Hamish Khayat introduces Burst Oral Care and explains what the company stands for.
What is Burst Oral Care?
Burst Oral Care was launched two-and-a-half years ago. At the moment we’re an American company, but we’re preparing to launch Burst Oral Care into the UK market for April 2020.
Previously I was making kids toothbrushes and I would look at electric toothbrushes and think how do they charge those prices.
I went to factories and said it shouldn’t cost this much. The biggest problem is the toothbrush handle is really expensive, but toothbrush heads are expensive too, there could be a 9,000% mark up.
We have developed a competitively priced toothbrush handle with Burst Oral Care and a subscription service for new toothbrush heads.
I’ve been developing Burst Oral Care for a long time with a community of dental professionals. The idea being we’re not just a new fancy fun company that’s selling a toothbrush. We’re offering a medical product, it’s going to be the best in its category and that is the aim with everything we do.
We’ve worked hard on Burst Oral Care development. We actually work with our community of dental professionals. In the US we have more than 25,000 hygienists, dentists and assistants who come on as what we call ‘Burst ambassadors’. You come on, try our product and then we work together on how to improve the product.
So, in the last two years we’ve got 25,000 dentists and dental professionals to try Burst Oral Care and 99.9% loved it and then recommend it to their patients. We profit share as a company with the dentists to say thanks.
But importantly, dentists and dental professionals have helped develop all of our products.
What does the clinical study you’re launching show?
We did a study at an institution in Canada and one down in Indiana. We’re actually the first modern toothbrush company to launch any clinical data in the last couple of years.
We did the study to check on how well an electric toothbrush can remove plaque and help gingivitis reduction. And we were absolutely thrilled with the results – I felt like a teenager getting my exam results back!
Compared to a manual, the electric toothbrush had up to 10x greater plaque removal. After just 15 days it reduced bleeding gums up to three times more than a manual toothbrush.
On top of that, after 30 days, the electric brush provided up to 9.6 greater healthy sites in participants.
What is different about the Burst Oral Care toothbrush?
Burst Oral Care is just more modern.
For example the battery life is longer, Burst Oral Care brushes last two-and-a-half weeks longer than our closest competitors. The motor is also more powerful, I was able to put a more powerful motor on because I was using very soft charcoal-coated, interdental style bristles.
Consumers generally feel like the harder they brush the cleaner their teeth – it’s just not true. Hygienists were telling us there wasn’t really an electric toothbrush with soft bristles on the market. They encouraged Burst Oral Care to go down this route.
Between that and a more powerful motor, Burst Oral Care just cleans better.
The retention on it is also incredible, because it’s such a comfortable brush for the user. It doesn’t rattle in your mouth, it’s not loud. The battery lasts four weeks, you don’t have to worry about charging it, it just feels cleaner.
We didn’t have any clinical data before, and dental professionals were signing up a little cynically. We just asked them to try Burst Oral Care, and they all saw the difference, which is why we grew so fast. Every little detail are just ideas from dental professionals. Every time we update Burst Oral Care, it’s down to the dentists’ advice.
Burst Oral Care is sonic powered, with 33,000 sonic vibrations a minute. Four-week battery life and these very soft interdental, charcoal-coated bristles, which nobody else on the market has.
Our data showed it was 10 times more effective at removing plaque than a manual toothbrush. Three times reduction in gingivitis and gum bleeding.
The brush itself is trying to reinvigorate what is a pretty stale industry. We’re fun while we do it, we want to enjoy it and we treat our hygienists and dentists like royalty.
Do you have a background or any training in dentistry?
I’m not a trained dentist or hygienist. However, I have been making toothbrushes my whole life.
Part of the reason we utilise and put together this Burst Oral Care community of dental professionals was because we wanted this knowledge, but we didn’t initially have it. There is no better knowledge than people who are treating teeth every day.
I respect the bigger brands, but when I see that their products are made by a dentist, I know it’s not the same process that we go through.
If you’re going to go to a dental professional, they’re going to clean your teeth then you go home. In the meantime, between appointments, you could be using our products, made by dentists and dental professionals.
As we develop a bigger range of products, the dentist will see a patient with a certain issue and say this is a product we developed as part of a community to fix that issue.
Will Burst Oral Care appear in retail stores or just dental practices?
Burst Oral Care isn’t going into retail. It will be online and through dental practices.
There is a double side here, you can purchase Burst Oral Care through the dental practice because it’s there. Or, if the dentist or dental professional is signed up to our community, they can send the patient a recommendation and get a discount that way. It won’t cost the dentist a penny.
To get the code, all the dentist has to do is sign up, try it and give us their review. Once we approve the review, the dentist/practice will have their own account.
Practices can send patients to the Burst Oral Care website and the patient gets a discount with free shipping – all because the dentist is recommending it.
What price are Burst Oral Care brushes?
We haven’t actually decided the Burst Oral Care UK price point right now.
To put it into perspective – we’re $39 through a dental professional in the USA, so we are very competitive. If you don’t go through a dental professional, we’re $69 online.
We’re just trying to determine what the price point is going to be here.
A lot of dentists have traditionally found it difficult to buy inventory because they don’t really make huge amounts of money from it. What their patients find is, if they go to big retailers and their brush is cheaper, because of the scale big retailers can offer. Burst Oral Care will never do that, which is why we’re not going to high street retail. The dental practice will always have the lowest price. I want dental practices to be leading the charge and educating patients.
In the USA we charge $6 for Burst Oral Care toothbrush heads but we have to determine our prices here – it will be affordable. The cost is a barrier to entry for some people and I’d like everybody to use an electric toothbrush.
What are your plans for the future once you release the brush?
Our ultimate goal is to cover everything in the mouth. We have plans to launch every product a dental hygienist or dentist would want to recommend to their patients. The dental community will help design, test and iterate, maintaining an unrivalled quality.
Who is the target market?
Generally speaking those without electric toothbrushes. The majority of people in the UK don’t use a good quality electric toothbrush. When somebody wants to swap because Burst Oral Care is cheaper than some electric heads, then come to us. Burst Oral Care has a warranty for life and a customer service team that we are incredibly proud of.
More information
Go to burstoralcare.com/uk. For the sign up area for dentists and dental professionals visit .
For those interested in signing up to Burst Oral Care in advance, follow the URL and we will try to get you a product before we launch.
