Smiles for life initiative
Building Sustainable Preventive Oral Health Systems for Schools
→ A systems-based oral health initiative built on the LEPS Framework™
Smiles for Life is Green Kites International Association’s flagship school-based preventive oral health system designed to help underserved schools establish sustainable pathways to lifelong oral health. Built on the LEPS Framework™ (Learn → Equip → Practice → Sustain), Smiles for Life integrates education, preventive infrastructure, daily routines, and community ownership to transform preventive oral health efforts from short-term interventions into lasting school-based systems. Born from firsthand observations in underserved schools, Smiles for Life was created to address a fundamental challenge in prevention: knowledge alone does not create lasting behavior change without the systems and environments needed to support healthy habits.
1. The Challenge
Oral health challenges in rural Vietnam are severe and disproportionately affect children in remote and underserved communities. Studies from rural highland regions have demonstrated a high burden of dental disease among schoolchildren, with dental caries affecting 68.9% of permanent teeth among secondary school students and 41.1% of children experiencing decay in primary teeth (Chuyen et al., 2021).
The burden is particularly significant in mountainous provinces such as Lào Cai, where studies have reported dental caries prevalence exceeding 90% among children, with substantial levels of untreated decay in both primary and permanent teeth (Hoa et al., 2025). In urban areas such as Đà Nẵng, research has also demonstrated a high prevalence of early childhood caries, highlighting the widespread nature of preventable oral disease among Vietnamese children (Edberg & Sjöberg, 2015).
Vietnam continues to face significant oral health inequalities, driven by uneven access to preventive dental services. Dental care resources remain concentrated in urban areas, while rural and mountainous communities experience barriers including geographic isolation, limited dental workforce availability, and financial constraints (WHO, 2022; Sidhu et al., 2024).
For many children, untreated oral disease leads to persistent pain, difficulty eating, missed school days, and preventable complications that affect overall health and quality of life.
2. Our Founder’s Vision
In the early days of Smiles for Life, William Pham, GKIA’s co-founder, focused on addressing immediate needs by providing dental hygiene supplies and organizing oral health workshops, believing that improving access to resources and knowledge would help reduce preventable disease. However, during visits to Buôn Đôn and Ama Trang Lơng communities in 2023 and 2024, where he met with children, families, teachers, healthcare providers, and local leaders, William began to understand the deeper barriers affecting children’s oral health. In some communities, children lacked reliable access to essential resources, while schools lacked the infrastructure, routines, and support systems needed to make daily oral hygiene possible.
This realization transformed Smiles for Life from an oral health education program into a successful, practical, replicable, systems-based preventive health initiative focused on restoring dignity by creating school environments where lifelong healthy habits can become part of everyday life.
This vision led to the creation of the LEPS Framework™ (Learn → Equip → Practice → Sustain), a model designed to help schools and communities build sustainable preventive oral health systems through education, infrastructure, and community partnerships.
3. Our solution
The Smiles for Life Model: Built on the LEPS Framework™
Learn → Equip → Practice → Sustain
William developed the LEPS Framework™ as the foundation of Smiles for Life — a school-based model designed to transform preventive oral health efforts from short-term interventions into a practical, replicable, and sustainable system that integrates education, infrastructure, daily practice, and community ownership into everyday school life.
Learn
Students build foundational knowledge about oral health, prevention, and healthy behaviors through age-appropriate lessons, storytelling, and interactive learning activities.
Equip
Schools receive the resources and supportive infrastructure needed to make prevention possible, including oral hygiene supplies, educational materials, and purpose-designed, easy-to-maintain toothbrushing stations.
Practice
Students transform knowledge into action through repeated practice and teacher-supported daily routines.
Sustain
Teachers, families, and communities are empowered to reinforce healthy behaviors, support and maintain essential infrastructure, and strengthen preventive oral health practices beyond GKIA-led activities, ensuring that prevention becomes part of everyday school life.
I. learn — building oral health literacy
Why It Matters
Sustainable prevention begins with knowledge. Smiles for Life helps children understand how daily habits, nutrition, hygiene, and preventive care influence their lifelong oral health.
What We Do
Through interactive workshops, demonstrations, and age-appropriate learning resources, students learn:
- Proper toothbrushing and flossing techniques
- The importance of fluoride and preventive care
- How nutrition affects dental health
- Ways to prevent cavities and oral infections
To make learning engaging and culturally relevant, William Pham and Sean Pham developed the Smiles for Life Learning Library, including Tin and the Tiny Tooth Heroes and Tin and the Smile Mission, which teach healthy habits through storytelling.
What Changes
Students move beyond awareness to understanding. They develop the knowledge and confidence needed to make healthier choices and build the foundation for lifelong preventive oral health behaviors.
