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Corporate Profile: {KöR} by Benjamin Lund, Editor, Dentaltown Magazine

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A Frosty Formula for Success
by Benjamin Lund, Editor, Dentaltown Magazine

Dentaltown Magazine sits down with Dr. Rod Kurthy, CEO, and Sharon Kurthy, CFO and president, of KöR Whitening Systems.

We hear about it every day. We see it on the Dentaltown.com forum. We overhear strangers discussing it in restaurants. Dental professionals and patients alike are thoroughly disgusted with poor teeth-whitening results and the discomfort often caused by whitening. But over the past few years we've seen the excited response by dentists and dental staff to KöR Whitening, and hear about how gratifying this is for them, and especially their patients. Here at Dentaltown we like to take some of the credit for that. It was on the Dentaltown forum back in about 2003 that dentists started urging Dr. Rod Kurthy to develop a whitening system that actually worked, and worked without the common sensitivity. After several years of research and development, about five years ago Dr. Rod and Sharon Kurthy started their company, KöR Whitening. We recently caught up with Rod and Sharon to ask them about the meteoric growth their company has experienced.

Rod, for years we at Dentaltown have followed your career with great interest, and the first thing I just have to ask you is, what have you done to yourself? You look great!
Rod Kurthy: Thanks for noticing, Ben. A couple years ago I decided that I wanted to start eating healthy and exercising. It didn't have anything to do with losing weight - just being healthy. So I spent a few months researching the eating habits of cultures around the globe with the lowest incidences of cardiovascular disease and various cancers. Then I did an in-depth literature search, and came up with foods to eat and foods not to eat. Along with exercise, it's simply the way I eat now. And to my great surprise, the pounds started falling off. So far it's about a hundred pounds. And I feel great!

Awesome! OK, now onto my questions...

We see in your cover photos that a main focus of your company is still cold and constant refrigeration of your products. Why is this important?
Rod Kurthy: Absolutely! And it always will be. Constant refrigeration makes a huge difference! Whitening gels are unstable chemicals. They're supposed to be. That's why they can break down quickly in the mouth and whiten teeth. But the downside is that unstable chemicals start breaking down immediately when they're manufactured unless constantly refrigerated. I'm still very proud that we are the first and only whitening company to refrigerate a full line of whitening products from the instant of manufacture until dentists receive them cold in their practices. That was my dream for years, and having our own company has given me the opportunity to realize that dream.

KöR has always seemed very different, and we see very enthusiastic posts from dentists about KöR on the Dentaltown forum. Why is that?
Rod Kurthy: Companies I've consulted for tend to want to give dentists a magic potion that will quickly get teeth white with almost no work. After 36 years of research in the science of teeth whitening, I can tell you that doesn't work very well. There is no magic potion. You simply can't change the laws of physics or the laws of chemistry. I built the KöR Whitening system based on the science of physics and chemistry. It's not magic. It is simply putting those scientific laws to work for you.

So the technique of KöR Whitening is different. And I have developed the whitening products with the specific physical and chemical properties necessary to work with the KöR technique. It's not at all difficult - it's just different.

You already had a very full plate even before you started KöR, and I know you're busy now - in fact you just took your first vacation in five and a half years! Has it been worth it?
Rod Kurthy: With all the years I've put into research, the feeling of accomplishment in helping to solve a very frustrating problem for both dentists and patients is the single biggest reward I'm receiving. The wonderful calls and e-mails I constantly get from our dentist clients are just incredible.

Some of the stories and photos I receive regarding how our dentist clients have been able to dramatically change patients' lives are heartbreaking to hear the history, but at the same time incredibly gratifying to see the outcome of the KöR treatment and hear how it has affected the patient's life. Sharon and I make sure that every employee at KöR sees these cases and understands that each had a hand in helping these patients. I think that might be why we've got the best and most dedicated team in dentistry at KöR.

Sharon, your company growth has been explosive. Why have you been able to grow so quickly, even in this down economy?
Sharon Kurthy: Rod and I are determined to give the real deal instead of hype. Instead of focusing on just sales, our focus is on the success of our dentist clients; and that means overall success of their practices, not just whitening. Oftentimes, new customers tell us they're calling because a dentist friend is wild about our system, and told them they just have to jump on board. And that really feels great.

How has KöR Whitening impacted your customers' practices?
Sharon Kurthy: It has really enhanced the dentists' and teams' confidence in whitening, and the very exciting thing is that dentists tell us time and time again that these patients become absolutely infatuated with their new white smiles and start seeing all the imperfections in their smiles. They start asking for anything from replacing darker crowns and composites (even on molars), to fixing chips and spaces, to short-term ortho and Invisalign and even full-blown porcelain cosmetic makeovers. And that is our primary goal - to build our business by helping dentists build theirs.

