Northbrook, IL-based Tandem Oral Care injection-molds the unusual white polypropylene closure/floss dispenser and cutter that tops a tube manufactured by CCL Container (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada). Material is printed offset in five colors by an outside firm, then formed into a tube by CCL. The 295-micron (11.61 mils) tube structure, from the outside-in, comprises coextruded white PE/adhesive/aluminum foil/adhesive/low and medium-density PE. CCL ships uncrimped tubes with a standard "fez"-style closure. That closure is later replaced with the floss closure during the filling process, which is done by a contract packager.
Introduced last year, the product is marketed to dentists and to pharmacies. Each tube contains 1.8-oz of highly concentrated sodium fluoride. Some 25' of floss is housed in the attached closure. The product sells nationwide for around $6, according to Srini Chari, Tandem's president.
"Dentists were struggling to find ways to get more patients to floss," Chari notes. "This puts the floss right in the patients' hands when they brush. It's far exceeded our expectations. That's due almost completely to the packaging," he states. For more Tube Council winners, see packworld.com/go/w026. -- JB
