Two brothers with years of professional dentistry experience are set to join the executive ranks of an Albuquerque startup as the company looks to commercialize and scale a nanoparticle-based dental health technology.
MNT SmartSolutions, built around nanotechnology devised by Leisha Martin, Ph.D., the startup's chief technology officer, announced Wednesday Dr. Ali Saad and Dr. Mohamed Saad will join Martin on the company's executive team. Ali Saad will serve as CEO and Mohamed Saad will serve as chief operating officer.
The pair of appointments come as MNT SmartSolutions readies its nanotechnology for market. The technology uses nanoparticles infused in toothpaste to reach hard-to-clean areas of a person's mouth in combination with a magnetic toothbrush. The startup hopes its tech can help treat mouth and gum conditions like periodontal disease.
Ali and Mohamed Saad see the tech as a "disruptor" in a somewhat technologically stagnant dental health space. The brothers co-founded Prime Dentistry, a dentistry practice in the metro Detroit area with eight operational locations, via an acquisition in 2011.
"The more we met, the more we talked, we started to realize there is something definitely here that's never really been in the market before that really help disrupt the industry in a positive way," Mohamed Saad said. "You don't get that everyday."
With the new executives, the Albuquerque startup wants to bring in money to spur product development and commercialization. It's actively raising for a seed round, with a target of around $3 million to $4 million.
That money will help MNT SmartSolutions meet what the Saad brothers said is a "ton of interest" they've heard from folks within the dental health industry. The new executives see a big opportunity in the direct-to-consumer market, specifically, selling MNT's nanotech products directly to interested customers off-the-shelf or through online sales.
It'll also help fund a second round of trials for MNT's technology; the startup's tech made it through a first round of preclinical trials in late spring 2023.
Ali and Mohamed Saad first connected with Martin and John Chavez, managing director of the New Mexico Start-Up Factory, a startup support organization that helped launch MNT SmartSolutions, in mid-2023. The team behind MNT is part of what pulled the Saad brothers to help lead the startup.
"I do believe it's a novel idea," Ali Saad said. "I do believe this product that we're currently working on is going to be a game-charger, a disrupter within the field. And I think it's long awaited."
MNT SmartSolutions, a Startup to Watch in 2023, has received backing for its nanotech development in the form of a phase one National Science Foundation technology transfer grant worth just over $250,000 and a $25,000 New Mexico Economic Development Department grant.
