A man on a mission

With deep sadness we bid farewell to Ueli Breitschmid, who passed away at the age of 79 inthe night from Saturday to Sunday (1.6.2025) after a longer illness.

Ueli Breitschmid was sometimes unbridled, very direct, provocative and could offend people. But: He was much more often passionate, contagiously adventurous, interested in many things, enthusiastic and a tireless hothead who rarely sat still. All of this – and the great empathy of a people catcher – were the ingredients that made him a visionary entrepreneur and charismatic patron, a person who was unique in his openly lived and productively used contradictions. He will remain just as unique in our memories.

With his skills, he led the dental technology company founded by his father Hans Breitschmid in 1954 with great commitment and even more courage to become an internationally successful group of companies in the field of oral health. He joined the company in 1966 at the age of just 21. At the beginning of the 1970s, he founded Curaden AG and developed its own brand Curaprox. From then on, history took its international course.

From Kriens, his company conquered the world with dental solutions. The claim “Health begins in the mouth” became the guiding principle of the iTOP prevention program introduced by Curaden, with which it has been training dental professionals in correct tooth brushing with the right instruments for decades – on all continents worldwide. Prof. Dr. Jiří Sedelmayer laid the theoretical foundation for this, while Ueli Breitschmid poured the knowledge into a brand and established it. The declared credo behind it: Prevention instead of treatment. The guiding principle: Through a healthy mouth, a healthy person.

The visionary behind all this was Ueli Breitschmid, who elevated the work of his father and dental technician Hans to the level of “comprehensive oral health”. Ueli Breitschmid entered the field of prevention at an early stage – much earlier than the majority of dental professionals, but together with some of the first companions from the field.

To call Ueli Breitschmid the pioneer of prevention in oral health is certainly no exaggeration. His entrepreneurial commitment in this field is unsurpassed and will be continued and refined by his successors.

Over the past 20 years, Ueli Breitschmid has initiated an outstanding quality and distribution strategy for his Curaprox oral care products “made in Switzerland”, which is justified by dental recommendations and acceptance. The courage to break new ground with in-house production and to build his own production facilities led to the business breakthrough. The current Chairman of the Board of Directors, Marco Zavalloni, made a decisive contribution to this.

Today, the family business is extremely healthy and represented in 94 countries – an impressive legacy that testifies to a daring pioneering spirit and entrepreneurial passion. Until his last day before being hospitalized, Ueli Breitschmid could be found every morning in his office on Amlehnstrasse in Kriens – not just out of a sense of duty, but out of genuine dedication to his life’s work. His originality, his sharp mind, his sometimes quick-tempered, unconventional manner and his human warmth made him an exceptional leader who was appreciated far beyond the industry.

He leaves behind not only a successful company, but also a family that always meant a lot to him and provided him with the foundation of security on which he was able to live out his entrepreneurial skills: his wife Erika and his four daughters Christine, Laura, Nora and Carla, who will remember him as a father, formative mentor and companion.

His life’s work will live on, his values and his vision will continue. The third generation, Christine Breitschmid, has recently taken the helm. As Delegate of the Board of Directors and CEO, she is responsible for the well-being of the company. A recently presented corporate strategy shows that the legacy of Ueli Breitschmid will be expanded in many ways.

Be provocative, be ambitious and ask questions. Be different from everyone else, always.

We are honoured to take this advice with us, and we bow in gratitude to an extraordinary person.

In silent memory.

The management board of Curaden AG