How prepared are you this time? When COVID-19 took over the world, the United States halted dental care for a period of time — some up to four months! Dental practices were left to scramble to find a way to interact and provide care to patients from behind closed operatories. Teledentistry became the norm and offices were left trying to figure out how to maneuver the new climate of care. Patients were left wondering who to turn to for concerns and the Emergency department of hospitals saw an increase of dental patients as a result.
A New Wave
Health officials are warning we are on the second wave of the pandemic and after a gradual reopening some states are rolling back to more restrictions. Some states have gone into regional or statewide shutdown, and others may soon follow. In fact, in Washington state, dental offices are being asked once again to postpone non-emergency treatment for 90 days. How this will affect dental practices is left to be seen, however many individuals are reluctant to return to dental practices for care.Dental offices are seeing less patients than a year ago and some are struggling. How can you protect your practice and provide care to your patients during trying times? You can capture these patients through TeleDent, and as a result increase the practice revenue.
Stay Connected
A study from the ADA has found a very low percentage of dental workers have contracted COVID in the dental setting, likely due to the increased safety protocols. However, with the positivity rate of infections climbing in nearly every state dental workers are contracting COVID outside of the dental setting. If the dentist or staff members are required to isolate and close the practice, how take care of your patients? How can you be available to your patients? Once again, that can be achieved through teledentistry!
Protect Your Practice
Teledentistry requires a way to screen patients — for example, the patient captures images with their smartphone and uploads to the patient portal. With TeleDent you can review the images and provide a diagnosis and plan or join a video call and capture images directly from there to be included in the patient record. Synchronous teledentistry is useful for emergency triage, where the provider can screen and plan as necessary, even prescribing as state laws allow. Teledentistry, whether synchronous or asynchronous, is a billable procedure that can keep revenue within the dental practice even in the instance where there are new restrictions or isolation due to COVID. TeleDent provides a streamlined all-in-one approach including the ability share data between providers should you need to coordinate care through a specialist. Is your practice protected and prepared for more restrictions?