Dentists sample kids' DNA for quick way to prove ID

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 04 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Lone Tree (USA) duo lets parents keep 'genetic fingerprint'

LONE TREE (USA) - Seven-year-old Zoey Wilson popped open her mouth, allowing Dr. Donald Almeida to dab the inside of her cheeks with a cotton swab.

'It just sort of tickled,' Zoey said Saturday as her 5-year-old sister, Ava, underwent the same procedure.

The swabs captured sloughed- off skin containing the Wilson girls' DNA - their unique genetic blueprints.

Almeida put the swabs in tiny clear vials of alcohol solution before slipping them inside solid-red envelopes for the girls' parents to take home for safekeeping.

The idea, said Dr. Adam Almeida, who practices dentistry with his father, is to provide families with a quick way to prove their children's identities.

'The worst nightmare for a parent is a lost child,' Donald Almeida said. 'This DNA, which can be preserved for 80 years or more, can help identify children, and at the very least give them closure.'

The father and son dentists, whose Lincoln Tower Dental office is at 8683 E. Lincoln Ave., decided to provide the $20 kits for free.

'The community has been helping us make a living, and we wanted to try to give back,' Adam Almeida said. 'But we didn't want to give back in an ordinary way. We wanted it to have a positive effect on the community.'

Donald Almeida said he got the idea after watching 'America's Most Wanted' TV show host John Walsh discuss the DNA LifePrint kits.

Walsh, whose son, Adam, was abducted and murdered in 1981 in Florida, calls the kits 'the fingerprint for the future.'

Donald Almeida said doctors should consider offering the service, which takes 2 minutes.

'If we could get the DNA of all the kids in America, that would be wonderful,' he said.

The Wilson girls' parents, Robert and Airon Wilson of Parker, said they learned about the Almeidas' offer through their children's school.

'I asked some friends who are nurses if they thought this was weird,' Airon Wilson said. 'The idea does take you where you don't want to go (having missing children), but this offers another tool to help find them.'

Linda and Hal Hansen of Parker brought in their 6-year-old daughter, Laura, for the procedure.

After debating the idea, the Hansens decided to do it because the DNA sample is not entered into a database and is theirs to keep.

'The hardest part was explaining to her (Laura) why we were doing this' without scaring her, Linda Hansen said.

The Almeidas plan to hold another swabbing session, especially since a snowy Saturday may have dissuaded parents, but have not set a date.

However, parents interested in having their children participate should call Shawnee Oswald in the Lincoln Tower dental office, 303-790-2973.

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