PINKHAM NOTCH — Next time you’re atop Mount Washington, look to the north and smile. Chances are there will be folks in the Androscoggin Valley looking at the peaks and smiling back.

Those smiles will be a little wider thanks to $10,600 that was raised at the 2012 Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race, held on the 7.6-mile auto road on June 16, and donated Tuesday to Coos County Family Health Services. This year, Northeast Delta was the title sponsor of the event, which drew 1,000 top-notch racers.

“These funds will really help expand the scope of dental services to our patients and community,” Adele Woods, CEO of Coos County Family Health Services, said. “We rarely get funding for oral health care for adults, so this will make a huge difference.”

“Our sponsorship of this event and support of Coos County Family Health Services is all a part of Northeast Delta Dental’s commitment to the dental health and well-being of North Country residents,” said Kathy Walker of Northeast Delta Dental.

“Like the Mount Washington auto road, we pride ourselves in being a part of this community and look forward to our collaborative efforts in the future.”

The Northeast Delta Dental Foundation has supported Coos County Family Health Services’s oral health education and preventive care program for children in local Androscoggin Valley area schools since 1995, contributing more than $45,000 over those years. The dental program serves children up to fifth grade.

“The local dental community has been very helpful,” Loretta Morrissette, who runs that program, said.

Walker said she has met area children who have received oral education and services during the last decade and a half, so many of them are now young adults.

“I’m really certain if I meet them, they’ve got really good oral health because of Loretta’s program,” she said.

The program provides dental education and preventive services, such as fluoride varnishing, at schools and at Head Start sites.

The foundation’s money has gone toward supplies, varnishing and other treatments. Woods said the program is funded through other public money.

If a child is found to need more dental work, the program helps the child’s parents or guardians receive more specialized care, with the center following up to make sure those services were rendered.

Coos County Family Health Services serves about 15,000 in the Androscoggin Valley each year, including residents of Berlin and Gorham and surrounding towns. Woods said the donation from Northeast Delta Dental could help keep local adults who have little to no dental insurance from having to go to the emergency room for a dental emergency, something which, she said, happens every few days now.

While poor oral health is probably not a primary cause of heart disease, according to the Mayo Clinic, it might aggravate pre-existing conditions, contributing to the inflammation of the fatty plaque that forms in arteries and blocks blood flow to the heart. As any runner in the 52nd road race knows, it’s important to have your heart and other muscles well-supplied with oxygen.

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Sara Young-Knox may be reached at syoungknox@newstote.com.