Building KABOOM! Playgrounds

Smile Generation has many meaningful organizations that we partner with to serve our communities. One excellent example is our playground charity in partnership with KABOOM!, where Smile Generation teams build new playgrounds for local children.

The Importance of Play

Building playgrounds for communities might seem like a departure from our usual area of oral health expertise, and it is. However, ensuring comprehensive health involves more than oral care; it encompasses the entirety of an individual's well-being. Participating in the KABOOM! playground projects is one way we can do that. Plus, new playgrounds have a significant impact on the communities where we build them.

Play is not just a leisure activity for children; it serves as a fundamental component of healthy development, fostering creativity, imagination, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Per the American Academy of Pediatrics, children's play benefits kids in the following ways:[i]

·         Encourages creativity and imagination

·         Develops dexterity and physical strength

·         Supports healthy brain development

·         Facilitates engagement and interaction with the world

·         Helps children conquer fears and practice adult roles

·         Builds confidence and resilience

·         Promotes group work, sharing, negotiation, conflict resolution, and self-advocacy skills

·         Fosters decision-making skills and self-paced learning

·         Cultivates interests and passions

·         Enhances physical activity levels and contributes to combating obesity

·         Provides simple joy and cherished memories of childhood[ii]

Prioritizing exercise, fostering creativity, and encouraging play are integral aspects of children’s developmental journey. By investing in playground materials and design, and tapping into the community's inclination to contribute, we partner with KABOOM! to create the ideal environment for nurturing this holistic growth.

Building Playgrounds With KABOOM!

Our partner, KABOOM!, dedicates their efforts to combating the problem of play space inequity. Many kids, primarily children of color, do not have the same access to playgrounds that other children have. Working with organizations like ours, KABOOM! has successfully built or renovated over 17,000 play spaces for the enjoyment of nearly 12 million children over the past 25 years.

Smile Generation is proud of our accomplishments with the KABOOM! So far, we have:

·         Invested $1.7 million in communities nationwide

·         Volunteered over 26,000 hours

·         Provided 45,000 more kids access to play spaces

·         Built 19 playgrounds in six states

However, our pride extends beyond our numbers. There are also harder-to-quantify benefits of service in this area expressed by our team members who work on these projects.

For example, on May 9th, 2015, 200 Smile Generation^®-trusted clinicians and team members in Southern California partnered with local agencies and KABOOM! to build brand a brand-new playground in South Orange County.

Serving the Orangewood Avenue Baptist Church and the Friendly Center in Garden Grove, CA, volunteers built a playground while Smile Generation-trusted clinicians served the dental needs of the community through the PDS Serve Foundation's Mobile Dental Clinic. Volunteers also built shade structures, picnic tables and benches, raised garden beds, trash containers, planter boxes, and a handicap-accessible "pathway to fun.” The mobile dental clinic volunteers also served 130 patients, providing around $5,000 in donated dentistry.

In Dallas, Smile Generation-trusted teams built their 15th playground in partnership with KABOOM! for Trinity Basin Preparatory School, a free public charter school that serves over 900 children. KABOOM! and the local Smile Generation-trusted clinicians and their teams turned an empty dirt lot into a place for play.

One hygienist who volunteered that day described the work as fun, explaining that helping people do things they couldn’t otherwise find the means to do is something she enjoys doing. 

Nghi Do, DMD, from The Dental Office of Prosper in Prosper, TX, served in the PDS Foundation’s Mobile Dental Clinic that day. Dr. Do appreciated the chance to serve patients, many of whom were in pain or wanted to improve their declining dental health but had difficulties getting the care they needed.

“The patients were really grateful, and it was a great experience,” Dr. Do says. “They tell me that it’s hard to get treatment done anywhere else, so, it’s great that we were here in the community providing that service for them.”

We deliver oral healthcare to underserved communities lacking access to necessary care. Sometimes the health needs of these communities require us to think beyond the walls of the practice to address the holistic well-being of our community members in other aspects of their lives beyond dental health.

Through our collaboration with KABOOM!, we provide recreational spaces that empower children to engage in activities like running, climbing, and exploring. The positive impacts we witness from our efforts with KABOOM! leave us, and the kids, wearing a great big, healthier smile.

[i] Kenneth R. Ginsburg, and the Committee on Communications, and the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health; The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. Pediatrics January 2007; 119 (1): 182–191. 10.1542/peds.2006-2697

[ii] Kenneth R. Ginsburg, and the Committee on Communications, and the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health; The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. Pediatrics January 2007; 119 (1): 182–191. 10.1542/peds.2006-2697