Dentist and inventor, Coty Fishburne, DDS, (1937-2019) saw the impact of unreported dry mouth in his practice, and set about designing a consistent, absorbent paper indicator that mirrored saliva in the oral cavity in real time -- and that included a numbered scale. In 2017, Dr. Fishburne encountered Rita May, a dental consultant to the confectionery industry and who had introduced several minimally invasive products to dental market. Together, the two formed Fishburne May, LLC to find a path to market for Dr. Fishburne’s remarkable concept.

With the advice of esteemed professionals, from the Mars Wrigley designer to paper experts to dental researchers and industry coaches, Fishburne May’s flagship product was introduced to the research community in 2023. The FishburneTabs™ for Oral Hydration (FishburneTabs®-OH) a patented, simple instrument that can be used by physicians and dentists.

Sustainable Saliva Collection Platform

The Covid Pandemic refocused Fishburne May. At Tufts University, during the early weeks of the Pandemic, SARS Covid saliva samples were collected on the FishburneTabs and consequently frozen and stored for more than 3 years.

Dr. Charles Mace, associate professor of Chemistry at Tufts, is known for his studies of diagnostics in dried blood samples. Mace brought his expertise to the stored saliva samples, “repurposed” the FishburneTabs as a saliva collection device, and conducted an elegant study that validates the use of the FishburneTabs as a platform for dried saliva and sensitive molecular analysis.  

The result is the FishburneTabs for Saliva Collection (FishburneTabs®-SC) an environmentally sustainable saliva sample collection instrument. Feather-light with minimal disposal issues, they provide easily repeatable and consistent collection for lab-based, point of care or self-monitoring opportunities.