Announcing BrandProject’s Investment in The Gleamery

Teeth are important. How’s that for an introductory sentence in a blog post announcing a new investment?!

Poor oral hygiene can lead to?dental cavities and gum disease, and has also been linked to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Maintaining healthy teeth and gums is a lifelong commitment. I’ll never forget the sign hanging in my childhood dentist’s office. It read “you don’t have to floss all your teeth.” So far, so good. To my dismay, it ended with “just the ones you want to keep.”

Aside from the health implications of not taking care of your teeth, there’s a purely cosmetic side of dental care that is not trivial. Everyone deserves to have a bright smile they’re proud to crack at a moment’s notice.

I’m not a doctor, but the Founder of The Gleamery, Dr. Tina Nguyen, is. In fact, Dr. Tina is an endodontist with over a decade of experience. She is an expert in root canals, considered the “tooth saver” in her field. While Dr. Tina loves what she does, she has noticed that many of the patients she sees could have bypassed her office and drill had they practiced routine, preventative care.

There are a few reasons you could point to for the lack of adherence to preventative care in the U.S. For many of us, just the thought of the dentist’s office makes our skin crawl – the smell of the drill, the sight of all the equipment, the fear of pain, the sterile and depressing waiting room. If you’re one of the fortunate Americans to have dental insurance then you have two annual teeth cleanings covered. If you don’t have insurance then you’ll find it difficult, and expensive, to book an a la carte teeth cleaning from most dentists.

Dr. Tina is on a mission to create a dental experience that is antithetical to the hair-raising torture chamber we all might be familiar with – one that is easy, luxurious and fun. The Gleamery offers 30-minute teeth cleanings and 30-minute teeth brightenings in their beautiful studios.

Americans are increasingly taking pre-emptive steps to avoid bad health outcomes. That could mean routine visits to a personal trainer, nutritionist, masseuse or other practitioner. While these are no doubt luxuries, we believe there’s a portion of the population who would like to get their teeth cleaned more than twice a year (if they’re fortunate enough to have dental insurance). Or, maybe you’re one of the >75M American adults who do not have dental insurance. We think that number will likely rise as more Americans become freelancers. You want to get your teeth cleaned, but traditional dentists cater to insurance-covered patients who they can run through a battery of treatments and x-rays.

While The Gleamery will accept insurance, for those without insurance or those seeking more than their covered two cleanings a year, The Gleamery offers affordable 30-minute teeth cleanings. They also offer 30-minute teeth brightening where you simply pick a desired shade and have one or a series of 8-minute light treatments, depending on your treatment plan.

Dr. Tina is the exact type of Founder who we at BrandProject love partnering with. She has incredible domain expertise, paired with an ability to see the flaws in the current model of dental care that is so focused on prescriptive, rather than preventative, care. She had a vision, and the entrepreneurial spirit and hustle to self-fund the business to get it to this point.

I’m excited to announce that BrandProject led The Gleamery’s Pre-Seed round. The Gleamery’s first location opened in Portland, Oregon in September, with a second location soon following. With plans to expand across the US, The Gleamery is bringing seamless preventative and cosmetic care to your city soon! They’re also hiring for some crucial roles to join the founding team. If you’re interested in joining Dr. Tina and her mission-driven team, check out the open roles on their Careers Page.