About Us

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 In 2020, my aunt entered in-home hospice care. She also had 24-hour nurse care, and I would occasionally stay so my cousin could go home and rest. During one such occasion, I was slowly getting ready to leave after an overnight, letting the day nurse get settled in with my aunt and help my aunt with her morning hygiene. The nurse was brushing my aunt’s teeth, my aunt was in her wheelchair, and I was standing directly behind my aunt. The nurse suddenly had a shocked look on her face. When I asked what the matter was the nurse answered that my aunt had a mouth full of toothpaste foam and was not able to rinse with water or spit the foam out of her mouth. I asked the nurse to please switch places, and I sat down facing my aunt, trying to come up with a quick solution so she did not aspirate, or worse, asphyxiate on the foam. I found a small nasal bulb, usually used for babies, laying on the table. I asked the nurse to bring me a glass of water. I then proceeded to fill the bulb with water, spray the water into my aunt’s mouth and then release the bulb, which sucked up the water and toothpaste foam. I repeated this process until my aunt’s mouth was rinsed and the foam removed. After I knew my aunt was okay, I went home.

I thought about this the entire drive home and decided I would look for a dental device that could rinse her mouth; I would bring this to my aunt’s house and train her nurses to safely rinse her mouth. After searching and searching I realized I was not going to find such a device. It was then that I reached out to an entrepreneur friend who put me in touch with a patent attorney. I hired the patent attorney to conduct a patent search and when nothing came up, I filed a provisional patent application, set-up a corporation and went to work trying to find someone to make a prototype of my idea. 

I found someone to design and develop the initial prototype. The designer 3-D printed parts, built other parts, used off the shelf parts and put together a functioning prototype. 

What drew me to continue to look for solutions to this oral hygiene problem is that I grew up with both parents in the dental field. My dad practiced dentistry for 38 years and my mom was a dental hygienist for 40 years. My first job was in my dad’s dental office; I was a dental assistant and an office manager. I worked for my dad on and off for over 15 years. I am deeply aware of and concerned about oral hygiene and oral hygiene health. While my initial idea was a solution for anyone with a loved one in hospice or palliative in-home care, I have since realized there are others who may be medically vulnerable, not in hospice or palliative care, who could use this product. It is not just the elderly at end of life, but children in hospice and palliative care, who may not be receiving a quality standard of oral care because it is difficult for caregivers to provide proper oral hygiene care due to not having safe and efficient devices. While we are still in the development stage as a company, it is my sincere hope to final develop this device and bring it to market so that everyone has access to a safe and efficient rinsing device for themselves, their loved one or a caregiver.

Laureen Ryan

Founder