This story was on 20/20 in February of this year. Diane Sawyer put faces to a very real problem. Each story left you wanting to help and all had a common thread of a poverty situation that most of us will never know.
The article has a great list of how to help and who to contact.

Dr. Edwin Smith, a dentist in Barbourville, Ky., invested $150,000 of his own money to build a mobile dental clinic, Kids First Dental Care, inside an 18-wheel truck.
Several days a week, Smith criss-crosses the curvy roads of 16 eastern Kentucky counties to offer free dental screenings and services to hundreds of students. Most children dread the dentist, but those who line up outside Smith's van are often giddy with anticipation. For many, it's the first and only dental check-up they'll have for years.

"It's a generational thing, I think," said Smith. "Grandma had dentures, mom had dentures, it's just inevitable that I'm going to end up with dentures, is the way some of these kids feel. I really believe we have to do a better job educating." Smith says he's seen firsthand the results of neglect among these children. Teenagers have pulled their own teeth with pliers because of tooth pain, and he's treated 2-year-olds with up to 12 cavities in their baby teeth.

It's a stereotype rooted in a terrible fact. Central Appalachia is No. 1 in the nation in toothlessness. According to dentists, one of the main culprits is Mountain Dew soda. With 50 percent more caffeine than Coke or Pepsi, Mountain Dew seems to be used as a kind of anti-depressant for children in the hills.

The dental dilemma in Kentucky is that nearly one out of every two of the state's children are enrolled in Medicaid, but barely a quarter of dentists accept the insurance. So for the Appalachian families on Medicaid, they often have few options when or if they want to see a dentist.

One of Smith's patients, 11-year-old Anthony, hadn't been able to brush his teeth in several weeks because it hurt too much. He says he drank too much Mountain Dew. "He wasn't able to brush up there around the gum because it was too painful," Smith said. "It's causing the gums to be inflamed." But after his appointment, Anthony's smile was as good as new. Those smiles are Smith's
gifts to the mountains.