Summary:
What if your daily dental routine could support your health, the planet, and your mental well-being simultaneously?
In this episode of the Secure Dental Podcast, Belinda Lau, CEO and co-founder of ELIMS, discusses her journey in building a sustainable dental care brand, emphasizing clean ingredients, eco-friendly packaging, and the importance of mental wellness and support in entrepreneurship. Concerned by the waste in healthcare, she was inspired to create environmentally friendly and effective oral care products using clean ingredients and sustainable packaging. Their flagship products include a nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste and dissolvable whitening strips designed for sensitive teeth, offering natural, food-grade alternatives to traditional formulas. By bootstrapping the business and leveraging strong partnerships within the dental community, they’ve grown organically without outside funding. Belinda emphasizes the value of real-world experience, support networks, and prioritizing mental wellness in entrepreneurship while aiming to shift healthcare toward safer, cleaner, and more sustainable solutions.
Tune in to discover how Belinda built a purpose-driven brand and how her story can inspire your journey to impact and wellness!
Secure Dental - Belinda Lau: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix
Secure Dental - Belinda Lau: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Welcome to the Secure Dental Podcast. Through conversations with the brightest minds in the dental and business communities, we'll share practical tips you can use to scale your practice and create financial freedom for yourself and your family. My name is Dr. Noel Liu, CEO and dentist at Secure Dental, and also co-founder of DentVia. I'm your host for the Secure Dental Podcast, and I'm so glad you're joining in.
Dr. Noel Liu:
All right, everyone! Welcome to another episode of our Secure Dental podcast, where we bring in many different individuals from both inside and outside our dental industry. And this podcast for today has been sponsored by DentVia. DentVia is a dental administration company that helps our front desk staff and our managers to assist them with the back-end tasks. So, definitely visit them at www.DentVia.com. Once again, it's www. D E N T V I A .com. So, today we have a special guest, Belinda Lau. She is CEO and co-founder of ELIMS, meaning spelled the word smile spelled backwards. I just learned that right now. So, that is so amazing. It's a science-driven, sustainable oral care company on a mission to reimagine oral care with effective yet clean ingredients and planet-friendly design. This is something which we find very difficult to find these days. And what you're doing here, Belinda, is amazing. She is a former biomedical and materials science engineer and holds dual degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, and has over 20 years of experience with life-saving medical devices, back in her old life with insulin pumps and spinal implants. And today, she is the CEO of LMS. Now let's dive right in, Belinda. Let's talk about it.
Belinda Lau:
Let's do it.
Dr. Noel Liu:
What was your life like before ELIMS?
Belinda Lau:
Well, I guess going way back. My parents came from Southeast Asia. They were born and raised in Burma, and they actually moved to Canada. I was born and didn't have anything. My father tells me the story about how he had 14 US, he had 20 USD in his pocket, and when he went to the Thailand airport, he bought a drink, and that cost $6. And so, he actually came to the US with just 14 USD and really built a life, really with nothing, just with his grit and his own hands, and with me and my siblings. We actually grew up in my mom's shop. She had a little gift shop in downtown Vancouver, and that was really our first taste of what I know now to be business acumen. So, when we were very little, we every weekend, every summer break, every Christmas break, people going to summer camp or going to their grandma's house. Me and my brother and my sister were in the shop working every single day. And as a kid, you don't really like it. But as I'm older now, business is very natural to me. Back then, when I was a little girl drawing little signs to say, Sale $9.99. That's marketing. When I had to help clean out the back office, that's inventory management. When we had to count and do the bookkeeping every day, that's finance. So, looking back, those experiences were very valuable to me growing up. And it really gave me the sense that you can really do anything in your life if you really put your mind to it, and you work hard, and you just put your head down and do the good work. So, I grew up in my parents' shop. My father did very well later on his life, growing a luggage business, and so I traveled the world with him to get understand more about marketing and really running a very large organization. It was about 400 people that he managed at the very, towards the end of his career. For me, when I look to go to college, my father said, look, get something where you can get a job right away after you graduate. My father was very practical and very efficient. I really wanted to go into business, and he said, business is in your blood. You don't need to go to school for that. Go and get a skill set. And so, when I looked at what I was good at, I was really always good at science and math. And I thought, okay, engineering is a nice way to go. And my father really as an immigrant parent, he said, basically, you can be anything you want to be as long as it's a