"Providing Your Patients With Convenient and Accessible Dental Care.”with Dr. Maria Kunstadter

In this episode of The Ultimate Dental Podcast, Dr. David Moffet interviews Dr. Maria Kunstadter. Maria is a dentist and the owner of the innovative teledentistry platform The TeleDentists. In this interview, Maria Kunstadter, shares the story behind the innovative teledentistry platform. She explains how the concept was born out of the need for virtual dentists to provide care to patients who were going to the wrong places for their dental problems. The TeleDentist started in 2014 and has since grown, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform allows patients to have video consultations with licensed dentists, receive palliative care, get e-prescriptions, and be educated about their dental issues. The service also helps patients find a dental office for hands-on care if needed. Teledentistry works by providing patients with access to dental care through virtual consultations, and in so doing helps patients avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency room. It is especially beneficial for individuals in remote communities or with limited access to dental practices. Teledentistry utilises cell phones for consultations, allowing patients to receive care from the comfort of their homes. It has had a positive impact on individuals in need of immediate pain relief and has improved access to oral healthcare in senior care facilities and schools. AI and teledentistry are helping to standardise diagnosis and provide accurate assessments. The ultimate goal of teledentistry is to integrate dental and medical care for better overall health outcomes for the community. Takeaways  Teledentistry provides a convenient and accessible way for patients to receive dental care, especially during times when they cannot visit a dental office.  The TeleDentist platform offers video consultations, palliative care, e-prescriptions, and education to patients.  Teledentistry expands the capacity of dental offices and improves patient access to care.  Implementing virtual care into dental practices can increase productivity and reduce unnecessary office visits.  Teledentistry provides access to dental care, especially for individuals in remote communities or with limited access to dental practices.  Regulatory challenges exist, with different states implementing their own regulations for teledentistry.  Efforts are being made to educate state boards and promote the inclusion of oral health in universal healthcare plans.  Teledentistry utilizes cell phones for consultations, allowing patients to receive care from the comfort of their homes. Sound Bites  We need virtual dentists, because they stop people from going to all the wrong places. People go with dental problems to hospital emergency rooms, and that’s not right.  Our sales skyrocketed during COVID because people were either not able to get out, were afraid to get out and lots of different reasons, but they still needed to talk to a dentist.  Patients are afraid of two things at the dentist, how much it;s going to cost and how much it's going to hurt.  I am a single mom with two disabled children. And she said at two o 'clock in the morning, I thought I was going to have to get them out of bed dressed and go to the emergency room until I found the teledentist. And they’ve got a 24 hour pharmacy and I was able to get my pain under control and I didn't have to sit in the emergency room with my children for all that time. She said, thank you, you're a Godsend. She has to drive 90 miles to get to a dentist's office. And she said, I can drive in and sit down. They will say, you need to come back in two weeks to have this done. So that just has eliminated 180 miles that she previously would have needed to drive because she can talk to the dentist from home. They can determine what she needs to have done when she comes in, make the appointment time for her… but now they know what she needs so when she does drive that 90 miles to the dentist, its not a wasted trip.