Oral health entrepreneurs to pitch solutions that drive medical-dental integration, featuring companies from CareQuest Innovation Partners’ portfolio and SMILE Health accelerator
April 29, 2025 (BOSTON) — CareQuest Innovation Partners, a company focused on validating and scaling solutions to improve overall health through oral health, will be showcasing a premier dental innovation event at THRIVELIVE®, hosted by Henry Schein. Taking place in Las Vegas on May 3 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m., the event serves as a pitch-style format for oral health where entrepreneurial innovators showcase their groundbreaking products, services, and inventions designed to benefit the world of oral health and health care. CareQuest Innovation’s portfolio companies — Grin (SMILE Health alumni 2023), Incisive Technologies (SMILE Health alumni 2023), and Wesper — will participate in the event, alongside 2024 SMILE Health alumni, DifferentKind, OraLiva, and Umayana.
Oral health issues affect 3.5 billion people each year and produce an annual economic burden of $710 billion, and yet oral health innovation in 2024 received less than 1% of all venture capital investments in overall health worldwide. CareQuest Innovation is addressing this issue by spotlighting new solutions at events like THRIVELIVE and building a community dedicated to improving oral health outcomes of all.
“Convening a network of innovators, experts, and stakeholders is essential to driving meaningful progress in oral health, and our event at THRIVELIVE serves as a powerful platform to showcase the groundbreaking products and services shaping the future of patient care,” said Katie D’Amico, VP of Growth and Innovation at CareQuest Innovation. “We’re excited to connect dental leaders with startups to spark new ideas and collaborations — with direct paths to patients — that can expand access, accelerate medical-dental integration, and most importantly help those who need it most. These solutions are more critical now than ever.”
During the event, each 10-minute pitch will provide a unique opportunity for the audience — composed of dental professionals and experts — to engage directly with solutions advancing the future of medical-dental integration and patient care. This dynamic session will give attendees the chance to explore innovations in oral health, shape new products and services transforming the industry, and walk away with tangible solutions to bring to their practices and patients.
“CareQuest Innovation Partners has curated a dynamic session for this year’s event that unites voices from across the oral health landscape, spotlighting startups that are shaping the future of the profession,” said David Kochman, chief corporate affairs officer at Henry Schein. “Driving meaningful progress for entrepreneurs in health care takes more than just great ideas — it requires connection, collaboration, and investment. This session highlights emerging leaders and increases awareness of the innovative technologies poised to transform oral health care.”
CareQuest Innovation aims to validate and scale transformative solutions that improve overall health through oral health of all. Joining forces with the company’s network of leading industry partners, startups, and investors, the company is on a mission to make health care more accessible, equitable, and integrated through its SMILE Health accelerator in collaboration with MATTER, its investments, and its innovation services. More information on CareQuest Innovation’s participating portfolio and SMILE Health alumni companies can be found below:
DifferentKind | Buena Vista, CO
DifferentKind is an experienced management leader in oral health, producing data and insights from patients and teams that drive improved outcomes for patients, practices, and payers. The company enables dental practitioners to turn personalized insights into targeted improvement, redefining measurement in dental care to ensure practitioners are clear on individual needs when communicating with patients.
Grin | Airmont, NY
Grin is a comprehensive digital platform that connects patients to dentists in their community from the convenience of their smart device, including a medical device that offers comprehensive views of patients’ mouths. Its technology has enabled dental care providers to obtain clinical images five times faster than previous solutions. Additionally, it has captured millions of scans for tens of thousands of patients on the platform, with over 2,000 care providers globally.
Incisive Technologies | Melbourne, Australia
Incisive Technologies is advancing oral health care by enabling preventive dentistry. BlueCheck, their first commercial product, is an innovative “paint” that reveals early-stage caries, giving clinicians objective evidence in detecting and monitoring activity status. BlueCheck empowers oral health care professionals to adopt a prevention approach and help patients protect and heal the tooth before cavities develop.
OraLiva | Durham, NC
OraLiva provides noninvasive, clinically validated, AI-assisted diagnostics for screening oral lesions. This innovative solution delivers highly accurate diagnostic information to dental and medical providers. OraLiva’s proprietary Oral ONC-InCyt technology allows for a broad range of clinicians to identify early signs of oral cancer using clinically validated cyto-signatures — saving lives and relieving health systems and patients of the financial burden that comes with cancer treatment.
Umayana | Istanbul, Turkey
Umayana is a biotech company with a range of products, Murnia, which prevent and treat severe cancer and acute wounds with its patented molecular compound and formulations. Its members have 35 years of biotechnology, R&D, and consumer experience, and its mission is to provide effective and safe supportive care.
Wesper | New York, NY
Wesper is a physician-guided sleep management platform that offers patients personalized treatment plans, all from the comfort of their own homes. The company empowers individuals and health care providers with reliable, high-resolution data to improve sleep health, streamline workflows, and enhance outcomes. Its mission is to advance sleep science through innovation, simplicity, and trust — creating a future where better sleep transforms lives.
All companies will be present at this year’s event. THRIVELIVE is an annual three-day conference designed to empower oral health professionals through immersive, expert-led education sessions, networking opportunities, and insights from industry leaders. The event will occur from April 30 to May 3, and it will feature more than 100 courses and speakers sharing insights on oral health technology, the business of dentistry, and the latest in dental solutions.
To register for THRIVELIVE and attend CareQuest Innovation’s in-person event, Dental Innovation Showcase: Shark Tank for Oral Health, please visit https://thrivelive2025.com/.
About CareQuest Innovation Partners
CareQuest Innovation Partners® validates and scales transformative solutions to improve overall health through oral health. Together, with our ecosystem of leading industry partners, startups, and investors, we make health care more accessible, equitable, and integrated. CareQuest Innovation Partners is the for-profit subsidiary of CareQuest Institute, and they are joined by the shared mission to improve the oral health of all. To learn more, visit carequestinnovation.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Media Contact
Sara Ward
sward@carequest.org
