Partners In Science
When we started the company, we realized two things: We didn’t want outside investors and we wanted to collaborate with prestigious, national scientific foundations. Ten years later, we have stayed true to both. Professor Johannes Schwank had long career of grant writing with huge scientific engineering projects at University of Michigan. I had several grants in Sweden and developed a cutting-edge Biobank at William Beaumont Health System. With the freedom to take our inventions in any direction, and great scientific partners we knew SISU mouthguards would become that much better and the thermoplastic material would be that much smarter.
The Department of Defense (DoD) was the first partnership in 2012. The DoD wanted us to develop a concussion preventing mouthguard for our soldiers. We informed DoD that there is no scientific evidence confirming that a mouthguard can prevent concussions. We showed that there is no reliable existing experimental system that accurately can evaluate mouth guards and that mouthguards cannot stop violence to one’s brain, only changed behavior can.
“The National Science Foundation (NSF) became our biggest partner in the quest for optimal safety. Between 2013-2018 we received three SBIR grants that resulted in 5 patents and most recently, an invention that has the potential to prevent traumatic brain injury in sports or the military – SISU Sense.”
Our latest partner is Delta Dental. They recently finished a NIH sponsored study at the University of Michigan on night guards. The result of the study shows that our brand, SOVA Night Guard, is as effective as expensive dentist made night guards. Delta Dental is also funding our latest scientific project – to develop an impact testing device that accurately can assess the efficacy of mouthguards. We will never commercialize this device, just move the field forward. We’re just that committed to scientific excellence.