The 6-year-old boy opened his mouth big and wide just as Dr. Faith Trent asked. He looked a little scared at first, but Trent’s big welcoming hug seemed to put him at ease. It was Victor Hernandez’s second visit to the dentist. His teeth had been hurting lately, and yesterday his mother brought him from their Cumberland County home to Richmond’s ACCA Temple Shrine for a checkup at Give Kids A Smile Day.

2. Huntington, W.Va.
  3. Mobile, Ala.
  4. Tulsa, Okla.
  5. Baton Rouge, La.
  6. Bristol, Tenn.
  7. Greensboro, N.C.
  8. Houston
  9. Atlanta
  10. Las Vegas
  11. Miami
  12. St. Louis
  13. Little Rock, Ark.
  14. Albuquerque, N.M.

Known as home to Bristol Motor Speedway and the birthplace of country music, Bristol, Tenn., has now acquired a more dubious distinction. It is sixth on the list of the “The 14 Worst-Teeth Cities.“ The list was published Aug. 18 in a story about beauty tips and products posted on totalbeauty.com and based on a study. The study’s authors cited the region’s high number of smokers and lack of access to dental care as the top two reasons why the Tennessee city made the list.

Nathaniel Henderson flashed his newly brushed pearly whites yesterday morning and showed off a brand-new Batman toothbrush. Four-year-old Nathaniel, a Richmond preschooler, was one of more than 1,300 Richmond and Henrico County students who got a dental exam at the Boys & Girls Club in the Fan District during the seventh annual Give Kids a Smile Day.

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry’s Pediatric Dentistry Clinic will provide free dental care for underserved patients on Give Kids a Smile Day. The clinic will be open from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Feb. 6 in Wood Memorial Building, 521 N. 11th St. The Department of Pediatric Dentistry provides oral health evaluation, education and intervention to children from birth to age 16. The Pediatric Dental Clinic has 14 chairs with two suites for general anesthesia and two rooms for oral sedation. It specializes in dental care for medically compromised and special-needs children as well as otherwise healthy children.

Dental education for area first-graders extends beyond caring for their own teeth. They are learning about health for the Standards of Learning tests. Children’s Hospital staff members are visiting classrooms in the Richmond area to show students the proper way to brush—using a circular motion with the toothbrush—but also teaching about teeth function, proper nutrition and how to prevent illness, which are included on the SOLs.