II. Equip — Creating the Environment for Healthy Habits
Why It Matters
Children cannot practice healthy behaviors without the environment to support them. While oral health education can improve awareness, education alone cannot create lasting behavior change. Many underserved schools lack the basic infrastructure needed for children to brush their teeth consistently during the school day, including reliable water access, dedicated hygiene spaces, and systems for managing supplies.
Smiles for Life addresses this gap by designing preventive oral health infrastructure that makes healthy behaviors possible, practical, and sustainable.
What We Do
Smiles for Life designs and implements the Smiles for Life Corner™, a purpose-designed school-based preventive oral health infrastructure system that integrates water access, multi-user brushing facilities, hygiene resources, and daily school routines. The Smiles for Life Corner™ brings structural permanence to every partner school, serving as a long-term anchor for daily preventive oral health practices. By leaving behind a durable, multi-user hygiene station, Smiles for Life helps ensure that healthy routines continue long after GKIA teams leave.
The Smiles for Life Corner™ includes:
1. Design
- Locally adaptable handwashing stations
- Easy-to-install and maintain
- Cost-effective and durable for long-term use
2. Water Integration
- Reliable water access for daily hygiene routines
- Connection with rainwater harvesting systems where available
3. Multi-User Brushing Infrastructure
- Ergonomic, child-centered washing stations designed for school environments
- Large-capacity brushing areas that allow classroom groups to participate together
4. Hygiene Resource Management
- Organized storage systems for toothbrushes and oral hygiene supplies
- Practical solutions for maintaining resources over time
5. School-Based Implementation Design
- Teacher-supervised brushing routines
- Integration into school schedules
- Clear maintenance responsibilities for long-term use
The development of these stations involves local collaboration between GKIA field teams, school officials, and community partners to ensure each system is safe, durable, appropriate for student needs, and sustainable within the local environment.
In addition to infrastructure, Smiles for Life builds sustainable resource systems through partnerships with oral healthcare organizations. These collaborations help provide essential preventive supplies, including toothbrushes, fluoride toothpaste, dental floss, mouthwash, and educational materials, allowing students to practice healthy habits both at school and at home.
What Changes
The Smiles for Life Corner™ transforms oral health from an occasional lesson into a daily school routine.
Instead of children simply receiving dental supplies, schools gain a system that enables structured, teacher-supported toothbrushing practices. Students are able to apply what they learn, develop consistent preventive habits, and integrate oral hygiene into their everyday lives.
By combining infrastructure, resources, and school-based support, Smiles for Life closes the gap between knowing healthy behaviors and having the ability to practice them.
A Smiles for Life Corner ™. From concept to implementation: A child-centered handwashing station designed for safe, accessible, and sustainable school hygiene.
III. Practice — Building Healthy Routines
Why It Matters
Knowledge and resources alone do not create lasting health outcomes. Healthy behaviors become lifelong habits through repetition, consistency, and daily practice.
Smiles for Life helps schools transform oral health from an occasional activity into a routine part of everyday student life.
What We Do
Through teacher-led routines, guided demonstrations, and structured school implementation, students practice preventive oral health behaviors consistently.
Schools integrate oral hygiene into daily routines through:
- Supervised toothbrushing sessions using the Smiles for Life Corner™
- Demonstrations that reinforce proper brushing techniques
- Teacher support to encourage consistency and accountability
- Student engagement activities that strengthen healthy habits
By incorporating oral hygiene into the school day, Smiles for Life creates opportunities for children to practice what they learn and develop confidence in maintaining their own oral health.
What Changes
Students move from knowing about oral health to actively practicing it.
Through repeated daily routines, children develop consistent toothbrushing habits, strengthen preventive behaviors, and begin to view oral health as a normal part of everyday life.
The result is a shift from short-term awareness to lasting behavior change—building healthier habits that children can carry beyond the classroom and into their families and communities.
Students develop consistent daily toothbrushing routines.
integrated community health: connecting oral health with clean water and hygiene
Oral health does not exist in isolation. Maintaining healthy hygiene practices requires access to clean water and safe environments. Through integration with Green Kites’ WASH (water & sanitation) and Healthy Future initiatives, Smiles for Life addresses the broader conditions necessary for children to maintain lifelong health. This integrated approach strengthens the Sustain component of the LEPS Framework™ by reinforcing healthy behaviors through complementary health initiatives.
Through collaboration with Green Kites’ broader health and sustainability initiatives, Smiles for Life connects oral health with:
- Clean water access
- Handwashing education
- Hygiene promotion
- Disease prevention
- Healthy school environments
By addressing these interconnected factors, Green Kites takes a comprehensive approach to improving children’s health.
