Curasept: A smile for the future

In this year’s series of partner interviews for the EFP newsletter, we are looking at how leadership in dentistry is going to play a vital and pivotal role in the years to come and how partners are ensuring that they are at the forefront of developing leadership that works.

In this interview we talk to Marta Giovannardi, Biostatistician and QA specialist at Curasept. Marta has been a consultant in clinical trials for the last ten years but only joined Curasept in January 2025 and had never been to EuroPerio before. How did she find her first visit? “I think that from a leadership point of view, it was really an amazing experience and I had the opportunity to speak with the oral health providers at the booth.” She enthuses: “I think that it was also fundamental to attend the training, the lectures at EuroPerio were really high-level technology."

For Marta Giovannardi, and Curasept generally, learning is paramount for product development. “We think that these moments are very important because we can understand clinicians needs and how we can put their needs into practice. I think that we can also learn and understand how to improve our R&D department.”

Leadership is about bringing on the next generation as Marta explains: “With the GSPI; that is the Georgian Society of Periodontology and Implantology, we supported a competition for students, and this was really nice, from the faculty of dentistry. The title was ‘Diagnosis of Periodontitis and Evidence-Based Modern Treatment Methods.’ It was really a great experience because students from the Faculty of Dentistry could attend this competition and the winner won the possibility to attend the EuroPerio11.” 

Once in Vienna that winner attended lectures and joined Curasept at their booth.

“It was really a nice opportunity to meet her at the booth and we could see in her eyes the enthusiasm from these new opportunities. We saw in this student that she is very keen to learn about us.” Curasept also had a special training room at the Congress where they invited students, post-graduates and oral health professionals to learn about its products.

“They came from all over the world, from Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Chile. In this room there were some hygienists or dentists, and we gave training on a real-life case.” What is Curasept doing in the wider world in terms of leadership and encouraging the next generation?

Curasept trains at many universities in Italy. “In 2024 we did 104 trainings in 35 different universities. We covered many students from dentistry and oral hygiene universities all around Italy and we would like to do this also abroad.”

Watch this space!

This initiative grew by 38% between 2022 and 2024 and the aim is to grow by 10% every year! Marta Giovannardi is enthusiastic to explain: “The training is related to, for example, plaque biofilm or everything related to oral health, with some tips about pregnant women, the correlation between some general diseases such as hypertension, and oral health.  We created this book with all the trainings that we can give to the university.”

‘Curasept for Students’ is another initiative to reach the wider world. It started in 2023 to bring motivation and inspiration to students, using testimonies of four young professionals. The hope is that this will be a resource for graduates to encourage them to enter dentistry. There are tips on how to write a CV, do a good interview or how to read a clinical study. It has also run a competition for students called “a smile for the future".

If there is one thing Curasept doesn’t like to do is rush! “Waiting and patience is a key focus for us because we invest a lot in R&D (research and development), in order to reach an output of very high quality. We need seven years of research to get to a new product.”

Curasept invests ten percent of its revenue into R&D and clinical research. Curasept is always looking to develop new products to help people feel better about their oral health, with the clinical needs of patients paramount. This commitment is underscored by close collaboration with the Italian Society of Periodontology and Implantology (SIDP) and EFP, ensuring that innovation is always driven by the latest scientific findings and the evolving needs of patients.

Leadership is about sustainability and Curasept is at pains to work locally. “For us it is very important to work with special needs people.  We started the collaboration with a company called CLS more than 15 years ago and we have a really close relationship with them.  90% of the workers have special needs and they work on the packaging assembly line so they are very important to us.” Moreover, Marta Giovannardi says that as Curasept grows, so will the work for this factory, as it will with another similar company called Granello.

CLS also organises a run in Saronno, which involves the whole community and Curasept supports that. Add to all of this, that Curasept is committed to find sustainable solutions for its packaging and business overall, there really is a smile for the future, because a smile is where it all starts!