Holland & Barrett invests in subscription-based online oral health service Floe Oral Care
The London-based start-up seeks to tackle gum disease via saliva testing
19 Oct 2021 --- Holland & Barrett has joined a group of investors backing the development of Floe Oral Care, an online dental health subscription service that seeks to ameliorate gum disease via its at-home saliva testing kit.
“Recognizing that effective oral health management can disproportionately impact an individual’s overall health and wellness, coupled with our interest in the potential of diagnostics, makes Floe very exciting for us,” says Tamara Rajah MBE, chief business and science officer at Holland and Barrett.
“We’re committed to making health and wellness a way of life for everyone and to supporting early-stage innovation in wellness as part of our Beyond Retail strategy. We look forward to working with the team at Floe to optimize the way we manage our oral health and improve lives.”
“We want to encourage a pro-active relationship with dental care by capturing and contextualizing oral health data and are happy to be bringing on board a group of investors from business and healthcare, as well as a highly relevant corporate partner. This is a great platform for the next stage of our development,” says Will Welton, co-founder at Floe Oral Care.
Effective oral health management can impact an individual’s overall health and wellness.Improving dental habits
Founded by Will Welton and Javier Navarro, Floe says it seeks to address the UK’s dental care conundrum by building a preventative routine for consumers and providing vital insights into undetected gum disease.
Floe launched its core dental kit in August 2020, delivering its own toothpaste formulations called Dusk and Dawn, an ultra-soft toothbrush and charcoal dental floss.
These are delivered to subscribers every three months to improve preventative habits in a more sustainable way.
The products are all built with the environment in mind, including a free-returns service collecting used products for specialist recycling when subscribers’ new boxes arrive, the company explains.
Preventative dental care
Periodontitis, also known as gum disease, is now the sixth most prevalent disease in the world and costs the UK £4.7billion (US$6.47 billion) a year in treatment, Floe supports.
Moreover, nearly half the adults in the UK have some form of periodontal disease, which has increasingly been shown to raise the risk of serious health conditions, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Its awareness has remained low among the general public and other health professionals, the brand details.
Floe’ core dental kit includes its own toothpaste formulations, an ultra-soft toothbrush and charcoal dental floss.“It’s often referred to as a silent killer, with studies showing that three out of four adults with periodontitis do not know they have the condition at all,” Floe says.
“If the mouth is the gateway to your body, then protecting it requires not only using the right products but also visibility of what condition your gums are in,” says Welton.
“The impact of gum disease is significant and the prevalence of periodontitis has barely changed over the last 20 years. Our mission is to build a service that both tracks and improves oral and systemic health.”
Oral health strides
In the same space, Symrise launched its first processed probiotic dedicated to oral health. SymReboot OC has proven efficacy in strengthening gums and promoting a healthy oral microbiome. It can be used in various products, including toothpaste, mouthwash, lozenges and gum care.
In dental care packaging innovations, sustainable materials producer Dow advanced toward 100% recyclable packaging by 2035 with the commercialization of an aluminum-free, recyclable toothpaste tube.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sheffield’s is packaging its fluoride-free charcoal toothpaste in aluminum metal tubes in a bid to support toothpaste packaging recyclability rates and reduce plastic pollution.
By Kristiana Lalou
