SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & NEW YORK– Verily, an Alphabet company, and Colgate-Palmolive, the global leader in oral care, today announced a strategic collaboration to advance oral health research. Under the agreement, Colgate’s Dental Clinical Team will partner with Verily to conduct an innovative oral health study as part of Verily’s ongoing Baseline Health Study that will aim to improve understanding of connections between oral health and overall human health.
The study’s goal is to see how oral health practices, including intensive non-surgical periodontal therapy, as well as a robust Colgate home oral hygiene regimen monitored through its hum smart toothbrush connected technologies, affect health more broadly. Periodontal treatment focuses on addressing issues with gums and oral health before they become more serious and potentially lead to tooth loss.
“We are pleased to partner with Colgate, the world’s premier oral care brand, to elucidate the impact of oral health on overall human health,” said Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, president of Verily’s clinical research platforms. “This effort underscores the versatility of Verily’s Baseline Platform as well as our commitment to accelerating and improving clinical research through the smart use of data, creative collaboration and unrivaled technical capabilities.”
“Colgate is at the forefront of oral health research, and this innovative partnership with Verily will advance our understanding of and quantify the link between improved oral health and control of systemic conditions,” said Maria Ryan, DDS, PhD., Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Colgate-Palmolive. “Oral health is a window to overall health. It can provide signals of new or worsening disease as exemplified by the connection between periodontal disease and elevated C-reactive protein, a marker of systemic inflammation, complicating diabetes control and increasing risk of cardiovascular disease. We look forward to conducting this study with Verily and incorporating the learnings to advance oral and overall healthcare.”
The study will enroll current participants in Verily’s ongoing Baseline Health Study, ages 18 and older, with prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease for up to 18 months. The non-surgical periodontal therapy will be administered by co-investigators at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Adams School of Dentistry. The “Baseline Oral Health Study: UNCoVer the Connections to General Health” and has been posted to clinicaltrials.gov.
“We’ve known for some time that oral health, cardiovascular disease and diabetes were interrelated. The depth of biological measurement in the Baseline Health Study combined with the dental expertise of the UNC Adams School of Dentistry and Colgate will enable us to expand our knowledge base dramatically,” said Rob Califf, MD, Head of Clinical Policy at Verily and Google Health.
