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    Growing up healthy and kind

    Growing up healthy and kind: Healthy smiles, clean hands, and kids who grow up kind.

    Low-income children are more than twice as likely to have untreated cavities, and appearance is the most common reason teens give for being bullied. Both start early, and both have answers that work in schools.

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    Ryan K. Hertel · heyitskenton

    The problem

    What we're up against.

    • Cavities, early and unequal.

      50% of young school-age children have had cavities, and low-income children that age are more than twice as likely to have untreated ones, at 25%.

    • Millions without sealants.

      Nearly 7 million children in lower-income households don't have sealants, the thin coating that protects back teeth.

    • Pain that keeps kids home.

      In North Carolina, children with poor oral health were more likely to miss school because of dental pain.

    • Teased for how they look.

      About 19% of teenage students were bullied at school, and 33% of them said it was about their appearance.

    • Hair, and a hurt that starts young.

      In a survey funded by Dove, 66% of Black children in majority-white schools said they had faced discrimination over their hair, and some mothers said it began in early childhood.

    • Bias is learned early.

      Pediatricians say even babies notice race-based differences, and young children can internalize racial bias.

    What works

    Proven, and ready to grow.

    • Sealants at school.

      School sealant programs cut tooth decay by a median of 81% two years later.

    • They pay for themselves.

      Sealing 1,000 children's teeth at school prevents 485 fillings, and the programs saved society money.

    • Fluoride and brushing together.

      School fluoride programs cut new cavities in permanent teeth by 32%, and Scotland's nursery toothbrushing program was linked to treatment savings more than two and a half times its cost.

    • Clean hands.

      Teaching handwashing reduces absences from stomach illness by 29% to 57%.

    • Kindness can be taught.

      Students in social and emotional learning programs gained skills, behaved better, and showed an 11 percentile point gain in achievement, with benefits still showing at follow-ups years later.

    • Less bullying.

      Anti-bullying programs cut bullying by about 19% to 20%.

    What a family could fund

    Where the money goes furthest.

    • Sealants for every child who lacks them.

      About $63.33 a child in a school program. Sealing every lower-income child without them could save up to $300 million.

    • Brushing and fluoride in preschool.

      Daily supervised toothbrushing in nurseries, as Scotland does, and fluoride programs in schools that have none.

    • Kindness lessons in every early grade.

      Social and emotional learning programs of the kind that improved students' behavior and grades, started young, so the benefits have years to grow.

    • Books and shows with every kind of hair.

      Sesame Street's song I Love My Hair, written by a dad for his daughter, debuted in 2010. Dermatology research describes hair by its shape: straight, wavy, curly and coiled. The lesson for kids is simple: every texture is normal, and we ask before touching someone's hair.

    Honest limits

    What money can't promise.

    • The best programs reach too few.

      Sealants work, yet nearly 7 million lower-income children still go without them.

    • Handwashing results in schools are mixed.

      A review found the evidence on hand hygiene and school absences mostly equivocal, from small trials.

    • Modest effects.

      Anti-bullying programs work, but their effects are modest.

    • Thin data on hair.

      The numbers on children and hair come mostly from a survey funded by Dove, and peer-reviewed studies are scarce.

    • A link, not proof.

      Studies tie poor oral health to missed school, but that shows a link, not that teeth are the cause.

    Hard questions

    Asked and answered.

    1. You might ask

      Isn't this the parents' job?

      Ryan

      Most parents are doing it: 86.9% of children saw a dentist in the past year. The gap is about income, not effort: low-income children are far likelier to have untreated cavities.

    2. You might ask

      Why talk about race and hair with little kids at all?

      Ryan

      Because they notice anyway: pediatricians say bias can take root in early childhood, and appearance is the top reason teens give for being bullied. Sesame Street has done it gently since 2010.

    3. You might ask

      Do kindness programs actually change behavior?

      Ryan

      Modestly, but yes: students' behavior and grades improved, and bullying fell.

    4. You might ask

      Is the hair data just marketing?

      Ryan

      Partly: it comes from a survey Dove paid for, which is why this chapter says so. By 2024, 27 states and Washington, D.C., had passed laws against hair discrimination.

    In the slider

    See what your fortune could do here.

