Cannabis For Your Mouth: R&D, Patents, And Your Next Visit To The Dentist – Forbes

The United States’ cannabidiol (CBD) market may soon see a boon in oral care products, premium brands may seek patents with no certainties they will be enforced. + Ways to survive the dentist.

Cannabis and oral care are a complementary combination making more and more sense to researchers and scientists.

Cannabis and oral care are a complementary combination making more and more sense to researchers and scientists. | CBD drops, CBD Capsules, CBD oils can all be used for oral care.

Andre Bourque

Oral diseases are the most common non communicable diseases across the globe according to the World Health Organization, which also estimates severe periodontal disease to be the 11th most common disease worldwide. And severe tooth loss and edentulism (tooth loss) is one of the leading ten causes of Years Lived with Disability (YLD) in some high-income countries.

At the same time, cannabidiol has taken the United States’ health, beauty, and wellness products industry by storm. In a survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers, 1,500 reported using a CBD product within the last three months.

With CBD’s well-cited effects treating inflammation and fighting bacteria, it makes sense that oral health and CBD should grow closer and closer together in the form of consumer products.

After all, at-home recipes for CBD mouthwash, CBD charcoal oil, and other oral health solutions already dwell in Google databases, signaling an undeniable demand for CBD oral health products. Or at least a really determined curiosity. `

A few cannabis, biotech, and pharmaceutical companies have been developing and testing cannabis-derived oral care solutions from the beginning, aiming to get them on the shelves of drug stores and health food stores as quickly as possible.

Cannabinoid research and product development company, AXIM® Biotechnologies, Inc. (OTC: AXIM), has a history of developing cannabis-derived oral health products through extensive research. The company recently partnered with Impression Healthcare to supply its CBD toothpaste and mouthwash for a clinical periodontitis treatment trial.

They’re looking to test the effectiveness of CBD in treating periodontitis, with trials to be performed at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. The teams are using a patented formula developed by Axim to maximize the presence of CBD in the oral cavity during brushing.

“CBD is a powerful antibiotic and anti-inflammatory, so we have found it has great benefits in relation to oral care after years of offering our patented CBD-based chewing gum,” Axim CEO John W. Huemoeller II related in a written interview. „The inclusion of CBD for anti-inflammatory and antibiotic is intended to aid reduction in gum swelling while helping to eliminate infection-causing bacteria.”

The end game is a new line of CBD oral hygiene products, including toothpaste and mouthwash, for the treatment of symptoms associated with gum disease. Huemoeller cites consumer preferences as key to his company’s commitment to develop these products. „They [consumers] are eager to have wider access to safely regulated CBD for their various needs,” he believes.” Consumer buying trends will heavily shape the currently vast CBD industry as companies see buying trends lean to one type of product or another.”

Advances in cannabis-derived oral health research and development paired with this consumer power will only further an already active wave of changing sentiment about cannabis in America. „As CBD comes to light as a health supplement with a range of potential treatments, the FDA is already feeling the pressure from the CBD industry and its consumers to allow the non-psychoactive compound to be added into foods and beverages,” Huemoeller said.

Patents and customized cannabis

If the budding CBD oral health care product market grows to resemble that of click-to-buy CBD bath bombs one, the same formula with different labels will sit side-by-side on the shelf of a CVS. As these generic cannabis oral care products enter the market, unique characteristics, predictable and precise effects, and strong efficacy will be needed to separate premium brands from all the others.

Once the right mix of process and ingredients is realized, these „formulations” will need protection and preservation.

This is because the future of weed is in formulations, according to this great reference piece on customized cannabis by Madison Margolin of Rolling Stone. The direction of cannabis consumer market preferences is towards still about the experience—but ones with precisely anticipated effects. „Consumers — especially novice consumers — more and more will veer toward a manufactured cannabis oil, edibles, pills, or tinctures, designed by scientists to target the consumer’s specific needs,” she predicted.

