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Samuel Lucas has his teeth cleaned after showing up unannounced for the event. |
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“My lips are numb,” Zachary Wells, 8, tells his dad, Mike Wells. The younger Wells had several fillings and his teeth cleaned during Children’s Dental Day. The two were headed to the lower level of the dental college to eat lunch when Zachary decided to show his dad his new fillings. “I think it’s wonderful that they offer this,” Mike Wells said. The father and son are from Madison, Neb. |
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Victoria Gomez, 9, left, and Laura Briseno, 10, right, of Sutton, Neb., visit with “Tooth Fairy” Tracy Garcia, a first-year dental student. |
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From right to left: Rudiz Pineda, 9, Edgar Aguilar, 10 and German Vega, 10, of Lexington, Neb., check out their goodie bag while waiting for their turn to be seen by a dentist. |
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Claire Stroede, a first-year dental student, teaches children about tooth decay. |
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Fourth-year dental hygiene student Marie Goss prepares for her next client in the south clinic. |
While the upper level dental and dental hygiene students worked in the clinics, many of the first-year students facilitated games, did face painting and dressed up as dental characters to entertain the children.
One 8-year-old boy, Samuel Lucas of Lexington, Neb., surprised everyone when he showed up at 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 4, determined to go to Dental Day. During the pre-screening process, local dentists had not selected Lucas to attend this year’s Children’s Dental Day because he did not need any treatment.
Samuel, who participated in last year’s Dental Day excursion, however, thought otherwise, showing up early for the trek to Lincoln. Nancy Cook, a school nurse for Lexington Public Schools, said she couldn’t turn him down, even though he was not on the list. So, Samuel arrived in Lincoln and had his teeth cleaned.