How five years in a dental practice, and two nephews who would not brush, became Tooth Club.
Where it began
Growing up, Stella’s parents had a clear plan for her: doctor or dentist. She started pre-dentistry, but quickly realised she doesn’t learn by sitting in lectures. She learns by building.
So she came at dentistry a different way. She bought a dental practice in Norway and, rather than running it from a distance, worked as a dental assistant beside the dentist for five years. She saw the X-rays, the diagnoses, and where problems really begin.
The same pattern came up again and again. Adults dealing with problems that started in childhood. Cavities that became fillings, fillings that became crowns, crowns that became root canals. And most of it could have been prevented.
The moment Tooth Club was born
Years later, in Australia, during COVID, Stella’s nephews came to stay. Every morning and every night was a battle to get them brushing. Even knowing everything she knew, she couldn’t get them to do it consistently.
Then she watched them, completely absorbed in a game, and had one thought.
What if there was a world children wanted to enter, and the way in was to brush their teeth?
That was 2020. Since then, Stella has designed a complete Tooth Club ecosystem: the characters, a reward system, and the technology to bring it all together. Toothsie, the eight friends, the brushing songs and the Star Book are just the first part of it to reach families.
Tested first at home
Before anything else was built, Tooth Club was tried with Rossana’s own two children, aged five and six. Character brushing videos were sent to them at home, and within a week they were asking for Toothsie by name, brushing for the full two minutes in exchange for a star, and asking for new toothbrushes.
Then they started sending videos back, talking to Toothsie and asking questions. That was the moment we knew children don’t just watch the Tooth Club friends. They brush with them, and they connect with them.
WHERE WE’RE GOING
Redefining the future of oral health for children.
Healthier. Smarter. Brighter.
Our mission is to help children make brushing a habit. When brushing every morning and every night simply becomes part of the day, it becomes a habit they keep for life, and a lifetime of looking after their oral health.
And it matters far beyond a bright smile. The mouth is the gateway to the body, and research has linked poor oral health with other conditions, including heart disease, diabetes and some lung infections. A healthy habit that starts at the bathroom sink is an investment in a child’s whole health.
That’s why Tooth Club isn’t just a toothbrush. It’s a whole world built around one goal: helping children brush, keep brushing for the full two minutes, brush the right way, and carry that habit for life.
Friends who grow with your child
Characters children choose and bond with, who grow up alongside them from toddlers to big kids.
Rewards worth brushing for
A reward system that makes every two-minute brush something children want to do.
Smart brushing
A smart Tooth Club toothbrush and app that guide children as they brush and celebrate every win.
From home to the dentist
Bringing families and their dentist closer, so good habits at home are seen and celebrated.
LEARN · PRACTISE · CELEBRATE
Fun learning. Small steps. Confident children. A lifelong habit, and a happier, brighter future.
The smart toothbrush and app are in development and our technology is patent pending. Today, families can start with Tooth Club toothbrushes, the Star Book, our brushing sessions and the Parent Guide, and be first to hear as each new part of the club arrives.
Mornings are chaos and evenings are tired. Parents care deeply. What’s been missing is a system that makes brushing easy and consistent for child and parent alike.
Habits are built every day.
Not sometimes. Two minutes, twice a day, every day. That’s the Tooth Club way, and it’s how a habit becomes something a child keeps for life.
Friends make it stick.
Children don’t connect with instructions. They connect with characters. When a friend is waiting at the sink, brushing stops being a chore.
Meet the founders
A designer who spent five years beside the dentist’s chair, and a lawyer and mother of two. Together, the vision and the rigour.
FOUNDER
Stella Taleb
Stella is a designer and entrepreneur with more than 25 years’ experience across healthcare, design and business. Her path began in pre-dentistry, led to five years working beside the dentist in her own dental practice in Norway, and then to studying interior design. She is the founder of ST Design & Build, an interior architecture and design studio, along with several other ventures.
She has been building Tooth Club since 2020, and her designer’s eye runs through all of it, from Toothsie and the friends to the Star Book. The idea itself comes from her own life: what she saw in the dental chair, and what she lived through at the bathroom sink with her nephews.
CO-FOUNDER
Rossana Bellina Voss
Rossana is an international banking and finance lawyer whose career spans London, New York, Sydney and Shanghai. She is a former Special Counsel at MinterEllison, was the first foreign lawyer admitted to a Chinese law firm, and is a Director of the Sydney FC Foundation.
She holds an LL.M. from Fordham University and a Master of Law from Bocconi University. She is also mum to Tooth Club’s very first testers.
CLINICAL GUIDANCE
“In my nearly 30 years as a dentist, I have not seen many solutions that directly tackle the real reason kids do not brush properly: engagement. This does.”
Dr Statila Pyke, Principal Dentist, Bright Smile Dental Coogee, Sydney
Join the club
Two minutes, twice a day, with friends. Start tonight with the brushing session and a free Star Book page.