IV. Sustain — Transferring Ownership
Why It Matters
A sustainable health system must continue beyond the presence of an outside organization. Lasting change occurs when local communities have the capacity, leadership, and ownership to maintain healthy behaviors independently.
Smiles for Life moves beyond short-term intervention by empowering schools and communities to become the long-term stewards of preventive oral health.
What We Do
“Educators as Force Multipliers”
Teachers are not only participants—they are the key drivers of long-term impact. By equipping educators with training, resources, and practical tools, Smiles for Life enables each teacher to reinforce healthy behaviors across classrooms and future generations of students.
Educators support:
- Daily use and maintenance of Smiles for Life Corner™ stations
- Classroom-based oral health education
- Student engagement and health promotion activities
- Continued use of learning resources and preventive materials
Beyond schools, Smiles for Life builds a network of local partners—including dentists, healthcare professionals, community leaders, youth organizations, and volunteers—to strengthen implementation and adapt solutions to local needs.
What Changes
The role of the community shifts from receiving support to leading prevention.
Schools gain the ability to operate and sustain preventive oral health systems. Teachers become force multipliers who multiply knowledge, reinforce daily habits, and extend impact beyond GKIA-led activities.
Through local ownership, Smiles for Life creates a model where communities are not just beneficiaries of health programs—they become leaders of healthier futures.
4. Our Impact
“Building Sustainable Preventive Oral Health Systems for Schools through THE LEPS Framework™
From the beginning, Smiles for Life has partnered with schools and local communities to provide children with the knowledge, practical skills, and resources needed to develop lifelong healthy habits. As the initiative expanded, the same LEPS Framework™ was scaled across additional communities throughout Vietnam, adapting to local needs while maintaining its core mission of empowering children and strengthening community health.
Program Reach and Expansion
2023 — Buôn Đôn District, Đắk Lắk Province. Immediate hygiene supplies were provided to 460 children and families and on-the-ground site visits and collaboration with local community partnerships began.
2024 — Ama Trang Lơng Primary School, Đắk Lắk Province. Implemented the first LEPS Framework™ through school-based oral health education, preventive resources, and community engagement, reaching 313 students.
2025 — Sín Chéng Kindergarten & Primary School and Sín Chéng Commune Secondary School, Lào Cai Province. Applied the Smiles for Life model through school partnerships, reaching 455 children and families.
2026 — Expanding Oral Health Access in Ban Mế Primary and Secondary School, Sim San Preschool in Lào Cai Province, Tân Lập Commune Elementary & Boarding School in Tuyên Quang Province, Nguyễn Thị Hoa Elementary School, and Láng Dài Elementary Schools in Vũng Tàu Province. Successfully scaled the program to reach 1,332 additional students and teachers, continuing the implementation of the LEPS Framework™ within communities.
Measured Outcomes:
- 8 schools implementing the LEPS Framework™
- 8 school-based preventive oral health systems established
- 100+ teachers trained as local health leaders
- 2,560+ students, families, and educators reached
- Improved oral health awareness and preventive knowledge among students and families through interactive lessons, toothbrushing demonstrations, and hands-on education.
- Students developed consistent toothbrushing habits and adopted preventive oral health practices as part of their daily routines.
- Partner schools strengthened sustainable health education systems by incorporating oral hygiene practices into ongoing student wellness initiatives.
- Children became advocates for healthier habits, sharing oral health knowledge with their families and communities.
These outcomes demonstrate the transition from one-time oral health outreach to sustainable school-based preventive health systems.
Our partners
1. SCHOOL/COMMUNITY PARTNERS:
- Đắk Lắk – Ama Trang Lơng Primary School: 313 students.
- Đắk Lắk – Buôn Đôn District – Local Communities: 460 children and families.
- Lào Cai – Sín Chéng Kindergarden and Primary School: 85 students and teachers.
- Lào Cai – Sín Chéng Commune Secondary School: 370 students and teachers.
- Lào Cai – Bản Mế Primary and Secondary School: 429 students and 22 teachers
- Lào Cai (Y Tý) – Sim San 1 Preschool: 50 students & teachers
- Tuyên Quang – Tân Lập Commune Elementary & Boarding School: 255 students and 24 teachers
- Vũng Tàu (Đất Đỏ) – Nguyễn Thị Hoa Elementary School: 250 students and 27 teachers.
- Vũng Tàu (Đất Đỏ) – Láng Dài Elementary School: 250 students and 25 teachers.
2. OUR SPONSORS/LOCAL PARTNERS:
- Henry Schein – donated over $2,000 worth of toothbrushes to our program.
- Colgate Palmolive – donated over $1,500 worth of toothpastes and mouthwashes to our program.
