Silicon Valley Startup Could Redefine Dental Care With New Toothpaste
LOS GATOS (CBS SF) -- A Silicon Valley startup wants you to think differently about the way you care for your mouth.
In the shadows of Google and Facebook, Livionex founder and CEO Amit Goswamy has spent five years developing a toothpaste -- a seemingly low-tech product consumers spend $1.8 billion on each year. Even still, 90 percent of adults have gingivitis, and 57 percent have gum disease.
Claiming to be more than twice as effective than traditional toothpaste, Goswamy isn't calling his new product toothpaste, but rather a dental gel.
Conventional toothpaste uses detergents and abrasives to remove plaque, but Livionex claims to be the first to attack bacteria at the molecular level, making it harder for the it to stick to our teeth in the first place.
After a three-week study comparing Livionex to top-rated Colgate Total, subjects who used Livionex had 2.5 times less plaque, and their gums were more than twice as healthy.
The American Dental Association calls the product promising, but a spokesperson told "CBS This Morning," "Livionex research appears to be in the early stages, and claims of effectiveness against plaque and gingivitis are premature."