The Rotary Club Teams Up with Colgate® Bright Smiles, Bright Futures™ and Toronto Dentists to Help 50,000 Students Brush Up On Good Oral Health Habits
Launched 16th Annual Brush-a-mania Awareness
Program with Multi-School Brush-Off Event on April 1
TORONTO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In just three minutes, thousands of students at 100 schools across
Toronto were taught a valuable lesson that parents, teachers and
dentists hope will keep them smiling for a lifetime. To educate and
motivate young children around proper oral health, Toronto area schools
teamed up with the Rotary Club, volunteer dentists and Colgate® Bright
Smiles, Bright Futures™ on Friday, April 1 to kick-off the 16th
annual Brush-a-mania awareness program and signature three-minute
brush-off event.
Created by the Toronto area Rotary Clubs, the Brush-a-mania elementary
school program promotes the importance of oral health to overall health
among children from junior Kindergarten to Grade 6. Each year,
participating schools hold assemblies where a local dentist and Rotarian
teach the children proper dental care techniques. The assemblies, all of
which took place on the same date and time, concluded by giving children
a chance to practice what they’ve learned in a brush-off where
participants all brush their teeth simultaneously for three minutes.
Brush-a-mania has proven highly successful in Toronto and is now being
extended across Ontario thanks to organizers of this year’s program who
have teamed up with local component societies of the Ontario Dental
Association to make the program part of April’s Oral Health Month
activities in communities throughout the province. Several Brush-a-mania
sponsors and supporters including the Honorable Brad Duguid, Minister of
Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure, were on hand Friday
at St. Columba Catholic School in Scarborough, Ontario for
the program’s kick-off event.
“I think this is a wonderful initiative and event,” said Dr. Victor
Kutcher, Ontario Dental Association President. “The enthusiasm shown by
Brush-a-mania Chair Dr. Raffy Chouljian and the excitement generated by
this program, is truly amazing.”
The 50,000 students participating in Brush-a-mania this year each
received a Colgate® toothbrush and toothpaste, a Brush-a-mania
instruction pamphlet and a Brush-a-mania sticker. They will continue
tracking their brushes for the entire month of April in the classroom
and at home online. When students complete the online program, they will
receive a Brush-a-mania certificate of achievement and be entered in a
drawing to win an Xbox One or one of fifty tablets.
To help generate excitement prior to the official 2016 program kick-off,
a special two-minute brush off was also held on March 19 during an
Ontario Hockey League game between the Kingston Frontenacs and the
Hamilton Bulldogs. Over 1,700 children participated in the activity and
received a Brush-a-mania kit from Colgate. To learn more about
Brush-a-mania, visit www.brushamania.ca.
Marking its 25th anniversary this year, Colgate’s flagship
oral health education program Bright Smiles, Bright Futures™ is today
among the most far-reaching, successful children’s oral health
initiatives in the world. With long-standing partnerships with
governments, schools and communities, Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright
Futures has reached more than half a billion children across 80
countries with free dental screenings and multilingual oral health
education.
Parents, teachers and dental professionals can visit the Colgate® Bright
Smiles, Bright Futures™ website at www.ColgateBSBF.com
to access free oral health learning materials, the My Bright Smile
mobile app, new videos and more.
ABOUT THE ROTARY CLUB
Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united
worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical
standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the
world. There are more than 1.2 million Rotarians in 33,000 Rotary clubs
in over 200 countries and geographical areas. The Don Mills Rotary Club
was the original partner for Brush-a-mania. www.brushamania.ca
ABOUT COLGATE-PALMOLIVE
Colgate-Palmolive is a leading global consumer products company, tightly
focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition.
Colgate sells its products in over 200 countries and territories around
the world under such internationally recognized brand names as Colgate,
Palmolive, Speed Stick, Lady Speed Stick, Softsoap, Irish Spring,
Protex, Sorriso, Kolynos, elmex, Tom’s of Maine, Sanex, Ajax, Axion,
Fabuloso, Soupline and Suavitel, as well as Hill’s Science Diet, Hill’s
Prescription Diet and Hill’s Ideal Balance. For more information about
Colgate-Palmolive’s global business, visit the Company’s web site at www.ColgatePalmolive.com.
To learn more about Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures®, Colgate’s
global oral health education program, please visit www.colgatebsbf.com.
CL-C
Contacts
Colgate-Palmolive Company
Tatiana Munoz, 212-310-2670
media_inquiry@colpal.com