- Dental City – donated over $1,500 worth of toothbrushes and toothpastes to our program.
- Kidz Dentistry – donated over $1,000 worth of toothbrushes and toothpastes to our program.
- Springdale Kidz Dentistry, PLLC – donated over $1,000 worth of toothbrushes and toothpastes to our program
- Quynhmai Truong, DDS, PC – donated over $1,000 worth of dental suppies.
- Dak Lak Metta Foundation
- Cư M’gar, Sín Chéng, Sín Chéng, Bản Mế, Y Tý, and Tân Lập Youth Unions
3. HEALTHCARE PARTNERS:
The Smiles for Life Initiative is supported by dentists, physicians, healthcare professionals, educators, volunteers, and community organizations who contribute their expertise to improving children’s oral health through prevention and community partnership.
- Kidz Dentistry
- Springdale Kidz Dentistry, PLLC
- Quynhmai Truong, DDS, PC
- Olympic Anesthesia, PC
- Sunrise Valley Dentistry
- Hồng Bàng University School of Dentistry, HCMC
- Nha Khoa Hợp Nhất (General Practice), District 10, HCMC
- Sín Chéng Commune Health Center, Lào Cai
5. SCALING OUR IMPACT
1. Scaling Through Replication and Adaptation:
Smiles for Life is designed as an adaptable preventive oral health system that can be implemented and modified based on the needs, resources, and challenges of different schools and communities.
a. Introducing the LEPS Framework™ guide
The LEPS Framework™ Guide introduces a four-stage operational blueprint that communities can use to replicate and create systems for long-term sustainability.
Read The LEPS Framework™ Guide → https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VX-1o43-T-Bw_lcq6_gecPI4aLeYuJPW/view?usp=drive_link
b. The LEPS Framework™ Training Resource
A practical training program that helps organizations apply the Learn → Equip → Practice → Sustain framework to create sustainable community health initiatives. Participants learn how to design preventive health initiatives that move beyond short-term interventions by building knowledge, skills, sustainable behaviors, and community ownership.
Learn how to apply LEPS → https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JAKr93xTOC-8m9EZhGAk7wl93KZxJk94/view?usp=drive_link
2. Scaling Through Knowledge Exchange:
Smiles for Life expands its impact by sharing lessons from community implementation with educators, healthcare professionals, and future health leaders. Through invited educational presentations at institutions such as Hoa Sen University and Hong Bang International University in Vietnam, GKIA shares lessons from its community initiatives and highlights the importance of early prevention and oral health equity
a. Hong Bang University School of Dentistry, Ho Chi Minh City (July 2, 2026)
Presented “From Northern Virginia to Vietnam: Examining Pediatric Oral Health Disparities Through the Lens of Population Health,” connecting Smiles for Life’s community-based prevention approach with broader discussions on oral health equity and access to care.
b. Hoa Sen University, Ho Chi Minh City (July 1, 2026)
Presented “A Holistic Approach to Healthcare Problems Under Constraints: Improving Healthcare Systems in Remote Communities,” sharing GKIA’s approach to designing affordable, locally responsive solutions through education, infrastructure, and community empowerment.
our commitment: “Expanding sustainable Preventive Oral Health systems”
At Green Kites International Association, we believe oral health is more than a healthy smile—it is a foundation for confidence, learning, and lifelong well-being.
Through education, prevention, and partnership, the Smiles for Life Initiative is building communities toward a healthier future, one smile at a time.
References
Chuyen, N.V., Du, V.V., Ba, N.V., Long, D.D. & Son, H.A. (2021) The prevalence of dental caries and associated factors among secondary school children in rural highland Vietnam, BMC Oral Health, 21:349. doi:10.1186/s12903-021-01704-y.
Edberg, J. & Sjöberg, L. (2015) Dental caries prevalence among 3- and 5-year old children in Da Nang, Vietnam, Bachelor’s thesis, Jönköping University.
Hoa, LTT, Tue, PX, Vinh, HT, Duong, TTT, Dung, LTK. Determinants of dental caries among primary school children in a mountainous region of Northern Vietnam. Front Oral Health. 2025 Oct 3;6:1675274. doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1675274. PMID: 41113803; PMCID: PMC1251259.
Sidhu, H.K., Randhawa, G.S. & Kaur, G. (2024) Evaluating rural dental health disparities and their effects on community well-being: A statistical review of access and utilization, International Journal of Dental Sciences and Research, 12(3), pp. 41–52. doi:10.12691/ijdsr-12-3-2.
World Health Organization (2022) Global oral health status report: country oral health profile – Viet Nam, WHO, published 18 November 2022. Available at: WHO oral health country profiles (Accessed: 18 August 2025).