dentist, a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer, so I said, okay, well, these four options, I think the engineering route is the best for me. And I really love the biological sciences, and I really love math. And so, I went to Carnegie Mellon, got this dual degree in both biomedical engineering and materials science engineering. And later on in my career, I was really able to combine those two backgrounds working at Medtronic, building medical devices, because you really have to understand the science and the materials behind all the products, even in the dental world. Like, I look at all these composites and like the different coatings you can put on implants. Like I learned about those things, like hydroxyapatite and all of those things that we coated in engineering school, and fast forward many years later, I'm still around those same technologies. When I graduated college, I went to work for Medtronic for 15 years in various roles, all in product development. So, some in engineering, some in program management, some in marketing. I was really able to experience different parts of how a business is run, and that is really the beauty of that organization, is if you have a passion and you're smart, you're hardworking, you can really learn different skill sets. And so, I spent the majority of my career there. And then, actually, eventually, I wound up going to business school because I promised my dad I would get a master's degree. The child of immigrants. The whole goal is to level up your kids, and no one in my family at the time had a master's degree, so I wound up going back to UCLA, Anderson, here in Los Angeles, and getting my MBA back in 2020. And really, that experience gave me the confidence and sort of the passion to explore something outside of a very set role in like, corporate America. And I really, I always wanted to do something on my own. I always dabbled, I had like little internet businesses all through my life. And my husband is a dentist, and we looked at each other one day and were like, why don't we do something in this field? Like, why don't we build something? So my husband is a, he's been a dentist for now like over 20 years. And we just felt both my background and his background. There's got to be something, right? There's gotta be something here between the two of us, between medical devices and dentistry. And when I worked at Medtronic, I always felt very I was very always concerned about how much waste and trash was built up by the healthcare industry. I used to go to a lot of hospital visits, and you just see these sterile packaging, Tyvek packaging, all of these autoclave bags and things like that really build up, including all the gloves and the bibs and everything. And I just, I always just thought, why can't this stuff be more biodegradable? Or how can we close the loop on this waste problem because of the sterile requirement? You really need to make sure that the products work, the packaging works, and all of that stuff. Even in diabetes care, I worked in the diabetes industry for 12 years. And the syringes and the insulin sensors, the glucose sensors, the packaging, it all comes in as one-time use. Pop in the sensor, you throw away all the packaging. And it was just always stuck in my mind. And so, I just started thinking like, how can I solve this problem, but like in a smaller chunk, like how can I solve it in a smaller way? And so when I looked, the dental industry was always so interesting to me. I feel compared to medical device I used to work in, like class three, the highest risk products at with the FDA, and I just found the dental industry to be a little bit more of the Wild West. There was a bit more because the industry is so established. There's a, the FDA kind of turns a little bit of like a calm eye to the oral care side of things. So, I thought, okay, maybe I could do something here. So, just when I was in business school, I just really started looking into how big is the market, what are the needs I started to see in the beauty and the personal care space, this trend towards more sustainable packaging, more responsible ingredients, cleaner ingredients. And I really wanted to learn about how to make healthcare products more sustainable. And I just thought, okay, I think I can do this in oral care. If I can do it in oral care, then I can learn and apply these learnings and apply it to all of healthcare. And so, that's really where we started to think from. And we started doing our research. We wound up getting into a clean tech accelerator called the Clean Tech Open. It's the largest business accelerator for sustainable technologies. And people are building like windmills and electric vehicles. And here I am, I'm like, let's talk about toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. So, it was we were a little different because everybody in the planet needs to brush their teeth. It's a very relatable topic, as I'm sure you're the life of the party every time you show up because people are asking you a question about their teeth. And I think.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Isn't it true? I bet your husband feels the same way, right?
Belinda Lau:
Oh, he's my best party trick. I don't even need to talk because he shows up and people are asking him about dental implants and crowns, and all the whole gamut of oral care questions. That's where we started to really think about. We bought. We bona fide our business through this business accelerator. We won a few like of these business pitch competitions.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Oh, nice.
