Technology Connects Kids at School to Better Dental Health Care Through New "Teledentistry" Pilot Project in South Carolina
NEW YORK -- ChildSmiles Dental and MouthWatch, LLC have announced a new technology-share partnership to enhance the efficacy and outcomes of school-based dental screenings for children in Marion County, South Carolina.
ChildSmiles Dental is South Carolina's newest pediatric public health dental prevention program. MouthWatch, LLC, is the New York-based developer of intraoral and dental imaging solutions, including the recently launched TeleDent™ teledentistry platform.
Through the pilot project, MouthWatch provides hardware-software systems including their ExamTab™, intraoral cameras, and TeleDent™ software. ChildSmiles Dental uses the mobile-enabled MouthWatch technology to offer students virtual access to nearby dentists during dental screenings at the students' schools (and to provide parents with pictures of dental issues detected during their child's screening).
The pilot project is, according to MouthWatch CEO and co-founder Brant Herman, "A model to show how teledentistry and oral health screenings can provide significant improvements in children's dental health in ways that are easy to implement. Empowering dental preventive programs with imaging and remote patient evaluation technology can only help connect kids to treatment they need."
Chanda Parsley, Founder and CEO of ChildSmiles Dental, explains how this partnership fits perfectly into ChildSmiles Dental's commitment to using the latest innovative technology to improve pediatric oral health outcomes in Marion County:
"According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 28% of children ages 2 to 5 and 23% of school-aged children ages 6 to 19, have untreated dental decay. In our efforts to promote early caries detection and treatment, ChildSmiles Dental strongly recommends annual dental examinations by a dentist; however, one of the challenges of serving in a rural community is the dental provider workforce shortage. This innovative technology has really helped propel our prevention program forward. We are excited to be an early adopter of this innovative approach. I foresee teledentistry solutions such as TeleDent playing a significant role in improving pediatric oral health in communities throughout America."
MouthWatch will be producing a case study of the ChildSmiles Dental Screening and Teledentistry pilot project and is looking to expand its network of pilot programs using intraoral imaging and teledentistry in groundbreaking ways.