Healthy Smiles Lead To Success at School

Healthy teeth, it turns out, leads to a healthy GPA. With the new school year underway, parents are helping their kids excel in the classroom by caring for their smiles. A majority of parents believe a healthy smile can contribute to academic success – 83% recognize that maintaining good oral health can keep a child from missing school, while 43% report that a dental related illness has kept their child home from school, according to a recent Colgate survey. To keep kids smiling, Colgate conducts free dental screenings and education through its Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program. This year, to better equip families with the resources they need to help their kids achieve a healthy smile, Colgate has partnered with actress, best-selling author, and education advocate Danica McKellar (“The Wonder Years”; “Dancing with the Stars”) as part of  Smile for Picture Day – an annual back-to-school campaign that uses the tradition of school picture day to promote healthy brushing routines.  

According to Colgate, several studies have demonstrated a connection between poor dental health and low grade point averages and in some cases, children with poor oral health are nearly three times more likely to miss days at school than their peers due to dental pain.  In addition to encouraging proper brushing and regular dental check-ups, parents can improve their kids' dental health by downloading the “Colgate Tooth Defenders” app.  This educational app is available for free via iTunes or Google Play and is specially designed for children in Kindergarten through Grade 3 to help make fighting cavities fun through a series of games.

During Smile for Picture Day, beginning now through October, Colgate's fleet of mobile dental vans will travel to more than 150 elementary schools providing free dental screenings to children in need.  Additionally, Colgate's award-winning oral health curriculum reaches approximately 3.5 million children in all 50 states throughout the year, and more than 750,000 kids through Colgate's longstanding partnership with the Head Start program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

To celebrate “picture day ready” smiles, parents are encouraged to follow @ColgateSmile on Twitter where they can upload their kids' photo using the hashtag #SmileforPictureDay.

To learn more about Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures, visit www.ColgateBSBF.com to download more oral health education materials, videos and more.