2023 Innovation
for Impact

Our Focus

We validate and scale transformative solutions to improve overall health through oral health — for all.

Catalyzed emerging health innovation through impact investments and the second year of SMILE Health, a first-of-its-kind oral health accelerator

Made health care more accessible, equitable, and integrated through SMILE Health and investments, ranging from early detection technologies and wearable salivary diagnostics to mobile and home dental care

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"Oral health is essential to our overall health — yet far too often is overlooked. At CareQuest Innovation Partners, we are working every day to change this. Investment and innovation in oral health make business sense, yes, and, more importantly, improve lives and communities.

Together, with our ecosystem of leading industry partners, startups, and investors, we are validating and scaling transformative solutions to make care more accessible, equitable, and integrated. Join us on that mission — to improve overall health, through oral health, for all!"

Katie D'Amico Vice President of Growth & Innovation

Accelerated the minimally invasive care (MIC) movement in clinics nationwide

Launched several MIC pilots generating key proof points, which catalyzed change, including new or expanded dental benefits in 2024

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Showcased the importance of oral health at top health care innovation conference, HLTH, for the first time in its six-year history

At HLTH 2023, brought together 25+ organizations — from startups to large organizations — to raise awareness of medical-dental integration and systemic health, in addition to leadership at other national conferences, including the National Oral Health Conference and the American Dental Hygienists Association Conference

IMPACT IN ACTION: 2023 BY THE NUMBERS

CareQuest Innovation Partners’ programs, partnerships, and investments improved oral health outcomes for many, including underserved populations facing health inequities and barriers to care.

114K+ Lives Touched by Emerging Health Innovation
200K+ Teeth Treated with Minimally Invasive Therapies
11 Validation Studies through SMILE Health
3 JADA Articles published on Value Potential of Oral Health Innovation

OUR FOCUS AREAS

Our key focus areas: SMILE Health, Innovation Programs & Services, Impact Investing, and Analytics & Business Intelligence

We achieve this together with our mission-aligned partners, who are at the center of everything we do.

SMILE Health

Connect and activate innovators through 12-week accelerator program, including data-driven validation studies.
Provide startups access to multidisciplinary expertise, mentorship, trainings, curated data, and other resources (during and after SMILE Health).
Catalyze meaningful outcomes, collaborations, insights, and connections across broader health ecosystem.

Innovation Programs & Services

Partner with leading organizations, including dental and medical health plans, to prove the business and impact case through pilots and other services.
Test and validate innovative solutions and integrated health models.
Develop robust insights and multidisciplinary tools to advance decisions, change, and scale.

Impact Investing

Invest in innovative solutions generating positive social impact and financial return.
Source and shape investment opportunities in emerging areas of oral and integrated health.
Collaborate with investor community to advance investments driving meaningful change and impact.

Analytics & Business Intelligence

Develop proof points and insights to drive key decision-makers to advance emerging innovation and integrated health models.
Curate and analyze robust data sets with millions of lives in collaboration with ecosystem partners.
Build tools to embed data in everything we do and empower others.

SMILE Health Accelerator Program & Ecosystem

For too long, oral health innovation has trailed overall health, especially for underserved populations. So we asked, what can we do to change the status quo? SMILE Health is the first-of-it-kind accelerator focused on innovation that makes oral health more accessible, equitable, and integrated with overall health.

The key components of SMILE Health include:

– Data-driven validation studies driving key decisions and next steps, including investments, pilots, and scale

– Access to multidisciplinary expertise, mentorship, trainings, curated data, and other resources (during and after SMILE)

– Meaningful opportunities to gain new insights, connections, and partners across broader health ecosystem

All these components are designed for startups and partners to shape and bring mission-aligned innovation to market faster.

Top 5% of global startup applicants are selected for the program:

12 weeks
20+ industry partners and investors
1M+ accessible health encounters — one of the largest oral health data sets

Impact Story | SMILE Health Accelerator Program & Ecosystem

Through SMILE Health, innovators test and validate key hypotheses leading to decisions and impacts. Learn more about our 2023 startup cohort’s solutions:

Impact

Wearable sensors for continuous health insights
Earlier cavities detection through low-cost rise
Saliva & biomarker diagnostic tools

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Mobile trucks
Teledentistry
Digital imaging and diagnostics

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At-home, minimally invasive perio/gum treatment
Scopes attaching to phones for full mouth scans
AI-enabled earlier detection and behavioral nudging

SMILE HEALTH VALIDATION STUDY SPOTLIGHT

During SMILE Health, the startup was identified and connected to a leading dental provider.

Together, the startup and dental provider expanded the solution’s application from orthodontics to preventive care for underserved children and elderly populations.
The startup’s platform and solution enable patients (or patients’ guardians) and dental professionals to easily capture full-mouth video and images chairside and share them with an offsite dentist or dental hygienist.
Through this collaboration, the dental provider identified the need for a smaller solution (scopes) for children. The startup successfully created the solution, which was used to facilitate preventive oral health screenings for children in local Head Start programs that face barriers to care.

