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The £986 million oral care category is growing at 3.4 per cent year on year and the market is flooded with specialist products. Dawn Gay looks at ten new and 'must-stock' items for healthy teeth, mouth, gums and tongue

Orajel

It's not uncommon for pharmacists to be approached for toothache relief as a stopgap before a dental visit, with 29 per cent of adults regularly suffering from dental pain. The Orajel mouth and dental range from Church and Dwight, remains the top-selling toothache gel. Orajel Dental Gel for pain relief and Orajel Extra Strength for acute toothache contain two levels of the dental topical pain reliever benzocaine.

Ultradex

Periproducts added two new products to its Ultradex oral care range for sensitive teeth in July 2013. The recalcifying and whitening toothpaste and oral rinse contain hydroxyapatite, which strengthens enamel and recalcifies tooth surfaces.

Managing director of Periproducts Richard Bernholt explains: €The advanced, patented technology protects teeth and gums, restores natural whiteness and eliminates bad breath instantly for 12 hours. Ultradex has 21 years of experience in oral care and has been developed, used and recommended by dental health professionals.€

Beverly Hills Formula

The oral care category is not just about toothache and oral ailments. There is also a cosmetic element, with a consumer trend towards whitening and achieving a gleaming 'Hollywood smile'.

As a pharmacist you want to be able to provide your customers with high-quality products that offer a solution and have plenty of unique selling points

An unusual product €“ Beverly Hills Formula Perfect White Black €“ joined the flourishing whitening market in September 2013. The toothpaste is a contradiction in terms, using black charcoal with other ingredients to whiten teeth and freshen the mouth.

Chris Dodd, managing director, says: €Harnessing the power of charcoal, this toothpaste delivers professional tooth whitening results to help achieve a 'Hollywood smile' without the need for harsh abrasives and bleach. This product will appeal to men as well as women due to the packaging and masculine feel to the product.€

Zymbion Q10 Toothpaste

The NHS website reports that up to 15 per cent of adults suffer from severe periodontitis or gum disease. The natural product Zymbion Q10 Toothpaste, containing the supplement coenzyme Q10 and fluoride, is not new but is increasing in popularity, says Pharma Nord UK's spokesperson Dean Forbes. €Zymbion Q10 Toothpaste is ideal as an everyday toothpaste, but can also be rubbed directly into the gums at night after you use your regular toothpaste.€

The key is not to rinse immediately, allowing the Q10 to be absorbed, he explains.

Total Sweet

Pharmacists looking to increase their health food offering could be interested in stocking Total Sweet, which contains the plant-based extract xylitol. The British Dental Health Foundation has recently endorsed xylitol as €the biggest advance against cavities since fluoride.€ It can be used as an alternative to sugar, which activates the bacteria forming plaque and causes decay.

€Total Sweet Xylitol is already commonly recommended by dentists and nutritionists as a way to help improve oral care,€ says Edward Baylis, director at Healthy By Nature, the owner of Total Sweet. €Furthermore, claims relating to xylitol's dental benefits have been passed by the European Food Safety Authority and it offers an easy and simple way for people to improve their dental health on a daily basis. Total Sweet can be used just like sugar in hot drinks, cooking or sprinkled over fruit or cereals and looks and tastes just like sugar, but when it breaks down in the oral cavity it makes an alkaline environment, which is seen to actively reduce bacteria and plaque.€

Amano Tongue Cleanser

Launched in June, the Amano Tongue Cleanser is based on ancient Roman technology. The U-shaped gadget with a chrome and nickel head is designed to be scraped over the tongue to help prevent bad breath, free-up taste buds, remove bacteria and freshen the mouth

Gill Brown, marketing director for the Italian brand explains: €The surface of our tongue is rather like a deep-pile carpet, trapping food debris and bacteria. This noxious cocktail has been medically shown to increase bad breath, dental decay and plaque. Additionally, a poor oral care regime that includes neglecting the tongue has been linked to both heart disease and mouth cancer.

€By unclogging our taste buds we can actually enhance our taste sensitivity. This is particularly important as we age, as our taste bud receptors decline both in number and effectiveness making food appear blander,€ she says.

Bamboo Baby Tooth 'n' Gum Wipes

Aleva Naturals' wipes for cleansing babies' gums and first teeth are another product containing the natural and sweet-tasting ingredient xylitol. The wipes were developed by a Canadian father and pharmacist with input from natural therapists.

Dean Tollman at Vital Innovations says the wipes help promote a healthy oral care routine in the early years: €As a pharmacist you want to be able to provide your customers with high-quality products that offer a solution and have plenty of unique selling points. The wipes offer a unique solution for parents who want to keep their baby's mouth and gums clean and healthy before they are ready to use a toothbrush. As a pharmacist you can feel confident that these wipes are made solely from plant ingredients and are extremely gentle.€

GSK's oral care portfolio has a turnover of £1,884 million and leads the category with a 20.5 per cent share. It includes the household names Aquafresh, Sensodyne, Poligrip and Corsodyl.

Aquafresh Kids Nielsen sales data from May 2013 shows that 36 per cent of parents with children from newborn to nine years are not buying children's oral health products. GSK is hoping to address this issue with the addition of three new toothpastes and brushes and a teether to its £1.6 million Aquafresh Kids range.

€We encourage retailers and pharmacists to communicate the benefits to mums and the importance of children's oral care regime, resulting in incremental sales,€ says brand manager for Aquafresh Kids Alisha Currie. €The Aquafresh Kids range caters for each phase of a child's dental development and focuses on three life stages: milk teeth (0-2 years), little teeth (3-5 years) and big teeth (6+ years).

€After extensive research, we identified a gap in the market for a product to meet the oral care demands of babies. The Aquafresh Milk Teether provides a product to aid the teething process, educating mums on the importance of children's oral care and turning them into 'little mouth experts', which drives penetration for the kids oral care category.€

Corsodyl

GSK's top-selling medicated mouthwash Corsodyl was relaunched in July with a new hard-hitting strapline, €helps stop bleeding gums€, and medical device classification. The stronger medical claim also appears on Product update packaging and is supported by a £4.7 million TV and digital advertising campaign and point of sale materials.

Senior brand manager for Corsodyl Joanna Bailey says: €Research has shown that 58 per cent of the UK adult population experience blood when brushing, but only 10 per cent actively treat or visit the dentist. It is a key mission for Corsodyl to influence consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards gum disease.€

Poligrip

GSK has also been supporting its latest denture brand, Poligrip for Partials, with a £2.7 media campaign. This included a TV advertising campaign, which aired for eight weeks this summer.

Poligrip is worth £13.5 million and is the fastest growing denture brand. €Poligrip understands the physical and emotional impact of tooth loss and is perfectly placed to drive incremental sales and category growth with its clinically proven portfolio. Retailers are encouraged to maximise on this sales opportunity by stocking up on the Poligrip for Partials range and clearly merchandise on the oral care fixture,€ explains Aimi de Lacy, Poligrip's brand manager.