Belinda Lau:
Yeah, we had a little bit of seed funding, and then we actually launched during the pandemic. So, we launched in 2021 and we came out with a line of products that are have sustainable packaging, reduced packaging, more clean ingredients. So, our hero products are nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste with ten nano-hydroxyapatite, and then we have a teeth whitening product that dissolves. So, it's like a Crest White strip, but we removed all of the strip parts. So, like the film, the plastic film, the plastic packaging, all of that went away when we developed a dissolving strip. So, you just apply it to your teeth, it dissolves in seconds. It's with hydrogen peroxide, so it still works and great for sensitive teeth. We started with these base products, and to this day we actually we haven't raised any money by design. My husband and I were like, can we do this on our own? Can we build the business to fuel itself? And so far, four years later, we're still here, still going strong. Unclear about these tariffs and things like that coming in. But so far, at least in the personal care industry, when you compare us to some of the deodorants and other personal care products, we're still here. And so, I'm very proud of that. And I'm proud about the awards we've won and the accolades we've gotten on a very shoestring budget. So, really, that's a kudos to the dental industry and our partnerships with dental offices, dentists, and hygienists who try our product, who've seen what we've done, who've looked at our data and said, this is a good product. And that's how we've organically grown, is really through partnerships with the dental community.
Dr. Noel Liu:
And that's the way, and I loved what you just said about like collaborating with different people, different, what do you call it, industries as well. Because at the end of the day, when we are starting up a business or we are actually running it, we need collaboration. And I really, something really resonated. You just said about your dad said, business is in our blood, I love it. I'm stealing that.
Belinda Lau:
It's in our bones.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Right, go get a skill set. Business is in our blood. This is such a powerful statement, and I think it resonates with a lot of immigrants that come here right where their parents are from another country. So, I think that's really strong. So, tell me, when you started this business and how long ago, how long was the transition for you from your previous place, then you were working at Medtronic, and then you started this here, were you like, did you start them like while you were working, or did you like quit that place?
Belinda Lau:
Yeah, even worse, I was in business school full time. I was raising three kids under the age. I was working full-time at Medtronic, and I was starting the business. It was a very busy time of my life, and thank God, my mother is healthy and she was able to come and help us during that challenging time. When doctor, I think you will understand when you are so passionate and so driven about a new project, a new idea.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Right, right.
Belinda Lau:
Like you cannot stop. Like, I could not stop. I was, like, so engulfed in the excitement of what this product, this business could be, who I could be in this process. And so, even though I was very busy, it was all worth it because, number one, I was working at this fantastic company, Medtronic, that where I was able to learn. Actually, during that time, I pivoted my career into operations, so I could learn how the business on the back end operates. So, I went from engineering to marketing to operations, and then at the same time, I was in business school reinforcing some of these learnings, and then I was applying it to the business, so I really, I don't know if I could have done it any other way. I really gained a lot of confidence about my own abilities because it was I was able to learn and apply it at the basically at the same time, even though it was a difficult time, it was very challenging. Even running the business now is very challenging, a lot of headwinds.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Absolutely.
Belinda Lau:
Rising costs like competition, a lot of different things. The grit that I learned now, when things go wrong or there's a mistake or something, I'm not as blown up about it as I was at the beginning of the business. Because you learn, you say you think to yourself, when have I seen this before? You know, when have I experienced this before? And I talk to a lot of budding entrepreneurs, people who have an idea who want to start a business. And if that person that I'm talking to has never worked at another company, I always encourage them. These are students, usually in college or in their master's program. I always tell them, go work for someone else for a little while. Just 2 or 3 years. Learn how they do business. Learn what they're doing right. Learn what they're doing wrong, and that way you can apply it to your business. It's basically business school in a nutshell. And then you can also get a salary fund your business. You don't have to go fundraise. If you are able to take a little bit of your salary and put it into the business, I really think it's so valuable to work for someone else to see how it's done and apply it to your own business. So, even when different things happen in at least in my current business, I go back and I think, where did I see this before in my career? Is there a time where this happened? And I always, almost always have some kind of analogous story that I can apply and the learnings that I can apply to the business? And I think that's the beauty of being an older entrepreneur. I don't want to age myself. I grew up without internet. So, let's just say that. And because of because of that, I feel like I can, I tackle problems from a place of experience, rather a place of like constant turmoil, if you will.
Dr. Noel Liu:
What you just said, I think, what I feel like you do have some sort of personal development that you went through during this whole time, and I can tell from your experience, from what you went through and what you're telling me, exactly what you discovered on the other side. I want you to share a little bit of the secret sauce about that grit and the work-life balance, because people need to understand when you're running a business or you're starting up, there's a lot at stake. You're putting your entire family on the line, right? So I want you to talk a little bit about that because people go, oh, yeah, he's a guy. He can do it. But you as a female is 1,000% my respect to you. How did you do it? With family, with job, and husband, and parents, right? How did you do it?
