Corporate Profile: Q&A with SockIt! Oral Hydrogel

I have devoted my entire adult life serving in the dental field (28 years as an oral surgeon).  I always have been haunted by the fact that we create wounds on a daily basis; yet, as oral health care providers, we have never had an effective or appropriate means of taking care of wounds in the mouth. For example, we extract teeth and send patients home with a gaping hole in an environment both teeming with pathogenic microbes and assaulted by various chemicals in the form of food, drink, tobacco, etc., with nothing more than a prescription for pain medication.  Nowhere else on the body would such “treatment” routinely occur without its being considered “substandard care.”

Wound dressings are Rule No.1 in wound care as they protect wounds from contamination and provide an environment that allows optimal healing to take place. However, no true dressing for oral wounds had ever been created. It seemed incredible to me that dentistry in the 21st century, as far as wound care is concerned, lags so far behind medicine.  Apparently nobody had ever seen fit, or was ever able, to effectively address this issue. Before I retired from oral surgery, tackling and solving this problem became the mission and passion of my professional life.

Obviously I needed help accomplishing this goal. I was fortunate enough to have been introduced to Dr. Bill McAnalley. Bill is a pharmacologist/toxicologist with more than 30 years’ experience in the wound care arena. He has been awarded 35 U.S. patents and more than 500 international patents for technology associated with natural-source health products. He developed the first marketed hydrogel wound dressing, which remained the No.1 hydrogel wound dressing in the world for years (until the patent expired). He and his team have dedicated their lives to the development of innovative health care products with an emphasis on using natural ingredients.  I met with Bill at his lab and emphasized to him the need for an intraoral wound dressing.  To my delight, Bill immediately caught my vision. After much discussion, we agreed that such a product should protect oral wounds from contamination, provide pain relief, enhance healing and, most importantly, be safe to swallow.