„The basis of these products are specially curated chemical concoctions, donning specific ratios of cannabinoids (like THC and CBD) and terpenes, aromatic compounds that provide a distinct character to each of marijuana’s varied psychoactive effects,” Margolin explains.

All that research and development needs protecting.

That’s why companies like Axim are looking at the structure of CBD, and replicating it in a lab to make a completely new compound that retains 99% the same effectiveness as the plant or more. These novel compounds of synthetic CBD can be patented in the same way as any chemical product. But with a few caveats.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been issuing cannabis-related patents since 1942, but the process and criteria still aren’t clear and consistent according to experts. Differences between federal and state cannabis laws and lack of consensus in accommodating them have caused confusion for lawyers and cannabis companies on precisely how to approach patents and trademarks.

“This is not a black and white issue,” said Ryan S. Osterweil, an attorney with Day Pitney LLP, a Connecticut based law firm, reports Cannabis Wire.

First, to get a patent, the invention must be novel and cannot already exist in nature. So that’s a big hurdle. With 80 years of prohibition, there is a massive lack of prior art and documentation for cannabis, a key criteria in patent application. And lastly, patent law is exclusively federal, and cannabis is still a Schedule 1 drug.

When you have a patent, it’s up to you to monitor it. Axim takes their patent enforcement seriously. „Anyone who infringes on our patents will receive notification letters,” Huemoeller said. „We will evaluate the cost of pursuing legal action and take the next steps from there. If any company generates income from our patents, we will have the ability to pursue them.”

While worthy cannabis patents are being rightfully earned, they come with no assurance they’ll be enforced by authorities. William J. McNichol, Jr., Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University School of Law, predicted that “the USPTO’s willingness to grant cannabis patents is unlikely to be matched by a willingness of the Federal Courts to enforce cannabis patents.”

Patents are valuable, regardless, because those who play by the rules will license them. „The good (big) players will license our patents, so they will become a proven revenue source for us,” Huemoeller told me.  

Cannabis and the dentist

So where’s all this leave you until these premium new products hit the market? And next trip to the dentist’s office, how can cannabis help me with that?

By applying cannabis to do some of the things it’s already proven effective for. CBD can help reduce anxiety before a dental procedure, for example.

“A dose earlier in the day or even the night before can be taken if anxiety’s already struck,” advises Dr. Jared Helfant, who practices dentistry in Broward County, Florida, in an interview with Merry Jane writer A.J. Herrington. His dose recommendation is 1-1.5 milligrams of CBD per 10 pounds of body weight. “CBD taken [an hour] before a dental procedure, and again as anesthesia wears off, will also help prevent or lessen the associated pain,” he surmised. 

For post-surgery relief, a sterile pad dipped in CBD oil can be used to contain the wounded area after a tooth extraction, and works as an analgesic. „The same applies when sensitive gums are sore and need to recover after the periodic deep cleaning performed by a professional,” according to Royal Queen Seeds. „In addition to the analgesic effect, CBD helps keep the area free of bacteria.”

Be stealthy in your “office visit” use of CBD if you choose that route. Some web surfing dentists have been trained to size-up patients who’ve smoked a hemp cigarette outside.

An article from DentistryIQ advises dentists on how to “recognize the signs” of a patient who’s used cannabis prior to their procedure. “These signs and symptoms may include the following: euphoria, hyperactivity, tachycardia, paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations,” the article reads. It then continues, “Other research has noted that „[d]ental treatment on patients intoxicated on cannabis can result in the patient experiencing acute anxiety, dysphoria and psychotic-like paranoiac thoughts.”

Some signs are easier to recognize.

My recent recent office visit wasn’t awkwardly surreptitiousness or tainted by hallucinations at all…just softened by a whole lot more tolerance for pain. Thanks for the CBD vape pen, Select CBD, I still had one left over from last year’s Emmys bags.

Disclosure: I have no financial interest or positions in the aforementioned companies. This information is for educational purposes and does not constitute financial and/or legal advice. But Select CBD did hook me up with a great free vape pen.

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