'Hairspray's' Nikki Blonsky Joins Colgate-Palmolive and San Francisco Elementary School Students for Bright Smiles Comed...( Colgate Dental Van to Provide Stu...),Health

Colgate Dental Van to Provide Students with Free Dental Screenings,

Treatment Referrals and Oral Health Education

SAN FRANCISCO, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- A national campaign to promote the importance of maintaining good oral health habits drew smiles from more than 300 local elementary school children today as Colgate-Palmolive brought its first ever "Bright Smiles Comedy Showcase" to the Bay Area. The event, which was hosted by Critics Choice Award Winner and Hairspray star Nikki Blonsky, featured an original comedy sketch that used humor to help students understand the importance of maintaining good oral health habits. A Colgate mobile dental van, one of a fleet of eight "clinics on wheels" that the company sponsors around the U.S., was also on hand to provide students with free dental screenings, treatment referrals and oral health education.

In Mommy It Hurts to Chew: The 2006 California Smile Survey, the Dental Health Foundation reported that the oral health of California children was substantially worse than national objectives. Similarly, recent figures from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that the percentage of Americans with untreated tooth decay began rising this decade, reversing a 50-year trend of improvement in dental health.

The Bright Smiles Comedy Showcase is part of a public commitment Colgate's Bright Smiles, Bright Futures program made in 2002 to reach 100 million children in the United States by 2010 with free dental screenings, treatment referrals and oral health education. By the end of 2008, the company will be more than three-quarters of the way to reaching its goal.

Amid a festival of music, balloons and costumed characters, the LaughingStock Comedy Company performed an original improvisational routine that enlisted the student's participation in humorous sketches that highlighted the importance of maintaining good oral health habits. Nikki Blonsky presided over the
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