{"id":2583,"date":"2018-06-26T14:07:02","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T18:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/?p=2583"},"modified":"2018-06-26T14:14:17","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T18:14:17","slug":"inventor-has-a-grip-on-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/26\/inventor-has-a-grip-on-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Inventor Has a Grip on Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>There are two main things about entrepreneurship I appreciate: the importance of curiosity and perseverance \u2013 Steven Walther, inventor of the Toof-inger toothbrush<\/em><em>\u00ae.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Steven Walther marched away from his military service four years ago to battle in the free enterprise jungle, but many of those gung-ho traits he learned as a Green Beret Special Forces medic remain with him today \u2013 traits like perseverance, problem solving and a can-do attitude.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/X-AnrCUaR5k?ecver=1\" width=\"425\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Steven got the idea for what he calls the Toof-inger Brush\u00ae after returning from <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"http:\/\/dentalinsurancestore.com\/news-articles\/dental-wire\/2014\/05\/23\/-toof-brush-may-change-the-way-we-brush\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">active duty<\/a><\/strong><\/span> in Afghanistan.\u00a0\u00a0His custom crafted toothbrush has an ergonomically pleasing, short flex handle specially designed to \u201cpinch grip\u201d with just a thumb and two fingers when brushing. This provides the user more control and helps exert up to 25% less force than conventional toothbrushes.<\/p>\n<p>While serving in Afghanistan one of Steven&#8217;s responsibilities was teaching Afghans, many of whom had never seen a toothbrush, how to brush their teeth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTooth brushing was alien to Afghans and teaching them how to brush again and again really impacted my thinking,\u201d he said in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Time and again Steven watched Afghan adults and children grab a standard toothbrush by the handle, ball their fists and begin sawing on their teeth like a northern woods lumberjack trying to break a Guiness World Record in cross cutting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink about the way we interact with the toothbrush,\u201d Steven said in 2015. \u201cWe grab the tool in our hand and start scrubbing away because its design encourages us to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat got me to thinking about what goes in our hand for creating healthy brushing practices,\u201d Steven said of his Afghanistan experience.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2584\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2584\" style=\"width: 244px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2584 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Steven-Walther.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"244\" height=\"244\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2584\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steven Walther<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Upon returning to the States he developed a toothbrush prototype, shared that with a few dentists and, as Paul Harvey used to say, \u201cNow you know the rest of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When we last interviewed Steven in <a href=\"http:\/\/dentalinsurancestore.com\/resources\/agent-straight-talk\/agent-straight-talk\/2015\/01\/08\/a-new-handle-for-healthy-brushing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">January 2015<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0he was in the final semester of his Masters of Business Administration program at Campbell University and he had invested an estimated $70,000 of his own money over three years on his Toof-inger Brush\u00ae.<\/p>\n<p>Last week when we caught up with him, he was kind enough to update us on his six-year dream of breaking through the toothbrush ceiling of established commercial manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur toothbrush compares very favorably with other toothbrushes in terms of how well it cleans,\u201d he said in a June 19<sup>th<\/sup> phone interview. \u201cAs for its preventive properties, overall it\u2019s more effective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Private investors and parents agree. Since our original post on Steven\u2019s short-handled toothbrush gem, he has raised $75,000 from private investors.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2585\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2585\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2585\" src=\"http:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Toof-inger-Brush-Assortment.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"309\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2585\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Toof-inger comes in four colors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The brush has proven popular enough with parents teaching their kids to brush that Steven\u2019s company, FTGG, LLC (For the Greater Good) has a patent pending on a child-sized Toof-inger Brush\u00ae.\u00a0 The kids\u2019 brush has the same size mini-handle as the adult toothbrush but a smaller head size for li\u2019l pieholes. It also comes in the same four colors as the adult version: blue, red, green and pink.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParents really enjoy the toothbrush and kids like it because they can easily grip it,\u201d Steven said.<\/p>\n<p>The company name FTGG is more than a branding gimmick, though. A major part of FTGG\u2019s marketing plan has been donating toothbrushes around the world to children in undeveloped countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve donated toothbrushes to five or six different missions worldwide where children are in need of oral hygiene,\u201d Steven noted.<\/p>\n<p>Steven undoubtedly experienced toughness first-hand as an active duty solider, but as a medic he\u2019s always lived for and exuded compassion while relieving the suffering of others.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to promoting and advocating the benefits of the Toof-inger Brush\u00ae, Steven also is applying his devotion to healthcare and passion for innovation to the critical problem of opioid addiction.\u00a0 Currently he serves as one of three team members of <a href=\"http:\/\/cpmed.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Continuous Precision Medicine<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, a group established to combat <a href=\"http:\/\/dentalinsurancestore.com\/news-articles\/dental-wire\/2017\/08\/30\/how-opioid-abuse-affects-oral-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opioid <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>addiction<\/strong><\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince finishing my MBA I\u2019ve tried to stay engaged with healthcare. I enjoy the personal service healthcare provides and that\u2019s always been of interest to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>As for the imaginatively designed Toof-inger Brush\u00ae, he\u2019s still writing that part of the story.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cT<a name=\"_GoBack\"><\/a>oothbrush manufacturing is a very mature and established industry. It poses an interesting challenge for a company in its early stages, with limited resources, to penetrate their markets,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I still believe we can be the go-to manual toothbrush.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, there\u2019s a lot of fighting left to do but this ex-Special Forces veteran likes the odds.<\/p>\n<p>When asked his advice for future entrepreneurs, he said this:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe growth I\u2019ve been able to experience during this journey\u2026I\u2019ve learned so much, about so many different things.\u00a0 I love the entrepreneurial spirit.\u00a0 I would encourage others to follow their passion, make a positive impact and have the courage to step off into the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For more information about the Toof-inger Brush\u00ae and how to order, go to <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.toofingerbrush.com\/#home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Toofinger.com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo source: <em>toofinger.com, cpmedi.io<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2018, Bloom Insurance Agency, LLC\u00a9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are two main things about entrepreneurship I appreciate: the importance of curiosity and perseverance \u2013 Steven Walther, inventor of the Toof-inger toothbrush\u00ae. Steven Walther marched away from his military service four years ago to battle in the free enterprise jungle, but many of those gung-ho traits he learned as &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[348,346,347,345,344,343],"class_list":["post-2583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-agent-straight-talk-insurance-blog","tag-afghanistan","tag-for-the-greater-good","tag-ftgg","tag-green-beret","tag-steven-walther","tag-toof-inger","post_format-post-format-quote"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9iuwk-FF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2583"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2599,"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583\/revisions\/2599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deanriffs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}