OK so there’s a new dedicated health-fund-rebatable item code - 919 - for emergency teledentistry consults in Australia, but now what?

You’re used to using the phone with patients, your staff ring patients, patients ring you. It’s familiar, it’s comfortable, its the status quo. The expectation is the patient will then sit in your dental chair and the rest of the details can be covered then.

But what happens when a clinic visit is not an option? Whether due to COVID-19, or other well known reasons that prevent up to 60% of people attending the dentist: time, cost, fear, location, age, language, culture, or health status.

What are you missing out on by limiting yourself to just the phone?

ViDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR BACK IN THE 80s AND NOW IT’S GOING TO KILL THE DENTAL PRACTICE PHONE CALL IN THE 20s

Yes, really. Just like the now old song goes. Here’s twelve reasons why:

• a phone call is time intensive - you must ask a lot of questions to get the answers you seek

• a phone call predisposes to collecting subjectively reported symptoms only

• a phone call doesn’t lend itself to exchanging images, files or other helpful data

• a phone call does not normally protect the privacy of shared patient data

• a phone call doesn’t allow you to see the other person for assessment of more objective signs of issue

• a phone call is harder to monetise

• a phone call can be hard to document in detail in patient records

• a phone call is less likely to protect you medico-legally if you’ve given professional advice

• a phone call is harder to set availability and accessibility limits around

• a phone call may prevent you working independently of auxiliary staff

• you can’t write a prescription for a patient from a phone call

• phone calls are harder to restrict to just people you want to talk to such as your own practice patients

While phone calls still and will continue to have a valuable place in the customer experience aspects of your dental practice communications, particularly those functions that can be outsourced to auxiliary staff, quality teledentistry consults requiring expert dental assessment need more features.

IF YOUR PATIENTS WANT YOU THEY CAN WATCH YOU ON THEIR VIDEO SCREEN

Beyonce and Lady Gaga sang it first ten years ago, and now video is not only mainstream, it’s making its way into healthcare.

A picture tells a thousand words, as they say. The information you can get - especially non-verbal cues - far exceeds what you can get from a humble phone call. So of course you want to make your life easier and get as much information up front as you can!

Everyone has experienced an sms mis-communication disaster at some stage, right? It’s far easier to show something than it is to try and explain it. Especially for medical issues where finding the right language or terminology can be a real challenge for patients. A video reduces misunderstandings.

Video technology is so good these days you can not only face-time each other, you can share screens to demonstrate other information, share files securely and far quicker than email, write links to resources in the chat function for instant access, or use a whiteboard to draw pictures to illustrate your point - many of the same things you would do in a standard in-person clinical encounter.

You can screenshot and record segments of a video session to help form the patient record of the consult.

A video consult will save you time, it will save you money, it will save you manpower, it will save you medico-legal risks and headaches and it will boost your clinical productivity when you and the patient can once again get back to the dental chair.

You’re a dental expert, your time is valuable, you knowledge is worthy of an investment from a patient, even online. If you’re not doing teledentistry now, your patients will go to a GP doctor or the pharmacy to help get their dental needs met.

A video consult puts you and the patient on the same page. It allows you to deliver exceptional remote patient care, anywhere. It gives your staff a clear blueprint about how you want to move forward with the patient they can then action on your behalf.

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR PATIENTS TO START BOOKING INTO ’SEE’ YOU ONLINE?

1. Set-up your practice website with an obvious link to an online booking form for teledentistry consults

2. Invest in setting yourself up with a good teledentistry workflow and get confident using it - practice makes perfect!

3. Email your whole patient database to let them know you’re now offering virtual dental consults for a health fund rebatable fee that’s less than the cost of visiting in person. Promote the benefits for them - saves them a trip, parking, waiting in reception, reduces fear and stress, provides upfront transparency about dental needs, helps set realistic expectations for care, and gives time to decide on treatment options.

4. Explain to your patients if they can use an ATM, shop online and/or use the self-service checkout at the supermarket they can most definitely do a teledentistry consult with you! And if they can’t do that, then there will be someone close to them that can help.

5. Put a recorded message on your dental practice phone answering machine redirecting enquiries to your website for online bookings for your new teledentistry consult service.

6. Hey presto! Start doing virtual dental consults.

STILL NEED HELP MOVING YOUR PATIENT DENTAL CONSULTS TO VIDEO?

If you want specific help in crafting your email and phone messages for your practice or managing your staff, Dr Christine May - ViDe founder is offering a bespoke consult service for only $150+GST. You get:

• a 15 minute zoom video chat to discuss your specific scenario

• a crafted newsletter message suitable for your practice patients and demographic up to 100 words

• a suggested script for recording your phone redirection service message

• delivered in less than 24 business hours

Schedule a session now

By Dr Christine May - principal dentist and founder of ViDe Virtual Dental