This work resulted in:

8 minutes on average saved per patient examination

5x faster speeds to obtain clinical images compared with existing solutions

Minutes on average to receive immersive views of the patient's mouth

"Collaborating on SMILE Health for close to two years with CareQuest Innovation Partners has been an invaluable experience. It has enabled me to meaningfully engage with other industry leaders and help us advance awareness around the connection between oral health and overall health and well-being, all of which are critically important to Colgate-Palmolive's purpose to reimagine a healthier future for all."

Maria Ryan

EVP and Chief Clinical Officer, Colgate-Palmolive, SMILE industry partner
“This is the only opportunity in dental right now to have an ecosystem of partners all across the care continuum. It's a really unique opportunity and a testament to CareQuest Innovation Partners and MATTERs' work to bring this community together in a way that's never been done before.”

Daniel Weinstein

CEO and Cofounder, Lura Health, SMILE 2023 Cohort Startup
“SMILE Health highlights the importance of oral health care innovation, which is often overlooked in considering the “whole” health of a person. Programs like SMILE Health de-risk investment in health care startups by validating solutions in a real-world environment, opening the door to investors eager to drive meaningful change in the health care industry.”

Lee Shapiro

Managing Partner of 7wireVentures, SMILE investor partner
“What makes SMILE Health unique is that in addition to wonderful business connections, we've developed great personal relationships with people at industry-leading companies that helped provide unique insights into our technology and potential opportunities in the marketplace.”

Bill Leimkuehler

Cofounder and COO, Bioletrics, SMILE 2023 Cohort Startup

The Minimally Invasive Care (MIC) Movement

96% of people get at least one cavity in their lifetime, according to the CDC.

Today, diagnosing and treating caries (cavities) is often too late, expensive, and invasive, usually requiring drilling. In some cases, MIC can provide a better option with significant benefits to patients, providers, and payers. In dentistry, MIC focuses on preventing and healing tooth decay without removing any tooth structures. MIC includes prevention, counseling, and painless treatments, such as fluorides, antimicrobials, diagnostic solutions, and therapeutic fillings and sealants that are brushed onto teeth.

Together, we advanced MIC with . . .

4 states through pilot programs focused on MIC therapies for caries
100+ clinical personnel trained across pilot programs
2,000+ downloads of resources on MIC therapies

Impact Story | The Minimally Invasive Care (MIC) Movement

MIC enhances the patient experience and improves oral health outcomes through increased use of prevention and therapeutics.

Together with our partners, we have been on a journey to identify, validate, pilot, and scale minimally invasive therapies for caries.

Identify

Ongoing sensing and evaluation of MIC innovation
Validate

Multiple publications and longitudinal study to prove clinical and financial value potential of MIC therapies
Pilot

Generated key proof points to catalyze actions like new or expanded preventive dental benefits
Access Resources Here
Scale

Together with patients, providers, payers, and DSOs, we continue to advance MIC adoption through programs, services, and resources

“The team at CareQuest Innovation Partners is bringing together clinical and industry leaders to advance more integrated, minimally invasive, and holistic care. They are cultivating an impressive ecosystem of collaborators to pilot and scale innovative solutions and business models that break down silos in care and put the patient at the center of the system.”

Dr. Catherine Hayes, DMD, SM, DMSc

Public Health Dentist, Epidemiologist, and clinical advisor to CareQuest Innovation Partners

IMPACT IN ACTION: OUR ECOSYSTEM

We accelerate health innovation by investing in startups aligned with our mission to improve oral and overall health for all. Read below for 2023 highlights from startups in our impact investing portfolio.

We’re always looking for . . .

Companies aligned with our mission
Transformative solutions and technologies
Opportunities where our partnership and expertise can add value

Company #1:
Mouthwatch

Teledentistry solutions, digital case presentation tools, and intraoral cameras to improve access, coordination, and experience with care

2023 highlights
◦ Teledentistry to 40+ states
◦ Impacted ~50K patients
◦ Spoke at congress on teledentistry

Learn more here.

Company #2:
Incisive Technologies

Objective visual evidence on caries lesion status to aid the clinician during routine examination as part of diagnosis, treatment planning, and ongoing monitoring

2023 highlights
◦ FDA 510(k) clearance of BlueCheck
◦ Ready for US market launch
◦ Pilot confirmed with leading insurer

Learn more here.

Company #3:
Enable Dental

Dental services in homes and communities using portable technology and cloud-based systems to support seniors and patients with IDD

2023 highlights
◦ Servicing Medicare Advantage, PACE, and Medicaid populations across 20 geographic markets
◦ 45% of revenue from capitated and value-based care agreements

Learn more here.

EMPOWERING INNOVATION TO IMPROVE ORAL & OVERALL HEALTH FOR ALL

We have the momentum, and the time is now. Join us in advancing our mission and scaling our #impact in 2024!