Challenge

Oh my teeth provides orthodontic patients with examinations and 3D scans at a provider's office, in order to be fitted for orthodontic accessories. Shortly after, Oh my teeth delivers mouthpieces to customer’s homes, with instructions on how to wear the new accessory. This saves patients months of orthodontic treatment, since the average patient completes treatment with Oh my teeth mouthpieces in just three months.

Prior to launching their solution, Oh my teeth was looking for a payments partner that could accept online payments for its customers. The company turned to Stripe to implement online payments, just prior to releasing the Oh my teeth technology. In the years since launch, Stripe has remained a reliable payments provider for Oh my teeth, continuing to support the company’s growth.

“At first, we planned to rely mainly on bank transfers for the service, since it seemed difficult to accept payments via a smartphone. But then we learned about Stripe, a mobile payment service with minimal setup, and decided to introduce it just before the service’s release.” said Makoto Nishino, CEO and representative director of Oh my teeth.

In 2022, after only three years in business, the company surpassed 10,000 users. Stripe has enabled Oh my teeth to accept online credit-card payments from orthodontic patients at clinics that have adopted the Oh my teeth technology.

Solution

As a startup, it was important for Oh my teeth to quickly set up a payments service. It took Oh my teeth just one week to implement Stripe Payments.
“Stripe provided user interfaces, so there was no need to develop a new one–we just needed to add our logo,” said Nishino. “We were able to implement [Stripe] in just one week.”

So far, the Stripe payment interface has received positive feedback from Oh my teeth users, due to the convenience of online payments. Some have called Oh my teeth a “truly stress-free, revolutionary medical service,” reaffirming the company’s continued trust in Stripe.

“The majority of [orthodontic patients] opt for credit-card or loan payments. From the beginning, we’ve felt that implementing cashless payments through Stripe was a good decision,” said Nishino.

With support from Stripe, Oh my teeth has integrated Stripe Billing to offer subscription-based teeth-whitening services, in addition to its original orthodontic services.

Results

Oh my teeth has seen sales grow over 10x during its first three years in business. Through all of this growth, Stripe has provided a stable and easy-to-use platform, without additional maintenance costs. And Stripe’s intuitive Dashboard has prevented additional overhead for Oh my teeth.

“We can manage sales without extra work. We are also very grateful for the abbreviated one-week deposit cycle. There are no [deposit] delays, due to Stripe, which allows us to maintain a healthy cash flow,” said Nishino.
In the future, Oh my teeth plans to expand its services through franchising and improve the customer experience in innovative ways, including optimizing the payments experience. Stripe's products and services will be important for these initiatives to succeed.

“As we expand through franchising, we will need more sophisticated financial management, such as collection agency services, so we’d like to continue to prioritize efficiency using Stripe’s solutions—especially for developing customer-experience innovations,” said Nishino.