When it comes to Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures (BSBF), Anaika Forbes Grant is playing the long game. As Manager, Community Oral Health, North America for BSBF, Forbes Grant runs the U.S. mobile dental van program, which is just what it sounds like — an actual traveling van providing free dental screenings, as well as oral health education and treatment referrals, to children 12 and under. “Not only do we talk about oral health and why it’s important to brush and floss, but we also talk about nutrition and exercise,” Forbes Grant, who herself is a hygienist, says. “We’re getting children engaged physically and we’re getting them engaged mentally around good oral health habits, and that’s something that will last a lifetime.” 

Reaching Underserved Communities

Colgate’s Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program was established in 1991, and since then has reached approximately 2 billion children and their families in about 100 countries, through an array of programs. In the U.S., one way BSBF reaches communities that are underserved is through its mobile dental vans, which travel to schools, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, YMCA locations, community fairs, festivals and more. There are vans from New York to Baltimore to Los Angeles. “We want to be able to bridge that gap for children and support their families with good oral health education,” Forbes Grant says. 

And they’re doing just that, according to Bianca Masson, a dental professional coordinator for Colgate’s BSBF Florida team. “If we go to a school multiple times, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, I remember you, and I remember I have to brush my teeth,’” she says. “Knowing they’re actually retaining what we’re teaching — that’s one of the best parts of the job for me.” 

Step Inside the Bright Smiles Experience 

Once the mobile van arrives at a school or club, a dental professional screens children in the van’s dental chair. 

The screening takes about two minutes, during which the dental professionals look to see how well the kids are brushing and if there are any signs of cavities or infection. Once the screening is complete, the children receive a dental report card to take home to their families, and an oral care kit, aka a “goody bag” filled with Colgate-Palmolive dental hygiene products. If dental work is needed, the team provides free treatment referrals to families who may not have a regular dental provider.

The BSBF team also leads an interactive session that covers essential oral health habits — brushing twice a day for two minutes with fluoride toothpaste, daily flossing and regular dental visits — as well as promoting general wellness through hand-washing, good nutrition and exercise. 

To make the learning fun, they use something called the wheel of exercise. Spin and land on one item and you may get a trivia question like, How many times a day are you supposed to brush your teeth? Land on another and you may be prompted to do four jumping jacks. “Children love to spin a wheel — anything that makes noise, they want it!” Forbes Grant says. “We are always getting them engaged and excited to think about their health and wellness in new ways.”

For those who can’t make it onto the van for physical screenings, BSBF also offers a virtual oral health education program. These 20- to 30-minute interactive sessions, which can be requested via the BSBF website, are run by dental health professionals who explain the importance of oral health, nutrition and exercise. Kids can come up to the screen and ask questions, too, like, Why do I have to brush my teeth twice a day? These interactive sessions, as Forbes Grant says, “are always so fun, as they provide ways for us to reach children where they are.” 

There’s also a classroom kit, which teachers of early childhood education (through first grade) can request via the BSBF website. It comes with 20 to 25 toothbrushes and toothpaste samples, along with educational material and a guide for teachers on how to deliver oral health content to their students. Once the kids age out of these programs, the Bright Smiles team will often talk to older kids at events about careers in dentistry and with Colgate. 

When Children Become the Teachers at Home

While BSBF is geared towards children, it extends to adults as well. Forbes Grant explains that gamifying the educational piece helps draw kids in. But they also do it because when they get the kids jazzed about what they’re learning, they run home to tell their families about it — and those adults can often benefit from the information, too. “We give them that education to last a lifetime so they understand it,” Forbes Grant says, “and we make it so engaging and fun, that they’re going to want to tell everybody.” 

The goody bag the Bright Smiles team sends home with the kids? Naturally, it includes a children's toothbrush and toothpaste — but there are also two extra toothbrushes in case a parent or someone else in the household needs one. This is especially important, as many people don’t realize that you should change your toothbrush every three months or that multiple family members shouldn’t share toothbrushes “Our primary goal is to educate the children,” Masson says, “but we also make a great difference with the parents and inside the home as well.” 

A Program That Outlasts Childhood

There are several stories in Bright Smiles, Bright Futures lore that demonstrate the full-circle effect the program strives for. Forbes Grant was at a tech conference a few years after she started working at Colgate-Palmolive. She was telling a gentleman from Pakistan a bit about the program when he interrupted her mid-spiel. “He was like, ‘Bright Smiles, Bright Futures, I remember this program! You guys came to my school, and after you came, I started brushing my teeth every day,’” Forbes Grant recalls. “He was like, ‘My mom used to tell me, but I never listened to her. But when you guys came, I started brushing my teeth every day!’”

Another moment came when a colleague named Mar was at an airport years ago and lost track of the head of BSBF’s -mascot, Doctor Rabbit. The person (it was a FedEx employee) who brought back the missing part of the bunny dentist ended up being a woman who had participated in the BSBF program when she was a child. “She was like, ‘Doctor Rabbit?’” Forbes Grant relays, illustrating both her disbelief and enthusiasm. “Doctor Rabbit taught me how to brush my teeth!” 

Masson has also met many parents with their own positive memories of the van from when they were young, who now want the same experience for their kids. “If you really think about it, that’s the whole basis of our program,” she says. “That’s why we target children because we’re really trying to emphasize the value of dental health as a child so that when you do grow up, you keep that value in your head and you pass it on to your children.” 

Reimagining Healthy Futures for All

Because the program has been around for 35 years — and because it’s global — the impact is remarkable. “It’s very rare that you get to have a job you enjoy, and where you can say that you really make a difference,” Masson says. “And this isn’t delayed gratification. It’s every single day when we go into the schools and we see the kids that you feel you’re making a difference.”

Forbes Grant seconds this sentiment — and feels it’s high time more people know about it. “Colgate-Palmolive is a caring company, not only for employees, but look at what they’re doing for children — for the future of our communities, for the future of the world, for the future adults that are going to grow up and make things better for other people. It’s here. It started with Colgate-Palmolive.”