How Can Teledentistry Transform Your Dental Practice?

With 40% of workers in Britain now working remotely some or all of the time¹, one thing is clear: people are becoming more intentional about when and why they leave the house.

And studies would suggest that their oral health isn’t a persuasive enough factor to encourage them to venture out. In fact, around three-quarters of UK adults are not regularly visiting the dentist², and although this is down to a multitude of factors, introducing remote dentistry options for your patients has the potential to reduce this figure.

What Is Teledentistry?

Teledentistry is the use of telecommunications technology to remotely provide dental care, consultations, education, and monitoring for patients through video calls, secure messaging, and digital imaging, without the need for a face-to-face appointment.

Teledentistry has the potential to address a number of issues, including tackling the increasing number of dental deserts in the industry by offering an alternative way for dentists to see more patients and support wider communities.

How Can Teledentistry Benefit You?

• Expanded Reach And Client Base: Introducing remote dentistry options can allow you to branch out into different locations without the need for any additional practices, meaning you can grow your client base to encompass those who would ordinarily be outside of your catchment area, or have difficulty travelling.
• Effective Time Management: Non-emergency and follow-up appointments can be attended by patients virtually, freeing up your in-practice time for more complicated procedures. Less time can be allocated for virtual appointments than is typically needed for in-person ones.
• Reduced Costs: Charging for remote services adds an extra avenue for income, while overhead costs are reduced due to lower usage of utilities, consumables, PPE, and staff time. You can reserve in-clinic appointments for revenue-generating treatments, and keep your virtual appointments saved for non-emergencies.
• Improved Patient Compliance And Attendance: The convenience of virtual dental appointments can reduce the number of no-shows to appointments, and encourages patients to keep on top of their oral health by offering an easier alternative to face-to-face appointments.
• Data Analysis And Collaborative Working: Easily track and share insights with other practitioners, monitor your patients’ progress, refer patients to specialists, and identify trends in your data.

How Can Teledentistry Benefit Your Patients?

• Inclusive And Convenient: Virtual appointments can make dentistry accessible to patients that might typically struggle to attend an in-person appointment, whether this due to disability, dental anxiety, or limited access to transport. It is often easier for patients to balance remote appointments around their home and work life.
• Cost Effective: Teledentistry eliminates a number of patient costs, including transport and childcare, and loss of earnings can be avoided by removing the need to book time off work.
• Fast Access To Ongoing Care: Virtual consultations can usually be accessed in a timelier manner than face-to-face ones, and patients can monitor their progress and access treatment notes, encouraging them to take a more keen interest in their ongoing oral health.
• Earlier Diagnosis: By providing an easier route for accessing oral health information and dental appointments, patients can receive diagnosis before issues exacerbate, meaning more invasive future procedures could be avoided, as well as the associated patient costs.

Discover Dentally: The Cloud-Based Dental Practice Management Software

Are you considering incorporating teledentistry into your practice? If so, opting for a cloud-based practice management system like Dentally is a great place to start.

Trusted by 70,000 dental practitioners worldwide³, Dentally is a fully cloud-based dental practice management software designed to help you run your practice as efficiently as possible, deliver exceptional care for your patients, and encourage your team’s growth, for a thriving workplace environment.

• Achieve Clinical Excellence: Keep your staff connected with Dentally chat, and track your workload and assign tasks using Tasks List, allowing you to streamline your processes for more effective time and resource management.
  Deliver streamlined treatments using Dentally Vision AI which allows you to acquire, manage, and access X-rays and images directly from your patient chart, alongside additional advanced charting tools.
• Improve Patient Experience: Deliver the best care using Dentally’s comprehensive patient records that help you understand your patient’s full history to build customised treatment plans.
  Automated communication tools allow you to stay connected with your patients, appointment booking tools help you to reduce missed appointments and maximise chair time, and integrated AI tools improve patient education.
• Produce Detailed Reports: Use Dentally’s real-time reporting tools to take a snapshot of your income to understand your practice’s performance, or deep dive into practitioner activity to understand workloads, revenue, and chair time optimisation.
• Encourage Practice Success: Improve the performance of your dental practice with intelligent AI functionality, saving up to five minutes per patient⁴ when used to record clinical notes.
  Join the Dentally Elevate customer success programme for additional support from a dedicated consultant to help you improve workflow efficiency and boost staff effectiveness, to get the most out of your dental practice.

Want to learn more from existing Dentally customers? Read The Smile Designers’ customer success story here to discover how Dentally can help real practices grow.

1. https://standout-cv.com/stats/remote-working-statistics-uk#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20ONS%2C%2040,Covid%2D19%20restrictions%20and%20lockdowns.
2. https://pharmacyinfocus.co.uk/75-of-uk-adults-not-visiting-the-dentist/
3. https://www.dentally.com/en-gb/?id=92
4. https://www.dentally.com/en-gb/dental-software-features/clinical