MetroMom Nan Elvia
Before her daughter was born, Nan Elvia was working as a brand manager in a real estate investment and management company. Fourteen months later she became victim to the subprime crisis. She saw it as an opportunity to spend more time with her daughter, and as a result, went on to create Oralcryst.

MM - How did your daughter inspire you to create Oralcyrst Junior?

My daughter, Leyna, has a sweet tooth. She loves and only wants to drink juices. On her one year old dental check (obligated by the Japanese government), she was categorized in “high risk” for getting early cavities. During late night milk feeds, I tried to clean her teeth and gums after she drank the milk with tooth wipes, but only ended up getting bitten so hard that it was simply a mission impossible. As a first time mom, I tried almost everything to try to help reduce her risk from getting early cavity. Some worked once or twice, some didn’t work at all. One day, I noticed some white spots on her first bottom molars. Panic! I went to a pediatric dentist for a check almost immediately, and was told by the dentist that they were signs of early phase of tooth demineralization. “No!” I told myself. I am not sure whether I had a bad set of teeth since childhood because I loved to eat and drink sweet stuff without being brushed properly or had a bad dentist. I ended up with 20 bright silver fillings out of my 28 teeth at around 12 years old. I didn’t understand then, but as I grew up, I often felt embarrassed with the condition of my teeth. I wished my parents would have done differently to try to optimize my oral health. I discussed putting sealant on her teeth as I read over the internet, but the dentist said it was too early, and instead he put a layer of mild fluoride gel on all her teeth to help the teeth to remineralize naturally (she was not allowed to drink or eat anything for 30 min afterward). That was the first time I learned that early phase cavity can be saved, that teeth demineralize and remineralize themselves, that the real cause of cavity is not just eating candy or drinking juice but the bacteria level is so high that our saliva can’t help the teeth to remineralize enough. On the way home, I resolved to find a good solution for maintaining low level of the cavity causing bacteria in her mouth.  

MM - How long was the process of taking an idea and turning it into a product?

In Japan, there are many functional confectionery available in the market, most of them are tooth friendly as Xylitol, and other sugar alcohol has been commonly used since 1970s. So developing Oralcryst Junior didn’t take as long as if it were a completely new idea from scratch. However, finding out each ingredients’ pros & cons, function, safety as well as the many current measures to fight cavities from a global perspective took a lot of research time. Then, to make sure it really works, I need to experience that myself in a reasonable time period (one year) with my own daughter and nephew/niece. After experiencing a satisfactory result, only then I decided to turn it into a branded product and share it with other parents. In total it took slightly more than a year and a half, and while receiving comments from consumers, we are still looking for ways to always improve our products. The development of this product involved a close collaboration between the ingredient producer (functional point of view), the pharmaceutical company (production point of view) and myself (a mother point of view). All scientific testing has been done by the ingredient producer over the past 15 years or so.

MM - In hindsight, did you have realistic expectations as to the amount of time and work needed to create, manufacture and promote oral care products?

I was and still am a workaholic. I enjoy everything I learned along the path to create, manufacture and promote the product. I didn’t really have any expectation as to the amount of time and work, as all I care was to create something right. The benefit of working for myself is that no matter how busy I am, I will always have the time to be with my daughter.

MM - What advice do you have to someone with an idea for a new invention or product?

Test market it. If it means to be, it will happen smoothly.

MM - What is your parenting motto?

Everything happens for a good reason. Care for others as you would like others to care for you.