OREANDA-NEWS. April 07, 2016.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