What has KöR Whitening become best known for in dentistry?
Rod Kurthy: Because KöR does so well even on difficult cases, I think that many dentists have assumed that KöR is just for difficult cases like tetracycline staining, fluorosis and dark geriatric patients. But that most certainly is not the case. KöR Whitening has a system for any patient asking for whitening. After all, when your patients ask for teeth whitening, they are expecting white teeth. If their teeth become whiter than they even expected, you're a hero, they trust you, they refer, and they schedule the other treatment you've recommended. But if their teeth aren't as white as they'd expected, you can lose their confidence, they're less likely to refer, and they're less likely to schedule for all the other treatment you've recommended.

Is KöR Whitening an in-office whitening system or an at-home system?
Rod Kurthy: There are several choices. The two most popular KöR systems are our at-home only, which does not involve any in-office whitening, and the other is our full KöR Whitening system, which involves at-home whitening followed by an in-office whitening. Most of our clients offer their patients the choice of at least these two KöR systems.

What are the most important elements of the KöR Whitening business philosophy?
Sharon Kurthy: The top three most important elements of our business philosophy are 1) taking care of our customers, 2) taking care of our customers and 3) taking care of our customers. That is what our team members are graded on - how well they take care of dentists and their dental staffs. We have an entire team of very knowledgeable Clinical and Marketing Specialists, whose only job is to help dentists and staff be successful. They help dentists with learning the system, how to deal with unusual cases, how to market KöR and other offerings of their dental practices, case presentation, how to get patients excited about KöR and cosmetic dentistry, and everything else possible. No question is too small or too large.

Dentists frequently e-mail us photos of cases so we can help them in various ways. Our Specialists often have conference calls with the entire teams of dental practices. You name it, we want to help with it - and it doesn't have to be just about teeth whitening. We want to be a source of help in any way we can. Each KöR customer is assigned a specialist who is actually like his or her own concierge at KöR.

Rod Kurthy: In those rare situations where dentists ask questions that our team isn't able to answer, they come directly to me, and I make sure we get them taken care of. Every Friday we have full team meetings to discuss, among other things, any new questions that have come up so that our entire team can learn. Those meetings are incredibly dynamic and fun.

What is the most significant change in your company since we last featured KöR on the cover of Dentaltown Magazine?
Rod Kurthy: I'd have to say our guarantee. Like other dentists, I've always had that same closet full of junk gathering dust that didn't do what the manufacturers promised me it would. So just like other dentists, I've learned to be very skeptical about believing those promises and trying new things.

I didn't want dentists to have any risk in trying our whitening system. We've seen that once dentists try the KöR system, they love it, so we weren't hesitant to offer our 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. Since we're the only whitening company to offer this guarantee, and because it removes all the risk of trying KöR Whitening, we've had an incredible response from dentists. They love it and we do, too.

Have there been any other significant changes over the past few years?
Rod Kurthy: Absolutely! Because of a change to our delivery system (a tri-barrel syringe), we're able to keep the chemistry separated into three barrels instead of just two (dual-barrel). This allowed me to make some rather revolutionary changes to our gel formula. Remember, there are many chemicals that you just can't mix together until you're ready to use the gel. These changes in the formula increased the effectiveness and have allowed me to shorten the number of steps in KöR Whitening, with even better results - and that means less product to buy.

This change in formulation has made KöR Whitening faster and easier than ever. And when you consider that there is now less gel to buy, plus how much we've grown (higher volumes), we've been able to reduce the cost of KöR. KöR has not only become a very economical system to use, but it's no more costly and takes no more time to use than other whitening systems on the market.

What are you most excited about when it comes to the future of KöR Whitening?
Rod Kurthy: If we continue growing like we have, it will be very exciting indeed. After only five years, we've already moved into our third building. We just keep outgrowing them! Mostly I'm excited about my continued research.

After 36 years of whitening research, are you still learning new things about whitening or are you just confirming the science behind it?
Rod Kurthy: Both! I'm always learning more and more about whitening, and even more so now than years ago. Previously it was primarily me, my patients and my clinical studies, but now I've got thousands of dentists as customers, many of whom frequently contact me with photos, patient histories and all the clinical information for me to learn from their cases also. When crazy cases come up - and they do all the time - the treating dentist and I consult and come up with a plan. I get to learn from these cases just as much as if I were the treating dentist myself. And of course, I always have my own clinical studies going on.

As more and more science surfaces in the literature, it's really exciting to keep reconfirming my understanding of the science behind all this.

How do you convince a dentist who does not perform whitening in his/her practice to do so?
Rod Kurthy: I'm not so sure that we even want to try to convince every dentist on the planet to offer whitening. I don't believe there is just one right way to practice. So much depends on the geographic location and various demographics of the individual dentist's patient population.

On the other hand, many dentists have told me they no longer offer whitening simply because they and their staffs have become embarrassed about the unpredictable results and sensitivity to the point where they stopped, or are considering stopping offering whitening. To those dentists I would say yes, I totally understand, but KöR is truly different. In fact, this is one of the most frequent comments that our staff and I hear - dentists thank us for providing them a system that they can now count on. So for those dentists, really, give KöR a try. With our guarantee, you've got nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain.

For more information about KöR , call 949-713-0909 or visit www.korwhitening.com.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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