What was hot and what was not in the 2005 oral care market? For starters, Church & Dwight purchased the SpinBrush toothbrush business from Procter & Gamble, which acquired the Oral B business when P&G acquired Gillette, which caused quite a spin all around. Mergers and acquisitions aside, with the exception of toothbrushes and dental floss, sales for dental care products were down in 2005, according to Euromonitor International, Chicago, IL. Sales for all oral hygiene products slipped a bit from $4.64 billion in 2004 to $4.61 billion in 2005.
Euromonitor further predicted that the mature oral hygiene category would decline 0.7% in value sales in 2005. This will largely result from 2005 declines in what were the two best performing oral hygiene subsectors 1997-2005; mouth fresheners and tooth whiteners grew 274.4% and 596%, respectively, in current value terms from 2000 to 2005.
So what piqued consumer interest? Plenty of new flavors for toothpaste, brushes that do a lot more than brush, and rinses that whiten in addition to refreshing the mouth.