History of brightSMILES

Sierra Health’s brightSMILES program began in 1999 as a partnership of Sierra Health and the Dental Health Foundation, based on a documented need for prevention of dental disease in Northern California. In the first two phases of brightSMILES, with support from The California Endowment, we awarded grants to nonprofit organizations and public agencies to support direct oral health services.

In phase three, we shifted our focus to community water fluoridation as the most effective strategy to prevent dental caries across populations. While water fluoridation continues to be a focus of brightSMILES, we have returned to a strategy of funding oral health preventive services.