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You Should Know: C3 Jian by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, Editorial Director, Dentaltown Magazine

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You Should Know: C3 Jian
by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, Editorial Director, Dentaltown Magazine

Randy Eckert is a laboratory director, and co-founder of C3 Jian, founded in 2006. The name, which references the founders (C3) and Jian, which means archer or targeted in Chinese, has developed a complex and technological recipe for a mouthrinse that just might be the secret to eliminating Strep mutans, and eventually, caries.

What is the general mission statement of C3?
Eckert: To address diseases of demineralization in the oral cavity, specifically dental caries.

And how did fulfilling the mission start?
Eckert: We started with the technology side first. Kind of stepping back and giving you a bird’s eye view of the development, we started out from the research side. We took a look from our deep understanding of oral microbiology and took a look at interplay between the species within in the oral cavity. There are hundreds of species in the oral cavity and there is a great deal of competition and cooperation that occurs. One of the interesting findings is that the Strep mutans become dominant when you have a lot of dietary sugars because they make these antimicrobial compounds and they kill other bacteria, but as a whole they are a minority in their own niche. They are one of only a handful of acid-producing bacteria and although they produce the majority of acid involved in caries, they are alone in that role, so we see right away that there are all these potentially beneficial bacterial occupying the same niches as mutans. There is an opportunity for targeted therapy to be more than just selective removal of a pathogen. There is a whole other side to it – if we get rid of S. mutans selectively, the other bacteria can then fill in the niche and provide you with longer term protection. You are basically changing the ecology in the mouth. How do you get rid of S. mutans selectively and let the normal flora give you protective colonization? One of the things we have worked on are peptide compounds. Peptides are a convenient chemical canvas, without getting too technical. Basically these peptides can be easily tailored to do what we want, which in this case is to make selectively targeted antibiotic.

That gave us the molecular framework to get the job done. Then the last step was figuring out how to deploy it to the oral cavity. Mouthrinse is the easiest thing because it is topical. Our antibiotic is very rapid. It only needs 30 or 40 seconds in there, gets all the S. mutans out and then you spit it all out.

How often do you need to do the rinsing?
Eckert: It is intended to be formulated by the dentist or hygienist chairside. It will come in a kit with a mouthrinse vehicle and then the powdered peptide antibiotic component. We are intending for it to be used infrequently to aid in maintaining the natural S. mutans-free dental plaque. Ideally it will fit into the typical every sixmonths prophy visit.

It looks like your recent research was done in conjunction with, or with support from Colgate, is that correct?
Eckert: We were in a joint research agreement at the time, but the commercial rights to the product have always rested with C3, and we still retain worldwide exclusive license. We have all the key patents for this technology and after seeing how well this was working, our board of directors has made a strategic decision to go forward without a partner. That is where we are right now.

So how does all this affect the elimination of new decay and demineralization? And how close does it get us to “cavity-free?”
Eckert: We are eliminating the root cause so then you prevent further damage. I think the important thing to realize is we are not a replacement for fluoride. This product is one that can work in conjunction with an agent like fluoride that repairs the damage because if you are going to take this you might have some existing damage already in your tooth structure and this isn’t going to fix damage. It will eliminate the cause, but something like fluoride is still foreign because it rebuilds that enamel.

How many people are working on this project?
Eckert: We are a small company at the moment but we are rapidly expanding. We have only about 20 employees now but we are going to be tripling in size very shortly. We are expanding.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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