Providing the Tools for Healthier Smiles
At the core of Project OpenWide is the belief that supporting a community begins by giving people practical tools they can use every day. Oral-health education is important, but the knowledge of how to brush and floss is only useful when individuals also have access to the supplies needed to maintain those habits.
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Through our Oral Hygiene Kit Program, we provide children, families, and community members with essential oral-care products while reinforcing the importance of preventive dental care. Each kit is designed to make a healthy routine more accessible, approachable, and easier to continue at home.
How We Receive Our Supplies
The supplies used in our kits come from local dental offices, dental professionals, oral-care brands, community partners, and volunteer-led Oral Hygiene Drives. These partnerships allow us to collect new toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, and other approved oral-care products for future outreach and donation projects.
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Community members can also support the program by organizing a hygiene drive at their school, workplace, dental office, faith-based organization, or local group. Remote volunteers may collect supplies and donate them directly to an approved organization within their own community.
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Every contribution, whether it is a small collection or a larger product donation, helps us prepare more complete kits and serve more people.
From Donated Supplies to Complete Kits
Approximately every one to two months, depending on our supply inventory and upcoming outreach needs, Project OpenWide brings volunteers together for a kit-assembly project.
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Volunteers help sort donated products, check that items are new and unopened, organize supplies by age group or program need, and place the appropriate products into each kit. They may also prepare educational inserts, package materials, count completed kits, and create handwritten cards with encouraging messages for recipients.
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These assembly projects allow volunteers to see how individual donations are transformed into organized, ready-to-distribute resources. They also create a meaningful way for people to contribute behind the scenes, even when they are not participating directly in an outreach event.
What is Included in Each Kit?
A standard oral hygiene kit may include a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, an age-appropriate educational resource, and a handwritten note of encouragement from a Project OpenWide volunteer.
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Kit contents may vary depending on available donations, the age of the recipients, the setting in which the kits will be distributed, and the needs communicated by our community partners. For example, kits prepared for younger students may include child-sized products and simple brushing instructions, while kits intended for families or older recipients may contain different product sizes or educational materials.
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Our goal is not simply to hand out supplies. Each kit should help recipients understand how and why to use the products they receive.
Where the Kits Go
Completed oral hygiene kits are used throughout Project OpenWide’s programs and partnerships. They may be distributed during school presentations, community health events, educational workshops, nonprofit collaborations, shelter donations, clinic partnerships, and other outreach projects serving communities with limited access to oral-care resources.
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Some kits are donated directly to schools, nonprofits, shelters, and community organizations so they can be distributed through programs that already have trusted relationships with the people they serve. Others are given directly to participants after a Project OpenWide presentation or outreach activity, allowing recipients to leave with both the knowledge and the supplies needed to put what they learned into practice.
More than a Bag of Supplies
Each kit represents the combined effort of donors, dental professionals, community partners, and volunteers. The donated products provide practical support, the educational materials encourage healthier habits, and the handwritten notes add a personal reminder that the recipient’s health and well-being matter.
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By connecting oral-health education with access to essential supplies, the Oral Hygiene Kit Program helps turn a one-time outreach experience into a routine that recipients can continue at home.