ORANGE, CALIF. (April 30, 2007) -- Western Dental Services, Inc., California’s neighborhood dentist, the largest provider of dental services in California and one of the nation’s leading dental health maintenance organizations, is donating toothbrushes to Keep Youth Doing Something (KYDS) – a Van Nuys, CA, based non-profit organization that provides free educational, sports and enrichment programs to underserved, low-income and at-risk children.

The toothbrushes will be used in the “KYDS Smile Program”, a program designed to teach children about proper oral hygiene, healthy eating habits, benefits of exercising, self esteem and general health and well being. KYDS relies solely on community and corporate support and donations to continue helping children learn new skills and explore creativity.

“It is corporations like Western Dental that help support and provide assistance, materials and resources to allow us to continue promoting children health and well being,” said Julie Brown, Community Development Manager KYDS, Inc. “We believe that every child deserves a safe place to grow, a chance to learn, a healthy lifestyle, and an equal opportunity to fulfill their individual potential,” she added.

“If children learn good oral hygiene practices at an early age, chances are good that they will have healthy teeth and gums to last a lifetime,” said Samuel H. Gruenbaum, president and chief executive officer of Western Dental Services, Inc. “As California’s neighborhood dentist, we are happy to be contributing to the community and we are pleased to provide the children with materials they need for good oral hygiene practices,” he added.

Keep Youth Doing Something’s mission is to empower underserved, low-income and at-risk youth to fulfill their individual potential and participate constructively in the community by integrating the efforts of community service providers, government officials and agencies, schools, law enforcement agencies, private businesses and individuals. KYDS currently has 17 schools throughout Los Angeles, and serves over 3000 underprivileged kids. To learn more about KYDS, visit http://www.kydsinc.org/.

Headquartered in the city of Orange, Calif., Western Dental Services currently operates over 200 dental centers throughout California and Arizona.

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