Belinda Lau:
Taking care of elder parents, taking. Raising kids, making sure they're growing up, right?
Dr. Noel Liu:
What was a superpower?
Belinda Lau:
A superpower? I think it's really just there's really no secret sauce, I think, for myself. I've always been a very hard-working person. I don't really need like, fame. I don't need glory. I really just, I really want my kids to do well. I want them to grow up to be responsible humans. I want to maintain a happy marriage with my husband, who's also my business partner. That's very, I want to take care of myself. Like I want to run marathons, I want to be able to work out and feel healthy in my body, and be nourished. It is a lot of planning, and it's a very busy life, I would say, like taking care of myself. And if you're an entrepreneur out there, taking care of yourself is so important. I remember the first year of the business, this was during the pandemic, and we launched in July of 2021. And you turn on the website, you make your press release, and then you expect like millions of dollars to come into your business. You're like, how come? No, how come I'm not a millionaire overnight, right? And so we tried a bunch of different things, and my, even my husband said, how does anyone know this business exists? How does anyone know, right? Like, people are so busy and consumed with their lives. How are you? How do people get awareness that we're here? And so I remember the first six months was so difficult. I remember being very stressed, a lot of anxiety, very little sleep. We had some product issues, not product issues. We had issues importing the product, some of the products' components from the UK we had, we weren't getting the traction that we projected, and there was just so many things. And I remember almost having a breakdown, and this is such an important thing because what I did is I reached out to other entrepreneurs, my friends, people who were business owners, and that's so important. If you're an entrepreneur, you need to have a network of people who are running businesses because even though the business is different, the size of the business is different. The products you sell is different. The experience, the anxiety, the sleepless nights, the stress that is all the same for all of us, running a dental practice. Very stressful, managing staff. These are all things us, as business owners, have to experience, and so I really encourage people to find other business owners, friends who are going through that, and call them in your time of need. You don't need to tell them that you're stressed. You don't need to tell them that you're lonely and making these decisions. You just need to call. Because that's what I did. I called two of my friends, and one of them was like, stop talking about your business. I can't even talk to you right now because I can see that your mind is not in the right place. You have not slept. You are malnourished. You have an exercise. All you've been doing is this business. You need to stop. Give yourself three weeks off. Three weeks off. I said, how can I stop for three weeks? I don't care how you do it. Just turn it all off for three weeks. Take these vitamins. Take your vitamins. Get more than seven hours of sleep. Good sleep per night. Do some yoga classes, like she gave me a prescription of basically how to just unplug. And honestly, I thought she was crazy, and I said there's no way I could do this. But she gave me some tools. She helped me find some, like people to help me out in some certain parts. And then I literally took it wasn't a full three weeks, but I did take two weeks to unplug. And that was magical because I literally was able to think again. I was able to be creative again. And I remember one, I had a lot of advisors and mentors at the very beginning of the business, and I were talking to one of my advisors, and he gave me some advice, and I felt I was able to absorb that better, and I was able to make better decisions. So, really, is there a secret sauce? Being busy doesn't mean that you're being successful. Really understanding what are the important things that really matter and what are what needs to be done, and then having that self-awareness to be like, hey, I'm not okay. I am not sleeping.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Right, right.
Belinda Lau:
I'm not making good decisions. I am not serving the business. I am not serving my shareholders because I am not showing up at 100%. So, that's really it. You can have the family and the business and run the marathons and all of these things, but you really need to know when to train for the marathon, when to lean into. You can never turn the kids off, but there are certain times where I know now, four years in, that my business during the summertime is not very busy. So, that's I can prepare for that. I can say, okay, during the summer I can chill. And I know that the business is very busy at the end of the year. So, there are certain times of the year where I know the business is going to need me more. So, it's it ebbs and flows in terms of stress. So, I really encourage people who are running their own business to understand those business cycles and take the time to reset and recharge, when the business is not as busy. So, those are the, that's how I view life and how I review, look at my superpowers. Really just prioritizing and understanding what's important and what's not.
