EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — A track athlete came to Colorado Springs to train for the Olympics but decided to invent a product and start a business instead.

Perry Fields was training for the Olympics, but just before the trials in 2008, she got sick.

“I found out I had Lime Disease and found out I had Lupus and then found out my biggest health issue was actually getting my wisdom teeth removed when I was 19,” said Perry Fields.

Fields believe the hole left from her wisdom teeth was hiding bacteria and making her sick. She found a solution by creating a natural tooth powder.

“When I was sick, I was really sensitive to Sodium lauryl sulfate, which is a surfactant in almost all toothpaste. It’s completely unnecessary. It’s just a foaming agent, and it kills even good bacteria indiscriminately,” Fields said.

With a background in package engineering and food science and with a win of the Naturally Boulder pitch slam for “The Best Natural Product” under her belt, she started growing her business from nothing.

Fields now has a whole line of oral care products, the company is called Frau Fowler.

The business started in a small building in Woodland Park, and then the idea got picked up nationwide and she moved into a bigger warehouse in Colorado Springs.

She created a new product for oral care on the go and the first of its kind on the market. Fields said it re-mineralizes teeth, freshens breath, kills bacteria, and reduces plaque.

“Everyone is running around, they are eating all day long, they are brushing their teeth only in the morning and in the night, and then nobody does anything for the whole day except maybe chew some gum, which is not oral care,” Fields said.

She hopes to encourage women and girls to get involved in manufacturing jobs and says very few businesses make it past three years and is proud of her success so far.