February 2, 2009--The Deming Headlight, Deming, NM--Kevin Buey--Charlie Wildcat was on hand to help youngsters from thinking about sitting in a dentist's chair. Sixty-seven students, from Columbus, Bell, Bataan, Torres and Chaparral elementary schools, had free dental checkups Friday at Divine Smiles Dentistry, the office of Dr. Richard Argant, located at 100 E. Pine St. The students are in Deming Schools' Migrants program. For some, it was their first dental appointment. Helping Charlie occupy the children were students from Deming High School's Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, who were painting faces and coloring with the elementary school youngsters, some as young as 5-years-old. The New Mexico Dental Association promoted the statewide Give Kids a Smile Day. Dr. Argant and his staff donated their time to participate, with supplies donated by Henry Sullivan and Schein, a dental supply company. "We purchase a lot of supplies from them," said Sandra Esparza, Argant's bookkeeper, who said the doctor and his staff "wanted to raise the community's awareness of this program, so we are able to make this a more prosperous program next year." Youngsters sitting in Argant's lobby played charades and other games, bounced a balloon from one to the other and used crayons to color pages from coloring books as they waited to see the dentist.