Our Science

Oralumi is built on two well-studied things: red and near-infrared light, which have been researched for years in periodontal care, and blue light, which has been studied for what it does to oral bacteria.

Below are real, published papers on both — with links, so you can read them yourself rather than taking our word for it. At the bottom we’ve set out plainly what this evidence does and doesn’t establish.

Red and near-infrared light

660nm · 830nm

In the literature this is called photobiomodulation, or low-level light therapy. It has been studied mainly as an addition to professional periodontal treatment, looking at inflammation, bleeding and tissue healing at the gumline.

Adjunctive photobiomodulation to basic periodontal therapy

Systematic review and meta-analysis · Lasers in Medical Science, 2024

Pooled randomised trials testing whether adding low-power light to standard periodontal treatment improves clinical outcomes over the treatment alone, and compared different ways of applying it.

Read the study

Adjunct 660nm LED irradiation during non-surgical periodontal therapy

Randomised controlled trial · Journal of the Formosan Medical Association

A controlled trial using an LED at the same red wavelength Oralumi uses — 660nm — alongside standard periodontal treatment, measuring clinical response at the gumline.

Read the study

Laser phototherapy at 660nm for reducing gingival inflammation

Clinical study · National Library of Medicine (PMC)

Examined red light at 660nm applied to inflamed gum tissue, reporting that it was beneficial for reducing gingival inflammation in the population studied.

Read the study

Photobiomodulation as an adjunct in patients with diabetes and chronic periodontitis

Systematic review and meta-analysis · PubMed, 2025

Looked specifically at people whose gum disease is harder to treat because of type 2 diabetes, and whether adding light therapy to scaling and root planing changed outcomes.

Read the study

Low-level laser therapy for gingival inflammation in children and adolescents

Narrative review · Healthcare, 2025

Brings together in vitro, animal and clinical work on red light and gum inflammation in younger patients — useful as an overview of where the evidence currently stands.

Read the review

Mechanisms and mitochondrial redox signalling in photobiomodulation

Review · Photochemistry and Photobiology, 2018 · Michael R. Hamblin

The standard reference on why red and near-infrared light affect cells at all: absorption in the mitochondria and the signalling that follows. Written by the field’s most-cited researcher.

Read the review

Blue light

460nm

Blue light in the 400–470nm range has been studied for its direct effect on bacteria — including the species that live along the gumline and contribute to bad breath. Most of this work is laboratory work on biofilms.

Efficacy of an LED toothbrush on a Porphyromonas gingivalis biofilm

In vitro study · National Library of Medicine (PMC), 2018

The closest study to our product: an LED toothbrush tested against a biofilm of P. gingivalis, one of the main bacteria implicated in gum disease.

Read the study

Antimicrobial effect of blue light using Porphyromonas gingivalis pigment

Scientific Reports, 2017

Shows the mechanism behind blue light’s effect on this particular bacterium: its own pigment absorbs blue light, which is what makes it vulnerable without any added dye.

Read the study

The effect of blue light on periodontal biofilm growth

In vitro study · Lasers in Medical Science

Tested how blue light affects the growth of multi-species periodontal biofilm — the mixed community that actually forms along a real gumline, rather than a single isolated species.

Read the study

Antimicrobial blue light: an emerging alternative to antibiotics

Review · Photomedicine and Laser Surgery, 2013

A broad overview of why blue light kills bacteria across many species, and why resistance to it has not been observed the way it has with antibiotics.

Read the review

Why gums and breath are connected

If you have ever wondered why bleeding gums and bad breath tend to arrive together, this is the link.

Volatile sulfur compounds in patients with gingivitis and periodontitis

Clinical study · National Library of Medicine (PMC), 2023

Volatile sulfur compounds are what bad breath actually is. This study measured them in people with gum inflammation, connecting the state of the gumline to the smell of the mouth.

Read the study

Antimicrobial light therapy on the tongue dorsum for halitosis

Randomised clinical trial · National Library of Medicine (PMC), 2024

A controlled trial treating the back of the tongue with light and measuring both the reduction in halitosis and how long the effect lasted. Note this trial used light together with a photosensitising agent, not light alone.

Read the study

Sixty days is our answer to all of this.

We cannot settle in writing whether this works for your mouth. So use it morning and night for two months, and if nothing changes, send it back for a full refund.

The studies linked on this page are the work of their authors and their publishers, and are cited here so you can read them directly. They concern red, near-infrared and blue light in general — they are not studies of the Oralumi brush, and nothing on this page is a claim that our product produces the outcomes reported in them. Oralumi is a toothbrush, not a medical device, and it is not a substitute for care from a dentist. If your gums bleed regularly, have them looked at.