Dr. Noel Liu:
I love it, I love it. You are like a true testament of somebody when. So, I read a lot of books, right? And I'm sure you heard of Jim Rohn and Bob Proctor and all these guys from the personal development world. One of those things that really caught my attention, and this was like recently, like a few years back, they were like, you just let go, you let go, and you let universe happen and things automatically fall in place. The more you chase, the more you try to be busy, the more it runs away from you. And when I hear you, I heard your story. I'm like, wow, this is exactly what you did. You unplugged yourself, and everything just started falling in place. It reminds me of that saying when they say in an airplane, when the oxygen masks come down, everybody says, right, put on your office first before you put on your passenger, your next door passenger. And I think that's exactly how it is in business. You got to take care of yourself first before you can take care of your team members and the business.
Belinda Lau:
Yeah, and find people to support you. People you trust, people who know you, maybe within the business context, but people who really care about you regardless of the outcome of your business. Sometimes, if you have investors, they're like, oh, take care of yourself so you can make me more money, but, you know, there's people who just really are invested in making sure they just want to see you successful. And those are the best people, because when you call them, it's maybe once or twice a year. But when you call them, you know that they're going to give you some solid advice, and you are going to be better for making that phone call.
Dr. Noel Liu:
You may or may not like it, right?
Belinda Lau:
Yes, exactly. It's so important to have that network, that support.
Dr. Noel Liu:
So let's talk about your business right now, the products you are making. You said ... in there about planet-friendly. It's very efficient, very economical in the sense that it's not like it's very planet-friendly, right? Let's talk about that a little bit. How did you come up with that concept, and what does it do exactly?
Belinda Lau:
Yeah, exactly. So, it's so interesting. We actually started just to look at the sustainability aspect of oral care. Like when you go in the dental office, you have to shrink wrap the entire room just to do like one one hygiene check, right? The gloves and the bibs and like all of that stuff. And so, we started from that aspect and we realized there's actually a lot of advancements in that kind of technology for materials, everything from biodegradable to like bio-based, which is sourced from like plants and things like that. So, I was very encouraged in 2019 to see a lot of this technology already existing, and then for us to find a way to apply it to the dental industry. So, I really like that. And then along the way, we interviewed, I want to say we interviewed 400 dental professionals and thousands of consumers through surveys and interviews. And people were just all saying, can we make, can we get the chemicals out of our oral care products? And everything is a chemical. And you, you and I are cyclical. So, we understand that the concept was in the beauty and the personal care industry. They were removing a lot of these sort of fragrances, artificial flavors, artificial scents, and things like that, dyes. When you sometimes you open a tube of kids' toothpaste, you see these little sparkles. Oh, that's a microplastic right there. And you want my kid to put that in their mouth.
Dr. Noel Liu:
What's that, right?
Belinda Lau:
We just started looking at some of this red toothpaste. Blue toothpaste. Is that really necessary? And we realized that you can't pronounce half of those things. Even I, as an engineer with a material science background, I didn't know what half of those things 90% of those things were. So, I said, can we create products with ingredients that you could actually pronounce? Which means that the consumer, and for, even for myself and for my children, I understand what's going into our bodies. And so, we started dissecting toothpaste teeth whitening products and then really just saying, what are the essentials? What does this thing need to do? And of course, Casey, my husband, from a dental perspective, he's, I want the tricalcium phosphate, I want hydroxyapatite, I want xylitol. These are all ingredients that have a lot of scientific background that we could apply. And specifically nano-hydroxyapatite, I love this product because it is the ultimate fluoride alternative. And I'm still a fan of fluoride. It's still the gold standard. If you ask the ADA, they'll tell you fluoride is the gold standard. There's a lot of data behind it, and I do believe topical fluoride is extremely effective, and I don't shy away from it. But what I love about nano hydroxyapatite at a 10% concentration, it has been proven to have the same level of remineralization as stannous fluoride.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Nice.
Belinda Lau:
And so when you look at that, what is this? What is hydroxyapatite? And as a material engineer and a biomedical engineer. I'll tell you, I geek out about this because hydroxyapatite is just what your bones and your teeth are naturally made of, right? So when you crush it up into a nano form and then you apply it on a paste to your teeth, it just replastered the surface of your enamel. And I didn't invent it. I'm not going to take credit for that. It was actually invented by NASA in the 1970s, because when these astronauts go into space for 3 or 4 months or more missions, the gravity makes them have bone loss, especially in their teeth. So, they're coming back with weakened teeth and weakened bones. And also, if you get a cavity in space, you still can't see a dentist in space. It may be coming in the next couple of years, maybe. Dr. Liu, you'll be the first. And you go to space and be the first space dentist, but you know, you can't see a dentist in space. And so, you know these astronauts.
