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“WE DIDN’T HAVE THE MONEY TO CONTINUE PROVIDING TREATMENT PRO BONO FOR THESE KIDS.”
— Dr. Ida Kornerup
One of the most miraculous things about being a kid is that sometimes all it takes to make a new friend is a smile. But if you’ve ever suffered from a
toothache — or any other oral health condition — you know that smiling can be a lot harder than it appears.
Ensuring Edmonton kids have the opportunity to smile with confidence — and all the benefits that go along with that — is priority number one for the University of Alberta’s School Visit Program.
Running for the past three decades, the School Visit Program provides comprehensive dental care for Edmonton students who otherwise might not have access to it. And the best part? It’s free.
“We think of the [University of Alberta’s] School of Dentistry as our dentistry angels,” says Shauna Stelmaschuk, the principal of St. Catherine Catholic Elementary/Junior High School. “They’ve had such a huge impact on so many of our students.”
Until recently, the School Visit Program saw the university’s dental faculty travelling to several Edmonton- area schools each academic year to provide in-house cleanings, screenings and dental procedures. But, in recent years, funding concerns forced the program to alter its operations, according to Dr. Ida Kornerup, the discipline lead of pediatric dentistry with the University of Alberta.
“We didn’t have the money to continue providing treatment pro bono for these kids,” Kornerup says.
Faced with the reality of potentially shuttering the program, Kornerup and the university reached out to a handful of partners — including Edmonton Community Foundation, who provided an $80,000 grant — to alter the way the program was delivered and ensure its sustainability for students in need.
“We stopped doing the school visits and instead the students come to us in smaller groups at the oral health clinic here at the university,” Kornerup says. “Because of that money they gave us, we’ve been able to continue the program.”
And continuing the program has proved very much in need in Edmonton, based on the number of students the faculty has been able to help this year.
Initially, those involved with the School Visit Program
set a benchmark of providing care for 500 students in the 2023-24 academic year. They’ve since eclipsed that goal, having provided 5,300 procedures for about 800 students.
And those procedures have very real and very tangible benefits, not the least of which is ensuring the health and →
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