Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures®: Driving Behavior Change for the Next Billion Children and Their Families

Colgate-Palmolive builds on its legacy of oral health, publishing an impact evaluation, evolving its health education tools rooted in behavior change, and scaling its global health partnerships.

By
News Staff
September 22, 2026

Compendium

Objective:

To evolve the Colgate Bright Smiles, Bright Futures® program to empower the next billion children and their families in adopting healthier oral health habits, as stated by Colgate-Palmolive.

Approach:

Impact Report: The impact report authored by Dr. Francisco Ramos-Gomez and Dr. Yan Wang synthesizes data showing significant reductions in cavities and improvements in oral health among children in various countries.
Human-Centered Design: New health education resources developed with Dalberg Design focus on culturally adapted learning tools and interactive activities for children, as part of the program's evolution.
Global Health Partnerships: A multi-year funding commitment to the WHO Foundation aims to expand oral health education and integrate it into national health systems, as announced at the World Economic Forum.

Key Findings:

A 75% reduction in new cavities and demineralized lesions among children in Grenada, as reported in the impact report.
A 23% increase in healthy gingival units among children in Mexico City, according to the findings.
The role of teachers and community health workers enhances health behavior change, as highlighted in the report.

Interpretation:

The BSBF program demonstrates that comprehensive oral health education can lead to significant public health improvements and foster collaboration across sectors.