In March 2025, the Adult Social Care Accelerator welcomed 6 startups from South Korea to London to explore the UK market, gain a deeper understanding of existing challenges and opportunities, and test their solutions with local participants and care providers.
Accessing dental care in the UK is no easy task. The NHS is overstretched, referrals are scarce and private dental care remains unaffordable for many. As a result, prolonged gaps between check-ups are common, leaving many unaware of their oral health condition.
Introducing SmarTooth:
Enter SmarTooth, South Korean-based startup and developers of an advanced optical sensor tool designed to address this barrier by enabling rapid and early screening of oral decay, root caries and other dental issues. This innovative tool can:
- Enable dental professionals to enhance their screening process, by identifying and assessing the extent and severity of decay
- Support care provides to efficiently identify and triage at-risk individuals, ensuring timely referrals for those in need of urgent care.
In response to the similar growing oral health challenge among Korea’s aging population, SmarTooth successfully deployed its solution, demonstrating meaningful impact, and giving us a glimpse of its potential in the UK market.
Exploring pathways to deployment
During their trip to London, SmarTooth set the objective of exploring potential routes to market, both within and beyond care home settings. We first joined Eric and Vivian, at the British Dental Industry Association conference, where their booth attracted a steady stream of intrigued attendees. The event provided a fantastic opportunity for SmarTooth to test demand and connect with industry professionals and build relationships with dentists, university professionals and leading dental healthcare companies.
Beyond the conference, Eric and Vivian engaged with managing directors from George Brooker House, Abbcross Nursing Home, Lodge Group Care and Cambridge Nursing Home in the London boroughs of Havering and Barking & Dagenham. These conversations provided care providers the opportunity to test and get a feel for the product while SmarTooth were able to test usability, identify any limitations they may face in the UK market, and explore potential pathways for expansion.
To complete their trip, SmarTooth sat down with Dr Aylin Baysan, Professor in Cardiology in relation to Minimally Invasive Dentistry (MID), whose research on oral health and decay in the aging population, aligns closely with SmarTooth’s area of focus. All left the meeting with the shared agreement that root caries in seniors is an issue worth pursuing, and with discussions underway about future collaboration opportunities.
The road ahead
SmarTooth received overwhelmingly positive feedback from dental professionals, care providers, and Dr. Baysan, helping to validate both demand in the UK market. All care providers expressed strong interest, with many eager to pilot the device in care home settings once medical device registration is complete. The team has also begun exploring opportunities for clinical trials in partnership with a university. Having validated the market opportunity, SmarTooth has initiated the process of registering as a certified medical device in the UK.
About the Adult Social Care Accelerator
As our over-65 population continues to expand and more of those individuals face chronic conditions that require long-term care, the UK care system faces increased pressure. We believe that technology can help ease this crisis by helping elderly people stay independent for longer and by reducing the burden on carers.
The Adult Social Care Accelerator is an innovation accelerator that tests new technologies from around the world with a network of forward-thinking care providers. The Accelerator scales the most impactful solutions across the care ecosystem by connecting corporates, local authorities, and the communities we serve.