Grind Goods is a personal care brand headquartered in Vineyard, Utah. It was founded in 2020.
In 2023, Grind Goods made exactly one flavor of toothpaste, and it was already on the shelf in 365 Walmart stores. Three years later the lineup runs to nine, including one flavored after mint chip ice cream. The paste is fluoride free, and it is manufactured in Vineyard.
Roger Gindlesperger Jr. spent 20 years in the Army, 13 of them in special operations, and he has said he was poisoned while serving overseas. Fluoride warning labels bothered him, and in 2020 he set out to make a toothpaste with fluoride's benefits and without its risks, the Daily Herald reported. He told the paper, "Instead of quitting, I turned my pain into purpose and built a toothpaste company to encourage others to never quit."
He and his wife, Mary Ann, co-founded the company on their savings. The formula took nine months and seven versions with a local manufacturer and chemist, according to Talk Business. Its base is hydroxyapatite in two particle sizes, the mineral the company says makes up about 97 percent of tooth enamel, and alongside it sits theobromine, a compound from cacao. The chocolate tree was in the toothpaste well before Mint Chip showed up.
Getting into stores took three tries. Gindlesperger applied to Walmart's Open Call, a pitch contest for American-made products, in 2020 and again in 2021, and he got his deal in June 2022. In 2023, with Grind in 453 stores, he told Talk Business, "We are still shipping out of our home garage." The car, presumably, had been reassigned to the driveway.
Six partners have since joined the founders, and four of the owners are veterans, Talk Business reported. The company pledged 25 percent of profits to Homeless Not Toothless, which provides free dental care to homeless veterans. By July 2025 Grind was in 658 Walmart stores, and Gindlesperger said sales had grown more than 1,800 percent since that first yes. Walmart also sent him to Washington, D.C., to meet legislators, at its own expense.
Grind is sold as a cosmetic toothpaste, and its own fine print says it is not intended to treat or prevent any dental condition. The enamel claims elsewhere on the label are the company's own. The directions say to brush for two minutes and then rinse, while the FAQ says rinsing is optional.
The man who named his toothpaste for not quitting needed three tries to get it into Walmart. It is made in Vineyard now in nine flavors. The company's team page says he brushes with Coastal Crush.
Grind's first production run, in September 2020, was 25,000 units.
