In the last decade technology has progressed at lightening speed. Ten years ago we were at the end of the dotcom boom (and bust), the web was just in its infancy, Google was a babe-in-arms and Facebook just a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye. In the year 2000 there were just 361m internet users; just to put that in perspective it’s around two-thirds of the size of Facebook today. By 2010 usage had exploded to almost 2bn and last year it was close to 2.5bn, clear evidence that the rate of penetration amongst the general public continues apace and engagement with digital communications shows no sign of abating.
The fast moving pace of modern life is something that those of school age are completely familiar and comfortable with, it’s all they have ever known. But what do these new advances in communications mean for dental professionals, whose age range spans several decades? Is it possible to make a real difference to the day-to-day delivery of dentistry by embracing rather than shunning the opportunities that digitisation offers?
Kai Turck is European director of Connect Dental, a specialist division of Henry Schein Dental, and he believes that we have now reached a moment in development where the profession is at a tipping point. He explains how the technological capability now exists to integrate every aspect of the patient’s journey into a streamlined experience for patient, dentist and laboratory, made possible by digital communications.
“Technology that makes it easier and quicker to achieve accurate outcomes that meet and exceed expectations is one area where dentists can make a real difference to the lives of their patients. But alongside the willingness to embrace change, there is often a fear that using a new methodology entails the rejection of previously satisfactory techniques and a questioning of the skills that have stood the profession in good stead for so many years. This however is simply not the case. Rather than talk about a digital ‘dental revolution’ with all its connotations of disruption and upheaval, we should instead think of the digitisation of dentistry as the utilisation of new technology to complement established systems. This allows the profession to use progressive technologies, bringing tangible advantages to every day working life.
There are of course those who argue that new streamlined, integrated processes are unnecessary for those who have been practising quite happily without them for so many years. But dentistry itself is currently in the midst of shifting sands. There is a lack of clarity around what access to dentistry will look like in five years time, meaning dentists themselves must seize the initiative and do everything they can to deliver a service fit for 21st century patients. Public familiarity with digital communication and their demands for quicker, more service driven solutions across many sectors is already apparent and now the technology required to meet these demands not only exists, but is quickly becoming part of the mainstream.”
In his role, Kai speaks to and meets many dentists from all types of practices and his experience supports this
position: “The fact is that the paradigm shift from analogue to digital is no longer the preserve of a few trail-blazing early adopters. Thanks to the acceptance of individual components such as digital imaging, fully integrated digital dentistry is now within reach of each and every dental professional, available for use today and within five years is likely to have become the new normality.”
What has escaped the providers of digital dentistry, even in the recent past, is the glue that binds all the different parts of digitisation together. Many practices and practitioners find that all the disparate elements are not as user friendly, as they might be often sitting in splendid isolation from each other. This means that unless there is a global vision of how practices and laboratories will operate in the new age of digital enlightenment, it can be difficult to grasp how all these elements can link together to produce a streamlined digital workflow that follows the patient journey from start to finish.
Digital Dental Exchange (DDX), from Connect Dental, is a ‘digital superhighway’ with the abiliy to carry non-proprietary and manufactuer independent data from practice to laboratory and back, enabling dentists to ‘enter’ and ‘leave’ according to the specific needs of each case. Through DDX dentists can access the world of digital dentistry, with all its benefits of clarity and traceability, without compromising any of their existing working processes.
Kai explains, “Like most of us, dentists are often wary of introducing technology for its own sake. The aim at Connect Dental is to educate and inform so that dental professionals understand the advantages of digitisation, both to themselves and their patients and then to provide the means by which every practice can reap the multitude of benefits that come from non-proprietary, transparent communication. The digital workflow makes a fast, accurate patient journey through the practice a reality.
“From the first moment a patient engages with the practice, even before they reach the door, we have the expertise to help practices apply technology in the most beneficial way. We can provide practice management software that integrates with digital imaging and digital impressions that are then used to create and design restorations with a micron level of accuracy. Then, using digital transmission these files are transferred to the laboratory, facilitating immediate and enhanced communication between dentist and technician and finally, milling of the final restoration or framework, which can be produced in the dentist’s choice of what is now a huge variety of materials. All these individual elements, bound together by the DDX highway, enable dentists to welcome back patients for a final fitting, completely confident that the fit and aesthetics of the final restoration will more than meet expectations.”
Connect Dental’s DDX platform makes communications secure, fast and effective, all of which result in superior restorative outcomes and more efficient practices. Digitisation doesn’t mean dentists are surrendering their skills or professionalism, it simply means they are making full use of available technology to enhance outcomes for patients, which ultimately will reflect positively on the profession.