Viome Oral Health Intelligence™ Test

This review is for the following item: Viome at-Home Oral Microbiome Saliva Test | Get Advanced Oral Microbiome Analysis Based on Your RNA + AI Technology with 16 Oral Health Scores & Custom Nutrition & Oral Biotic Recommendations This was an easy test to do, spit into the vial and mail it off. You must register your kit and answer a lot of questions so you can get accurate results. About 3 weeks later, I received a notification letting me know my results were online. I read through the findings and now it is suggested that I purchase 4 different types of supplements, gut health, oral lozenges, probiotics and prebiotics and lastly toothpaste and gel. Those add up to over 200 a month. The supplements should be taken for a few months and then another test should be done to see if there is any improvement. Of course you must purchase the test again. I find this to be one crazy high priced test that basically wants you to subscribe to their supplement plan. I don't have faith in this test. It might be convenient because you don't have to go to a doctor's office. But at the same time, it is not covered by insurance, the supplements aren't covered by insurance either, so you are spending a lot of money and just hoping for the best. When we actually don't know how good this test really is. I wouldn't do this test again. It costs way too much money in my opinion.

Pretty sure my swabs that I returned to the company got lost in the mail. I've never gotten results. I did try reaching out to the company via their email form/contact info, but no one ever responded.

This was an interesting experience. First of all, the collection kit was incredible. Great packaging, and a presentation so attractive you'd be thrilled to give or receive as a gift. The collection process itself was very easy and took only a few minutes first thing in the morning. You do have to register (and register your specimen ID) prior to sending the sample in, and they do require you to complete a fairly long questionnaire as your specimen is in transit - the information you provide through this questionnaire is used in the compilation of your results. Transit time from when I took the specimen to the post office to when they acknowledged receipt and the start of processing took two weeks, and the results were ready 10 days after that - right in line with he expectations they set. The results are structured as four different levels in each of many foods and food groups, and include a ranking (one of those four levels) as to the effect of that particular food on your oral health and associated issues or benefits. They include recommendations as to whether or not you should be eating each of these foods, based on your specific results. I found this all fascinating and fairly informative. I won't be following their food-based recommendations (at least not all of them). They recommended that I stay away from several foods that provide very good holistic health benefits - I'll continue eating those. They also recommended that I stay away from several common sense "don't eat in excess" foods (e.g. sugar) - those I already avoid. Being vegan, I'll not take their recommendations to eat certain meats, fish, and shellfish. They do provide supplements that you can buy, and they're a little expensive. (One plus - they're vegan.). I don't see myself buying them. I did NOT find, though, that there was any kind of hard sell in the on-line results package. I have received emails from the company on their other products (including tests and supplements), but nothing out of the ordinary and certainly nowhere near what I get by being on mailing list from other companies. My experience overall was positive, and if the price weren't so high, I'd certainly consider going through the process again with their "gut check" testing.

If the idea of mailing off your saliva for the privilege of being told to avoid sugar and brush your teeth harder sounds appealing, then the Viome Oral Microbiome Test might just be your dream product. For everyone else? Buckle up, because this is one expensive ride to the obvious. Let’s start with the good. The packaging is sleek—fancy enough to gift to someone you secretly dislike. The collection process? Simple. Spit, seal, send, and hope your precious RNA doesn’t get swapped with someone’s morning coffee order. The results? A colorful display of food recommendations and oral health scores, backed by AI that’s apparently been trained to nag you like a concerned dentist. But here’s the catch: everything about this screams upsell. Once you’ve shelled out for the test, you’ll be presented with a buffet of custom supplements, probiotics, and toothpaste—none of which come cheap. The results themselves? They range from mildly insightful to “Did I really need to spend hundreds to know sugar is bad for my teeth?” And don’t even get me started on the endless cycle: take the test, buy the products, retake the test to “track progress,” repeat until your bank account begs for mercy. Bottom line? This is for the wellness-obsessed or those curious enough to spend a small fortune on spit science. For the rest of us, maybe just floss more and save yourself the headache (and the cash).

I ended up not sending this in, because out of an abundance of caution, I read the privacy policy before doing so. It doesn't seem too egregious, but in my understanding it does say they can kinda use your data/results however they want as long as they "anonymize" it first, and there doesn't seem to be a way to opt out of that. So you kind of have to put a lot of trust in that anonymization process, which I'm skeptical of, since there aren't a lot of folks in my area with my exact demographics. Maybe not as big of a deal for you though.