WOMAN FEELS JOY AT SEEING HEALTHY SMILES; NEEDY KIDS GET DENTAL CARE.

Byline: Victoria Giraud / People and Places

Maricela Sholes finds her role as director of the Foundation for Children's Dental Health fulfilling.

``This position is very self-satisfying,'' Maricela declared. ``I can see the smiles after they get help.''

Founded in 1993 by Mary Caravalho, the foundation provides dental care for children from low-income families in the Santa Clarita area. With donations that come from the county, the city and the community, the foundation has helped children from toddlers to eighth-grade with a wide variety of dental needs.

Maricela said the foundation got started after a holiday distribution of toys to local children. Volunteers noticed that when many of the grateful young recipients of the toys smiled, their mouths showed a great deal of tooth decay.

Since then, the foundation has handled about 125 children a year, not counting emergencies. This year, 82 children needed dental help, but only the most urgent received it. ``This year, there's a waiting list, but there's no money left,'' Maricela lamented.

Dental care this year, Maricela proudly points out, has come totally from local dentists. Emergency care is handled by Martin Orro's Santa Clarita Valley Dental Care and Ronald Singer takes care of very young children.

``We work with school nurses, who call when a child has pain, swelling or an abscess and the parents can't pay,'' Maricela explained and added that emergencies often prompt the dentist to take care of the child's entire mouth for free.

The local dentists who offer their services for the minimal payment provided by the foundation include Allan Fine, Joanne Young, Mehran Abbassian, David R. Wyndhamsmith, Daniel Liverman and Michael Kim.

She's hoping to add even more local dentists to the list this year, especially since she notes that, ``This community is very, very giving.''

Education is an important element of the foundation's program. Monika Pfluger takes her puppet, Flossy, to local elementary schools, reaching about 1,800 children, teaching them oral hygiene and distributing toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Realizing that educating parents is as important as the children, Maricela teaches classes on dental health twice a month at the Valencia Clinic.

``We're seeing a lot of baby-bottle decay,'' Maricela observed. ``I've seen a 2-year-old with eight teeth that had to be removed.''

With her fluent Spanish (she immigrated to the U.S. in 1972), Maricela enlightens parents on proper hygiene, especially for young children. Her brother, who is a dentist in Salinas, put together an educational video for her in Spanish, and she has photos to show what can happen to teeth not properly cared for.

``In the Spanish community, they think that children are going to lose their baby teeth, so they don't worry about oral hygiene,'' she explained. ``But you can't teach a 7-year-old to brush properly, if they haven't been doing it at least once a day. It's not negligence; it's ignorance.''

Maricela remembers her own childhood, when it was thought that a dental visit was only required when there was a toothache. Children were also threatened with a visit to the dentist, she said, and she strives to teach that dentists are there to help not hurt.

A resident of Santa Clarita since 1983 and the mother of a son, Barren, and daughter, Diana, Maricela is hoping to be able to expand the scope of the foundation by raising more funds.

``My goal is to have a clinic for low-income children so they can pay a minimal amount and get the care they need. There's a lot of satisfaction in helping children. We just need the awareness.''