Sturdyfloss Inventor Got Her Idea As A Student

By Susan Malandrino

While most students are happy just to come away with a diploma at graduation, Joann Stallings Daughtery also left Old Dominion in 2000 with an idea for creating a marketable product. Daughtery, who currently works as a dental hygienist in Virginia Beach, is the inventor of Sturdyfloss, a device designed to make flossing easier for children with braces.

“I guess I just happened upon my career,” said Daughtery, who applied for her first summer job at a dentist’s office when she was 16.

She came up with the idea for Sturdyfloss while a dental hygiene student at the university. “Searching the Internet, I realized there was nothing comparable on the market, and I thought I might have an opportunity here,” she said.

After graduation, Daughtery took her idea to the Virginia Applied Technology and Professional Development Center, a part of ODU’s Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology.

“The group guided me in every direction, from building a prototype to creating a business plan, and eventually helping me to get the product on the market,” she said.

Getting to the market-ready stage, however, proved to be more tedious than expected. Daughtery hired a broker who visited manufacturers in China willing to produce the device. It then had to be cleared through the Federal Drug Administration.

After she received a patent for her invention in 2005, Sturdyfloss finally went on the market in May 2006. It has been sold primarily at trade shows and on the Web, but Farm Fresh and other commercial outlets now carry it, and recently the company has expanded sales to markets in Europe. Locally, boxes of 100 sell for $12.99, and a box of 20 is $2.99.

Unlike rolls of traditional dental floss, Sturdyfloss comes in individually wrapped pieces that consist of a length of floss connected to a plastic tip. Daughtery said the secret to Sturdyfloss is its stiff yet flexible tip, which wearers of braces can easily insert underneath the wires and grab to make flossing motions. Trying to thread traditional floss through appliances, she noted, is challenging at best.

Daughtery, who operates her side business from home, hopes that it will one day evolve into a full-time enterprise.
“It’s like I’ve never graduated from Old Dominion – I still feel like I’m in a research class,” she said. “Each day, I am learning new aspects of my business, the dental industry and ways to promote the product.”

For more information about Sturdyfloss visit www.sturdyfloss.com.