Miss Jamaica Festival Queen 2021, Dr. Dominique Reid, a dentist, has surpassed her goal of giving free dental care to 590 students – aged 12 years and younger, across the island. Dr. Reid and her team assisted a total of 610 students across five (5) parishes with free dental inspections, teeth cleanings, and fluoride treatments, through her “Tooth Tour”, which saw its seventh and final stop at the Half Way Tree Primary School in St. Andrew.
The Tooth Tour is phase 2 of the Festival Queen’s national outreach project, Project Healthy Smiles Jamaica. She had a target of 590 students in keeping with Jamaica’s 59th anniversary of Independence, which is the Festival Queen’s reigning year.
“I am excited that my vision was brought to life and now the project has come to a fruitful end. I am grateful for the opportunity to assist so many children from across the island. Especially those who would have experienced their first dental visit through this project. To make sure that it was a positive experience for them makes me truly grateful. The ending of the project is bittersweet for me because I am excited to not only have met but exceed the target that was set. I will also miss interacting with all the amazing kids each Sunday,” Dr. Reid said.
Eleven-year-old Kailaya Forbes, a Grade 6 student at the Half Way Tree Primary School was the 590th student to receive treatment on the national tour.
The Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition’s national outreach project is a time-honored tradition and stipulation of the competition, which requires the reigning Festival Queen to use her newly acquired national platform as a cultural ambassador. to assist with community development and nation-building.