Dr. Noel Liu:
It's crazy, nobody even thinks about those things.
Belinda Lau:
Nobody thinks about it. You get a cavity, you get a toothache in space, that's a bad trip. You're out there for years, potentially, so NASA invents a hydroxyapatite in a toothpaste form to help remineralize the teeth in the surface of the teeth. And some people on your podcast might be saying like, oh, well, how come I haven't heard about this ingredient in the US? And that's because a Japanese company in the 1980s bought the patent. And so, in Japan and Korea, it's been used for the last 40 years. It's wonderful. You go to Japan, and at least half of their toothpastes have hydroxyapatite in it. It's so wonderful. And so, that's why there's such a wealth of data behind it, because it's really been studied for a very long time. And so, we're one of the few companies in the US that actually have the 10% concentration, which is equivalent to the fluoride remineralization. And the benefit of the remineralization is actually it helps with sensitivity, super good for sensitivity, because it's really like a coat of armor for your teeth. And so, for some people, like myself, I've used a very specific brand of toothpaste that claims it was for sensitivity, and I used it for ten years. I'm not kidding. And I still had sensitivity, right? And when I switched over to nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste, I found that my sensitivity went away in two weeks. So, I thought, okay, this is amazing. And when I found out it was completely biocompatible, my husband tells his patients, with our toothpaste, it's all natural, all food-grade ingredients, yet effective. It's so natural you could spread it on toast in the morning and then eat it for breakfast. Literally, you can ingest it and it's absolutely no issues. All our ingredients are food grade. It's actually technically pharmaceutical grade, which is a higher grade compared to food grade. But we always say food grade because that's something that people can.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Something people can understand and relate.
Belinda Lau:
Yeah, so that's really important because kids, especially as they swallow their toothpaste. And then you and I, whenever we brush our teeth, that toothpaste is going into our bloodstream through the gum line. So, that's very important to me to make sure that we have something that number one, is it effective? Does it actually work? So, check what, number two, is it safe? Is it safe? Is it good for us? And then number three, can we make this sustainable? So, all our products have to hit on these three pillars. And then we put some cute packaging and branding around it. You talked about our brand name is the word smile backwards. Those cute little hidden brand things is very personal to us. We try to do these things to really encourage people to enjoy the brushing experience, to want to brush their teeth, want to floss their teeth, and take care of their teeth. And then once they feel good about their health and all of that stuff, they really feel good about their place in the world. That's really our mission, is to make people healthier and reduce the waste. And when you do all that stuff, we feel like we'll have better outcomes as a society. And that's my macro dream for this little toothpaste company to help position everyone to feel better about themselves.
Dr. Noel Liu:
I love it, just the fact that you said it takes away sensitivity. I think that's just not only you, but with many other people.
Belinda Lau:
Yes.
Dr. Noel Liu:
So I think this is a huge plus.
Belinda Lau:
Yeah.
Dr. Noel Liu:
So now, is it, like...
Belinda Lau:
The focus of the products, initially.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Like a side effect, right?
Belinda Lau:
Yeah, it actually came out after. Well, we, obviously, we test all our products, but we, it's very hard to test for sensitivity. But our customers kept coming in and were like saying, man, my sensitivity is gone just in a few weeks. And we started looking into it. Yeah, we're like, it really does work. And so, the same thing with our teeth whitening strips, they're actually made for sensitive teeth. So, we actually won, ... Magazine named our teeth whitening strips the best teeth whitening strips for sensitive teeth because when you apply it it's got all these great ingredients and things like that, but you feel no sensitivity on your teeth even though we're using a 7% hydrogen peroxide, which is a pretty high concentrate for it at home. Not a professional, but at home, right, whitening products. So, that's where we really come and see. Hey, can we take what the industry standard is and then make it a little bit better, reduce the waste, clean up the ingredients a little bit, but give a better experience to the consumer so they feel good about what they're using?
Dr. Noel Liu:
That's awesome because when we talk about whitening, equal sensitivity.
Belinda Lau:
Yeah.
Dr. Noel Liu:
And you are saying your product is whitening, is for sensitivity.
