Specialist in dental care for pets

“Our starting point was a background in human dentistry and a group of companies that have developed innovative dental health products over the last 40 years,” states Ole Barman, general manager of Petosan. The company has focused on building up its distribution to veterinary clinics before entering the pet product market in order to attract veterinarians’ attention and give them an opportunity to gain early knowledge and experience of the product. Now the company is being introduced into the pet product market with great success. Major European chains stocking Petosan include Pets at Home with 165 stores in the UK, Tom & Co with over 95 stores in Belgium and Dehner Garden Centres with almost 100 stores in Germany. In the USA, Petosan has been sold mainly in veterinary clinics. One of the most successful products in the human market is a three-headed toothbrush, “Superbrush”, which has enjoyed impressive results in 12 clinical tests altogether carried out in Scandinavia, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, the UK, France, Germany and Japan. The tests showed that “Superbrush” removes up to 25 per cent more plaque than traditional brushes. “Over the past few years an increasing number of veterinarians have started using the human product for cleaning pets’ teeth,” Ole Barman said. “However, at the same time they strongly urged us to design a brush specifically for use on dogs.” With the feedback from veterinarians, and with funding from the Norwegian authorities, the company started work on developing and commercialising a brush that would help make dental care for pets easier, more convenient and more efficient for pet owners. By integrating veterinarians, dentists and leading toothbrush designers into a project team, Petosan developed a product that provides a significantly easier and more convenient way of cleaning the teeth efficiently. The Petosan toothbrush cleans the inner and outer surface of the teeth simultaneously whilst keeping brush filaments at the required 45 degrees towards the important area along the gum line. The Petosan toothbrush is the toothbrush recommended by the British Pet Smile Campaign (www.petsmile.org) and the Polish veterinary dental organisation (PVDA). The Norwegian company Petosan AS is a spin-off from Dentaco AS and a result of veterinarians’ demand for more suitable products for dental care for pets. Petosan AS and Dentaco AS are both owned by the Barman family and are co-located in the same facilities, sharing logistic and…