    Growing up healthy and kind

    The slider prices this cause with these numbers:

    • About $63.33 a child seals the back teeth in a school program, which prevents fillings and saves money.
    • The whole need is the nearly 7 million children in lower-income households without sealants.
    • A cost in older dollars, from programs in a handful of states, and each program needs willing schools and parents' consent.
    Try it in the sliderTalk to Ryan

    More of the Blueprint

    Keep reading.

    Back to Keep 100

    Sources

    Every number in this chapter, and where it came from.

    1. Source 1: Cavity Facts (opens in a new tab)

      Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 May 2024. Checked 23 October 2026.

    2. Source 2: Condition of Education: Student Bullying (opens in a new tab)

      National Center for Education Statistics, July 2024. Checked 23 October 2026.

    3. Source 3: School Sealant Programs (opens in a new tab)

      Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 May 2024. Checked 23 October 2026.

    4. Source 4: Impact of poor oral health on children's school attendance and performance (Jackson and others) (opens in a new tab)

      American Journal of Public Health, 17 February 2011. Checked 23 October 2026.

      One state's survey: it shows a link, not proof of cause.

    5. Source 5: 2021 Dove CROWN Research Study for Girls (opens in a new tab)

      Dove and the CROWN Coalition, 2021. Checked 23 October 2026.

      A brand-funded survey; peer-reviewed studies of hair and young children are scarce.

    6. Source 6: Talking to Children About Racial Bias (opens in a new tab)

      American Academy of Pediatrics, HealthyChildren.org, 30 October 2024. Checked 23 October 2026.

    7. Source 7: Dental Caries (Cavities): School-Based Dental Sealant Delivery Programs (opens in a new tab)

      The Community Guide (Community Preventive Services Task Force), April 2013. Checked 23 October 2026.

    8. Source 8: School-Based Dental Sealant Programs Prevent Cavities And Are Cost-Effective (Griffin and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Health Affairs, December 2016. Checked 23 October 2026.

      Costs in 2014 dollars, from programs in fourteen states.

    9. Source 9: Effectiveness of School Fluoride Delivery Programs: A Community Guide Systematic Review (opens in a new tab)

      American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 11 April 2025. Checked 23 October 2026.

    10. Source 10: Improving Child Oral Health: Cost Analysis of a National Nursery Toothbrushing Programme (Anopa and others) (opens in a new tab)

      PLOS One, 25 August 2015. Checked 23 October 2026.

      Funded by the program it studies; the savings are linked to it, not proven to be caused by it.

    11. Source 11: Handwashing Facts (opens in a new tab)

      Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 April 2024. Checked 23 October 2026.

    12. Source 12: The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: a meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions (Durlak and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Child Development, 2011. Checked 23 October 2026.

    13. Source 13: Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects (Taylor and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Child Development, July 2017. Checked 23 October 2026.

    14. Source 14: Addressing online and offline bullying: effective intervention strategies (opens in a new tab)

      University of Cambridge, Violence Research Centre. Checked 23 October 2026.

    15. Source 15: 'I Love My Hair': A Father's Tribute To His Daughter (opens in a new tab)

      NPR, 18 October 2010. Checked 23 October 2026.

    16. Source 16: Classification of High Curl Pattern Hair: A Systematic Review and Clinical Perspective (opens in a new tab)

      Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, April 2026. Checked 23 October 2026.

    17. Source 17: Effectiveness of hand hygiene interventions in reducing illness absence among children in educational settings (Willmott and others) (opens in a new tab)

      Archives of Disease in Childhood, 15 October 2015. Checked 23 October 2026.

    18. Source 18: Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying perpetration and victimization: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis (Gaffney, Ttofi and Farrington) (opens in a new tab)

      Campbell Systematic Reviews, 5 April 2021. Checked 16 October 2026.

      A meta-analysis of a hundred evaluations.

    19. Source 19: FastStats: Oral and Dental Health (opens in a new tab)

      CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, 12 June 2026. Checked 23 October 2026.

    20. Source 20: The State of Employment Law: More Than Half of U.S. States Now Have a CROWN Law (opens in a new tab)

      Barnes & Thornburg, 17 June 2025. Checked 23 October 2026.

      A law firm's summary; counts differ by source as states pass new laws.