Belinda Lau:
Yeah, yeah. And we always encourage people to use the hydroxyapatite toothpaste along with it to remineralize the teeth that hydroxyapatite is deposited white, white calcium to your teeth. So, your teeth actually appear to be whiter and smoother. It's really weird. Your teeth, the surface, your teeth feel more smooth. It's just like a funny byproduct, but it works. And so, then there's no way bacteria can stick if it's like sliding off your teeth.
Dr. Noel Liu:
After this podcast, I'm the first customer to go back and get one.
Belinda Lau:
Take a look, take a look. Yeah.
Dr. Noel Liu:
No, for sure, I love it. I'm sure. So, is it safe to say that those hydroxy those nano-hydroxyapatite crystals are a safe replacement for fluoride?
Belinda Lau:
Yeah, it's, I'm not saying that, but.
Dr. Noel Liu:
I mean, in terms of what it does, right?
Belinda Lau:
You have to use it at least a 10% concentration. Some toothpaste brands don't actually say their concentrations. So, you know, they've got the marketing amount. They sprinkle some in there, so just be aware. But for the most part, it's a wonderful product. And so, now we're exploring what happens if you use fluoride and hydroxyapatite. What happens then? So that's for another podcast. We're starting to see what happens. You get even more benefits by combining the two.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Excellent, excellent. Belinda here. Appreciate you coming in. Is there anything else you would like the audience to know about you or your product?
Belinda Lau:
I would just say the oral care industry is evolving right before our eyes. Five years ago, six years ago, when we started the business, there wasn't a lot of these technologies that were in the market. And so, I think with oral care, your toothbrush or your toothbrush brand, your toothpaste brand, people get very loyal to one brand, one type of product, and they just don't think they go into Target or CVS. They just grab that same thing they've been using for years. And I just would encourage people to start looking at their ingredients, their packaging, and really understanding, because we have the power as consumers with our dollars. So, really look at what is in your bathroom counter, what are your kids are using? And really think about how that impacts your health, and also how that may be impacting the planet. That's what I would encourage people to do. And if you want to explore our products, we're here. You can find us at ELIMS.co, which is smile backwards, and just Google us and you'll find us right there.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Yep. So, it's E L I M S.co. Is that right?
Belinda Lau:
Yes, exactly right.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Perfect, perfect. Thanks a lot, Belinda. This was an amazing story, and I think you have an amazing journey. You came from, where you came from, and where you're heading, and I can already see four years into it. You're in there for the long haul.
Belinda Lau:
Thank you, Dr. Liu. I appreciate you saying that, especially given your background. I really do appreciate that. And I really have enjoyed our talk today. So, thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Noel Liu:
No, absolutely. I enjoyed it myself. All right. We're going to land the plane here. Thanks a lot again. Everyone listening. Make sure to like and subscribe, and we will check you guys out on our next episode.
Dr. Noel Liu:
Thanks for tuning in to the Secure Dental Podcast. We hope you found today's podcast inspiring and useful to your practice and financial growth. For show notes, resources, and ways to stay engaged with us, visit us at NoelLiuDDS.com. That's N O E L L I U D D S.com.
Sonix is the world’s most advanced automated transcription, translation, and subtitling platform. Fast, accurate, and affordable.
Automatically convert your mp3 files to text (txt file), Microsoft Word (docx file), and SubRip Subtitle (srt file) in minutes.
Sonix has many features that you'd love including powerful integrations and APIs, secure transcription and file storage, advanced search, enterprise-grade admin tools, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.
About Belinda Lau:
Belinda Lauist is the CEO and co-founder of ELIMS, a science-driven, sustainable oral care company on a mission to reimagine oral care with effective yet cleaning ingredients and planet-friendly design.
A former biomedical and materials science engineer, Belinda holds dual engineering degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and has over 20 years of experience developing life-saving medical devices like insulin pumps and spinal implants. She later earned her Executive MBA from UCLA Anderson, where the idea for ELIMS was born. Today, she leads ELIMS with a commitment to transparency, innovation, and sustainability—bringing her deep technical expertise to every product the brand creates.
Things You’ll Learn:
- Purpose-driven entrepreneurship creates authentic impact when rooted in personal values and lived experience.
- Vulnerable storytelling builds powerful human connections and inspires others.
- Adversity fuels growth, transformation, and mission-led leadership.
- Embracing cultural identity strengthens leadership and community impact.
- Holistic wellness requires honoring the mind, body, and spirit for lasting change.
