Many considered teledentistry as a necessity to do business at the beginning of the pandemic. What dental providers discovered is how teledentistry benefitted their practice after resuming in-person patient care. Teledentistry has created innovative practice opportunities, enhancing the way we care for patients. Streamlining your practice to include teledentistry creates an efficient workflow for the benefit of both patients and dental providers
Pre-Screening with TeleDent
Teledentistry provides the opportunity to pre-screen and complete an initial evaluation via the virtual operatory using synchronous video calls. Asynchronous messaging can be used to share patient instructions, medical history and more prior to the in-person visit with an all-in-one platform such as TeleDent. Assessing patient need and defining the urgency for care can be done via teledentistry, in turn creating an efficient workflow and reserving chair time for production. The average limited oral exam in person is scheduled for at least 30 minutes, much of which is operatory set-up and cleaning and break-down. The average teledentistry virtual visit can be accomplished in 15 minutes, and as a result, the patient can then be scheduled in-office for the correct amount of time for the needed procedures.
Conserving Costly PPE
PPE burn and cost are two commonly discussed grievances that teledentistry can solve. The cost and availability of PPE ebbs and flows depending on the demand. Dental practices are discovering big savings and increased efficiency—saving time, PPE, room clean-up and barriers when providing a virtual visit, in place of an in-person one.
Saving Chair time for Production
Recent studies reveal that nearly 33% of teledentistry visits do not require a subsequent in-person visit! Limited evaluations, periodic evaluations, post-ops and more can all be completed, and next steps determined virtually thus creating an efficient workflow. Many limited evaluations are necessary to determine what, if any, restorative procedures are needed and then scheduled accordingly. If those evaluations are conducted via teledentistry it can be time saving for both patient and dental providers alike.
Learn more about the how teledentistry is being used today.