Toothpic smartphone app to deliver expert dental advice

The app reportedly allows patients to get answers from a real dentist, access a directory of dentists in their area, and receive reports and treatment options at home.

Toothpic, an app providing independent, on-demand dental advice, launches today in the U.S. Using six photos taken from a smartphone camera, the app reportedly delivers a detailed oral health evaluation from a remote dentist within 24 hours and can help connect users with a vetted dentist in their area - all from the comfort of their home.

“People don’t care about their dental health until something goes wrong,” says Mark Moore, founder and CEO of Toothpic. “More than half of Americans haven’t been to the dentist in the last year. It’s frustrating too because for the most part, dental pain is completely preventable. We want to provide people with a simple way to stay on top of their oral health. Toothpic is a secure solution for people to get instant access to independent advice without the pain, inconvenience and time of visiting or searching for a dentist.”

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Whether users have a specific dental health question or are just looking for reassurance, the Toothpic report is designed to answer inquiries, provide home care advice, recommend next steps and give tips for planning the next treatment. If the user needs to visit a dentist, the app will guide him or her to the Toothpic directory to search dentists by zip code.

The app works by instructing users to take six simple yet comprehensive photos of their teeth, coaching them on the most effective shots until the images are saved and submitted. From there, a fully licensed dentist in the U.S. will review the case and respond with the full Toothpic report within 24 hours.

“Currently dental care doesn’t provide a good customer experience,” Moore says. “It’s seen as expensive, uncomfortable and incredibly complicated. To make it worse, when you are researching it, you are usually in pain. Toothpic will change that, taking care of the worry and the confusion and simply connecting you with an expert who can answer the questions that matter to you.”

Users are also provided with a Toothpic Smile Score to better understand their oral health and learn how to take action and raise their score. They can see how their smile scores are ranked among others in their community. The score is ranked out of 10 and is calculated based on responses to questions about homecare regime, general dental health and social habits.

Toothpic is now available for download on iOS and Android.