The oral care industry has had a chic makeover.

Are you ready to step up your oral care routine? Image: ShutterstockSource:BodyAndSoul

A category once synonymous with sterility, oral care has undergone a rebrand and is now – surprisingly – downright cool. From what your toothpaste looks like to its environmental impact, the way we care for our teeth is fast becoming as considered as our skin-care routines.

Here’s something to smile about: the oral-care aisles of your supermarket, or favourite

online retailer, are awash with brands who want to change the way that we care for our teeth.

Online retailer CurrentBody has seen an increase in sales of 145 per cent across their dental category in the last year. Emily Buckwell, head of partnerships at CurrentBody, tells Body+Soul that “in recent years... niche brands have come to the fore, offering more choice to the customer. This has meant we can put dental care alongside beauty devices.”

And the reason? Covid, of course. ROCC Naturals founder Prue Rocchi suspects Covid and working from home have contributed to this trend, saying, “We’ve never spent as much time looking at our smiles and teeth as we have in the last two years [with] hundreds of Zoom calls. This forced consumers to re-look at the dental-care products that they habitually purchase.”

But while at-home treatment sales are up, the Australian Dental Association (ADA) reports 65 per cent of Australians haven’t seen a dentist in the last two years.

Buckwell predicts the market will continue to see a real boom. “As dental-care products evolve, we predict they will be just as important to people’s beauty routines as their skincare and devices.”

It’s no secret that in the age of social media, aesthetics matter. With the beloved #bathroomshelfie trending across Instagram, consumers are seeking out product designs that not only feel luxurious to use, but also look it. This has carried across to the oral-care industry

with the hashtag #dentalcare boasting an impressive 2.2 million uses, while the more product-specific hashtag #oralcare has been used more than 605,000 times.

Hismile is an Australian teeth whitening brand that realised the power of social media, and built a large presence with the help of savvy influencer marketing.

As co-founder and director Nik Mirkovic explains: “Our branding and product design has drawn attention and relevance to the oral-care category. The added attention has led to overall category growth, while also exciting customers in a category that was once considered to be boring and stale.”

Mirkovic predicts, “You will notice the oral-care category shift towards something that looks and feels more like skincare, which we like to call ‘smile care’.”

One of the founding goals of equally ’Gram-worthy brand ROCC Naturals was to create design-inspired toothpastes that would sit proudly on your sink – not in a drawer. Rocchi says, “Social media has impacted every industry. The rise and demand of teeth-whitening products have never been higher thanks to the ever-popular selfie.”

Technology is rapidly changing how we care for our teeth – in the chair and at home. Dentists are already using artificial intelligence to aid clinical decision-making. Smart toothbrushes can now turn the dreaded nightly brushing into a fun, app-guided game for kids. And teeth whitening products – such as Hismile’s PAP+ – offer teeth whitening without sensitivity from the comfort of home.

Byte Australia – a clear aligner company that provides at-home teeth straightening – saw its popularity blossom during the pandemic, thanks to their high-tech, remote business model. “Straighter smiles were once reserved for certain groups of people. We set out to change that by democratising oral healthcare,” says Diandra Phipps, general manager of Byte.

Today’s consumers also care about environmental impacts and ethical standards; they want products that reflect their values. With 1.5 billion toothpaste tubes ending up in landfill each year globally, companies like ROCC and Grin Naturals are responding.

Rocchi explains that “one of the biggest challenges when developing ROCC was to create a tube with minimal Earth impact”. The result was a toothpaste tube that takes only six years to biodegrade, as opposed to the average, which takes 500.

Grin Natural have adopted similar initiatives, ensuring that raw materials are sustainably sourced. Tara Tan, founder and CEO, explains that “many people don’t seem to realise these commonly found ingredients... such as glycerin, lauryl glucoside and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) – are typically derived from palm oil [which is known for its negative environment impact]... We sought sustainable alternatives, such as rapeseed oil and coconut oil.”

Interestingly, both industry leaders found inspiration when searching for a solution to their own needs while pregnant – leading them to try to fill this “natural” gap in the market.

Says Rocchi, “Traditional oral-care companies haven’t innovated to reflect changing consumers. Average consumers are looking for products that reflect their values, they want to shop sustainably and put less toxins into their body.” Tan agrees, adding, “I truly believe that as an emerging oral-care brand, we actually have to outperform traditional dental-care offerings so that we have reason to exist in this market.”

And that, it seems, is the tooth.

Gem Triple Whitening Crisp Mint toothpaste, $15, mecca.com.auSource:BodyAndSoul

Hismile PAP+ Teeth Whitening Kit, $149, myer.com.auSource:BodyAndSoul

Keeko One Good Brush biodegradable toothbrush, $7, adorebeauty.com.auSource:BodyAndSoul

Grin Natural Whitening natural toothpaste, $9.99, grinnatural.com.auSource:BodyAndSoul

Bamkiki Super Funk bamboo toothbrush pack, $44.70 (set of six), bamkiki.com.auSource:BodyAndSoul

Gem Coconut Mint Mouthwash, $18, mecca.com.auSource:BodyAndSoul

Vitamin B12 Mint + Coconut Oil toothpaste, $10, roccnaturals.com.auSource:BodyAndSoul

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