North East teeth whitening company WhiteWash Laboratories has signed a deal with one of the UK’s largest dental labs, Ashford Orthodontics Ltd, in an agreement that could be worth up to £100,000 a year.

WhiteWash, which manufactures and distributes premium tooth whitening products to more than 1,000 dentists across the UK, has teamed up with the Sunderland-based lab, which will manufacture trays for the whitening gel that have been specially designed to maximise the effects for customers. The deal between the two North East dental firms could help both companies to gain a bigger bite of the ashford-orthodontics-pressmarket.

Middlesbrough-based WhiteWash, which was founded by school friends Tom Riley, Matthew Lloyd and Chris McPhillips whose first joint venture was selling sweets in the playground to classmates, has developed a closely-guarded secret formula with British dentists, which maximises the whitening effects whilst caring for teeth. The growing company, which turns over about £1m, is already exporting to more than 20 companies around the globe, and is hoping to expand into new markets.

Ashford Orthodontics Ltd was founded eight years ago by Directors Craig Stevens, Sean Thomson and Graeme Winyard. Now employing 17 people, the lab has a specialist in-house two-year training programme, which all technicians undergo. Tom Riley, Managing Director of WhiteWash Laboratories, said: “We’re very pleased to be working with Ashford Orthodontics. They are one of the UK’s largest specialist orthodontics labs and have an excellent reputation for this type of work – and they are also based in the North East, which is a great plus for us. The deal means that customers will be getting a high-quality, British-made tray which has been specially designed to maximise the effects of our products. We’re very much looking forward to working with Ashford Orthodontics.”

Craig Stevens, Director at Ashford Orthodontics Ltd, said: “WhiteWash is a really progressive, interesting and innovative company, and we were delighted to be working in partnership with them. They have a network of more than 1,000 UK dentists, which could really open up potential new markets for us – and it’s a bonus to us that it’s a fellow North East firm that we’re doing business with.”