Teledentistry allows patients to take a trip to the dentist from the comfort of their couch, but they're not the only ones reaping the benefits of virtual care.
Sonya Zak, COO of Zak Dental in Santa Clarita, Calif., spoke with the "Becker's Dental + DSO Review Podcast" to discuss how patients are adapting to virtual care and the benefits teledentistry has for patients and dentists.
Note: This is an edited excerpt. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Question: Have patients been receptive to the change from an all physical space to doing more virtually?
Sonya Zak: The timing was fortuitous in a way that it was done around COVID. Probably one of the reasons why that shift happened around COVID was that the patients were ready and prepared for that because we weren't the only ones doing it. All their primary healthcare providers, their doctors and other dental offices were doing it. Initially there were some surprises, but as patients got more comfortable with the technology itself ... and in all honesty, that was a big problem from the get-go, [educating] the patients to use the telehealth technology, [downloading] the app or using the links. But once patients got well-equipped with using technologies like Zoom or Google Meet, it's become kind of second nature to them.
We've been able to solve a lot of problems with this method of delivery. Number one, we pretty much eliminated wait times. If your telehealth appointment starts at 9:20 a.m., there's always somebody there at 9:19 a.m. Whereas before inside of a dynamic dental practice where providers are multitasking, wait time was a big issue that we had especially with patients who were getting exams. We were able to solve that. So patients really love that they don't have wait times. Because the doctor's not multitasking, they're focusing on the patients. They're focusing on the patients' needs. They're having an exclusive conversation with a patient, not needing to worry about any other patient or anything else that might be happening on another operatory.
Then also using technology such as intraoral pictures and really educating the patients about their needs [by] doing things like screen sharing and whatnot. For the patients, they really actually embrace it and love it. A lot of the time they tell us, "This is the best exam I've ever gotten." Something that you really can't do in an operatory or in a clinical setting. [Patients] also get to do it from their home, or maybe even during a break at work. So we have a lot more availability and options for them. They don't have to drive to the office. So there's just a lot of benefits and it's really been embraced by our patients.