Brant Herman is the CEO and Founder of MouthWatch, LLC, (mouthwatch.com) a leader in innovative teledentistry solutions, digital case presentation tools, and intraoral imaging devices. The company is dedicated to finding new ways to constantly improve the dental health experience for both patient and provider. Contact Brant at Brant@mouthwatch.com.

Brant Herman, CEO and Founder of MouthWatch, LLC

Nate Lawson, DMD, PhD, associate professor, director of Division of Biomaterials, University of Birmingham School of Dentistry:

Digital Dentistry Is the Future: We Must Integrate Equipment and Software Together to Improve and Simplify Treatment Planning and Procedures

Indraneel Kanaglekar, senior vice president and president of global dental at ZimVie, discusses his company’s plans to expand its impact in the growing field of dental implants

What’s Next in Dental Implants

Teledentistry Innovation Is User-Driven

 Whip Mix Meets You Where You Are

Jeffrey Sulitzer, DMD, chief clinical officer, SmileDirectClub

What’s New, What’s Ahead, and What’s on Today’s Cutting Edge

HuFriedyGroup Focuses on Patient, Clinician Safety

 The Internet of Things in the Dental Practice

All-in-one Cloud-Based Practice Management and Imaging Solutions Are Necessary

Russell Morrow, DDS, chief dental officer, BIOLASE

All-Tissue Laser Technology Can Have a Major Impact

Stephanie Woeste, director of dental marketing, Midmark

Technology Can Help Offset Obstacles Caused by Staff Shortages

Wardah Inam, PhD, CEO and cofounder, Overjet

Look for AI to Go Mainstream in 2023

Chlorhexidine or Glutes?

Florian Hillen, CEO and founder, VideaHealth

What Impact Will AI Have on Dentistry in 2023 and Over the Next 10 Years?

Darius Somekhian, head of business development, Cloud Dentistry

 The Gig Economy Comes to Dentistry

The Dawning of the Dental Laser Renaissance: An Untapped Opportunity

After the Hype, AI Technology Becomes Reality in the New Year

Innovation, Unlimited Potential Lie Ahead for Dental Industry in 2023—Part 2

Articles

Dental industry leaders including clinicians, manufacturers, and educators share what they see ahead for the industry in the coming year. This is the second in a 2-part series; the first part was featured in the January issue of Dental Products Report®.

Teledentistry is not new. It’s been field tested in the public health arena for more than a decade and has been slowly gaining momentum in private practice dentistry during the past several years. However, this growth was greatly accelerated by COVID-19 as dentists needed a means to virtually maintain contact with their patients and conduct dental emergency triage during the pandemic shut down. Now that most states have given dental offices the green light to provide a full scope of services, dentists have the opportunity to utilize teledentistry’s features and benefits, depending on their individual state’s regulations. Here are the top six reasons to implement teledentistry now:

By transitioning some of your traditional in-office patient encounters into virtual consultations, you’ll mitigate the risk of infection for your team and your patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and during the annual cold and flu season. Thanks to teledentistry, patient encounters that can be easily conducted remotely are new patient onboarding, dental emergency triage, treatment plan review, specialist consultations, and oral hygiene coaching.

The more you can reduce the amount of times you and your team need to don and doff PPE, the more money and time you will save. What’s more, if you have implemented a PPE surcharge, your patients may be more accepting of teledentistry and virtual consultations.

Using teledentistry, your entire care team, including those working remotely and your external specialists, can conveniently share and discuss patient data, photos, and video in synchronous (real time) or asynchronous (store and forward) mode. Virtual collaboration does not require PPE!

There are many people within driving distance of your practice who need oral care but find it difficult if not impossible to come to your office. These people may be home-bound because they are disabled or elderly. They may also just be starved for time and looking for convenience. Teledentistry enables hygienists to conduct remote on-site screenings and consult with a dentist when needed.

Some dental practices are taking reason #4 a step further by using teledentistry enabled mobile units to provide a more comprehensive level of care to patients beyond their office settings.

When your patients learn that you are using teledentistry to keep them safe and to make their post-COVID dental experience less of a hassle, including emergency consultations, they will trust you more than ever. Trust and loyalty during these times is more important than ever!


Teledentistry is not new but it's currently experiencing great growth accelerated by COVID-19 as dentists need a means to virtually maintain contact with their patients and conduct dental emergency triage during the pandemic shut down. 