Oriflame branch out into oral hygiene market

The company has created the toothpaste range, Optifresh, in conjunction with the Swedish Dental Association who has endorsed the product in Scandanavia, CIS and the Baltics. Its first foray into the oral hygiene industry, the company is harnessing one of this years hottest trends in the natural and organics cosmetics industry by incorporating marine extracts in its Optifresh Advanced Remineralising System. The extracts are said to remineralise tooth enamel and fluoride, in turn protecting teeth from acids that are known to cause cavities and tooth decay. "The research, development and commitment to the oral care market exhibited by Oriflame is deserving of official acknowledgement,"​ said the Swedish Dental Association. The sea algae used in formulations is rich in zinc, iron, calcium and phosphor - said to strengthen teeth, giving the company a unique platform from which to launch its first offering into the market. The range consists of a multi action toothpaste priced at €2.25, and, more significantly, a tooth whitening paste. This product could be the driver for the company, in an oral care market that has become relatively stagnant - with it capitalising on the increasingly expanding tooth whitening industry, that is at present valued at $500mn globally. With the global oral care market reaching $27bn in 2006, and Western Europe achieving sales of $7.6mn in the same period, the company is making a strategic move into a growing industry that is at present in the midst of a product safety crisis. However, the oral care market has been shaky of late, with the UK recently joining the list of countries announcing that hazardous toothpaste products, believed to originate from China, are being found on the counterfeit market Previous widespread panic has occurred across the entire oral care market, with the US, Spain and Portugal all previously retracting products that were deemed a threat to public health. Widespread concern across the US over the poisonous chemical in toothpastes, called for the US Food and Drug Administration recently advising consumers to avoid buying any toothpaste labelled as made in China.