Children's teeth come in on a schedule. So should their oral care.

Three Strands Bio is building prebiotic oral care for kids — formulated around the bacterial community a child's mouth actually has at each stage of development, rather than trying to sterilize it.

For dentists & partners

The problem

Tooth decay is still the most common chronic disease of childhood.

It isn't caused by bacteria in general — it's caused by an ecosystem tipping out of balance, usually early, and usually for years before a cavity is visible. Most children's toothpaste is built to scrub and to kill broadly. Very little of it is designed around what is actually living in a two-year-old's mouth, or how that changes by the time she's six.

Our approach

Three stages, three formulations.

A child's oral microbiome is not a small adult's. It is reassembled twice before school age — once when the mouth is still toothless, and again as enamel arrives and gives new species somewhere to live.

Stage 01

Before first teeth

Gums and tongue only. The founding community establishes here, largely from caregivers, long before a brush is involved.

Stage 02

Eruption

Hard enamel surfaces appear and the ecosystem reorganizes around them. The window where balance is easiest to shape.

Stage 03

Mixed dentition

Diet, snacking and hygiene habits set a trajectory that tends to hold into adulthood.

What makes it different

Prebiotic first. Named strains, not vague ones.

Feed, don't scorch: Substrates and pH conditions chosen to favor the resident species associated with a stable mouth, instead of a broad antibacterial approach that clears everything.
Strain-level honesty: Kids' products on shelf today advertise “natural probiotics” without naming a single organism. Our long-term work is strain-specific and intended to be published, not implied on a carton.
Built chairside: Co-founded with a practicing San Francisco dentist, so the formulation has to survive real pediatric appointments — not just a lab bench.

First product

In formulation — not yet for sale

Prebiotic toothpaste for children

Our first release. Sample packs for dental offices will go out before general availability — if you run a practice and want to be on that list, get in touch.

Age range: 0 to 5 years olds
Fluoride: Under evaluation; both fluoride and fluoride-free versions are being assessed
Expected: TBA

Products described on this page are in development and are not available for purchase. Nothing here is a medical claim or a substitute for advice from your child's dentist or pediatrician.