything away from them—I just know that infantry training prepared me for the things that I saw.”
Margrum also feels his military training prepared him for his current profession as a special education teacher.
“Now I have so much patience,” said Margrum. “I always say dealing with some of the things I had to deal with in the military is what makes the things I deal with in special education like we'll be okay in an hour, because that's how it is. One minute a kid could love you, and the next minute they could be going through something, and you're their worst person. So, I was prepared.”
Veterans Dental Care Day is in its eighth year and every year, SIU SDM faculty and staff are assured that the life experiences shared by these patients will impact students for years to come.
"From the time that the veterans arrive in the clinic in the waiting room, we get to just observe them talking to each other, telling old stories, and just the camaraderie that's there,” said Kosten.
“Several of our students are planning to go into the service after their dental education is complete, so this is a special experience for them. Students always report back to me that this is a really rewarding day, and they very much appreciate getting to speak one on one with these service members and having the opportunity to show gratitude for everything they've done."
Photos by Howard Ash
National Children's Dental Health Month (throughout the month of February)
SIU SDM Promotes Dental Health for Children during National Children's Dental Health Month
Throughout the month, third- and fourth-year SDM students engage with hundreds of children and teachers through interactive activities and games, as well as oral health screenings, in cooperation with several area schools. Oral health activities teach children about proper dental hygiene, tooth decay prevention, healthy diet and nutrition, oral/systemic connections, and more. Teachers and children travel to the SDM’s Alton campus to enjoy the educational activities and receive a dental screening.
“We are grateful for the teachers who make it a priority for their students to experience oral health education during National Children’s Dental Health Month,” said SIU SDM Director of Community Dentistry Katie Kosten, DMD. “We have a huge appreciation for the efforts of the teachers and for the SIU SDM’s community partners. One of the most important relationships we have is with our area teachers.”
“We know that oral health education is important, and in order to get the message out, we have to start early,” Kosten added. “We continue to work to make our programs better every year, so that we can continue to be of service to our community. We look forward to continued relationships with schools, community groups, and community stakeholders in order to make a positive impact on oral and overall health."
Additional Community Dentistry programs hosted throughout the year:
Madison County Oral Health Education Program
Our students are actively engaged in outreach activities including providing oral health promotion at elementary, middle and high schools in Madison County. As part of the Clinical Community Dentistry course, Year III and IV students work in teams, which generally consist of 2 students. Each team is assigned to classes at a Madison County elementary school, middle school and high school. Student teams conduct a needs assessment at each school, after meeting with school administrators and the school nurse. They then make age-appropriate oral health presentations to each class in elementary and middle schools twice per semester and to high school classes once per semester.
As the dental students graduate from year III to year IV, they move with the public school students; i.e., if they were assigned to grade 3 in their Year III, they move to grade 4 in their year IV. At the end of year IV, students write a service-learning paper describing their experiences at public schools and the impact they have made on the students.
Oral screenings and oral health education in the community
Another component of the Clinical Community Dentistry program involves student participation in oral screenings and oral health education in our community. Year III and Year IV students actively participate in local health fairs and provide oral cancer screenings at various venues, including sites in East St. Louis and Senior Services Plus locations. Students make oral health presentations to mothers in a local Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program, parents of kids in the Riverbend Head Start Program, and provide screenings and education to the children at the Madison County Youth Detention Home.
Special Needs Patient Care
Year III students get didactic instruction and clinical experience in special needs patient management and/or care. Each student’s clinical experience consists of rotations through our Special needs Clinic and another off-site experience. We provide screenings at the William Bedell Centers for children and adults every year. We also provide screenings for the athletes at the Area 12 Special Olympics games in Edwardsville every year. In addition, our students work at a residential facility for people with developmental disabilities- Beverly Farms, under Dr. Scott Wolter's supervision.
Geriatric Dentistry
Year IV students receive didactic instruction and clinical experience in managing elderly patients living independently in the community as well as those in assisted living institutions or nursing homes. Our students provide annual screenings for the residents of our local nursing home- Eunice Smith. Each student also provides in-service training to our local nursing home staff and a presentation on a relevant topic to elderly people in our community.
