5 Ways Technology Can Change Dentistry in India Here's how with the advent of digital technology and mobile dentistry, dental care is now available at your doorstep
By Dr Devaiah Mapangada •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
In this era of quantum advancements in technology and medicine, dentistry has not witnessed any "Patient Centric" innovation, since a few decades. The experience of visiting a dentist today has not changed. Each visit to a dental clinic takes about two hours (visit, wait, treatment & return). A majority of people dislike visiting a dentist; as it's inconvenient, expensive and painful. The dental industry is in serious need of sprucing up, not just for patients but also for upcoming and established dentists.
Mobile Technology has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. It has brought remarkable transformation in the way we experience convenience in our lives. If taxis, groceries, travel, food, furniture, medicine etc can be ordered online, why not dentistry? Imagine this – Would you like spending half day on a dental visit from work? Let's say, if your children or parents refuse to visit a dental clinic out of fear, what would you do? With the advent of digital technology and mobile dentistry dental care is now available at your doorstep.
Here are Ways in Which Technology can Change Dentistry in India
Creating dentists without clinics: From bulky landlines to sleek smartphones, heavy computers that could fill a room to lightweight laptops, technology has become futuristic. Can there be an alternative to the standard dentists clinic? Of course yes! Dental Clinic in a suitcase is the new way of delivering dental care by dentists. Unlike a conventional dental clinic that costs upwards of 12 lakhs, a digital dental clinic can be obtained at 1/10th of the cost of a traditional dental setup.
Creating Digi Dentists: Through a smartphone and a mobile app, booking a dentist can be as simple as booking an Uber. A mobile dental clinic can be integrated with digital technology to enable consumers to connect with their dentists using an app. The entire booking of a dentist and delivering of dental care at home is called Digital Dentistry. A digital platform at the backend can provide real-time analysis, controlling everything from CRM, patient history and logistics to billing, inventory and finance.
Creating doc preneurs: India has 309 dental colleges and about 30,000 dentists graduate every year. Due to high infrastructure costs and intense competition, most dental graduates give up dentistry and shift careers. Mobile dentistry & digital technology will now allow dentists to deliver dental care anytime anywhere.
Lower costs: A traditional dental practice comes with other overhead costs; real estate, staff salaries, maintenance to name a few. By eliminating rental costs, a Digital Dental clinic is highly profitable.
More accessible: In India the state of the dental industry is appalling. In Metro towns, the ratio of a dentist to population is 1:20,000 and in rural areas it is 1: 3,00,000. If dental care has to reach 90% of the population it has to be inexpensive and accessible to all. Using disruptive innovations, dental care can now be delivered anytime anywhere.
The WHO (World Health Organisation) suggests that a child must visit a dentist twice a year and an adult once a year. Even in a city like Bangalore, 75% of the population have a dental problem they don't know exists. Most people don't visit a dentist because it's not easily accessible and it's time consuming. By introducing mobile dentistry with digital technology, dental treatments can be a seamless experience.
