3 ideas are worth a look.
For dental clinics, selling to dental clinic owners and practice managers. We explored 6 ideas and searched for each one. 3 already exist.
Already exists, so we dropped them
- Dental Lab Case TrackerDental lab management software already includes client portals for real-time case status, and Open Dental has a lab case tracking feature. avadent.com
- Dental Waste Compliance LogCompliance record keeping is already handled by amalgam separator vendors and the waste service, and the rules are public. dec.ny.gov
- Dental Staff Rota Swap BoardRotaCloud already has a shift swap feature where staff propose swaps in the app, and dental-specific scheduling tools exist. rotacloud.com
Locum Dentist Handover Notes
A structured handover form a locum dentist fills at the end of a shift so the next dentist knows what was started, what is unfinished and what the patient was told.
- Who pays
- Dental clinic owner who hires locums
- The problem
- Locums walk into a clinic with no idea what the last dentist started. The owner gets calls weeks later about unfinished crowns and patients in temps, and nobody can say what the patient was told.
- The gap
- Practice management software is built for the permanent team and the patient record. It has no shift handover object. Nothing in the results shows a product that captures what a locum started and what the next dentist must finish.
- Already out there
- CareStack carestack.com
All-in-one dental practice management software. Built around the practice's own patient record, not around a locum's shift handover.
- DentiMax dentimax.com
All-in-one dental practice management software. No handover workflow for temporary clinicians.
- Henry Schein Dental henryschein.com
Practice management software with workflows for the practice team. Does not address locum handover.
- CareStack carestack.com
- People asking for it
- Quitting my job. How to handle undelivered crowns? reddit.com
A dentist has multiple undelivered crowns and patients in temps and does not know how to hand them over.
- LAW QUESTION reddit.com
A dentist is told they must come back and finish unfinished treatment, mostly dentures from wax try in to finish.
- Locum dentistry , worth it? reddit.com
Dentists discuss what locum work is actually like, including the lack of continuity.
- Quitting my job. How to handle undelivered crowns? reddit.com
- The big assumption
- Clinic owners will pay for a handover tool when they could just tell locums to write notes in the existing practice software.
- Test it this week
- Ask five clinic owners who hire locums what happens today when a locum finishes a shift, and whether they have ever had a patient come back to unfinished work with no record of what was said. Offer to run the handover by email or a shared form for one clinic for two weeks.
Recall List Cleaner
A tool that takes the clinic's patient export and flags duplicates, dead phone numbers and patients who have not been seen in years, so reception stops wasting time on bad recall lists.
- Who pays
- Practice manager
- The problem
- Reception works a recall list full of duplicates and dead numbers. The practice manager cannot tell how many patients are actually reachable, so the list keeps getting worked and nothing improves.
- The gap
- Recall automation tools pull due dates from the practice management system and send messages. They assume the underlying patient data is clean. Nothing in the results shows a tool that cleans and scores the list before the recall run, which is the step the front desk complains about.
- Already out there
- Layer3 Labs layer3labs.io
Recall automation that triggers reminders and reactivation messages. Starts from the existing list, does not clean it.
- Discover Solutions discoversolutions.ai
Recall system that pulls due dates from the practice management software and reaches patients. No data cleaning step.
- The Dental App thedentalapp.com
AI recall agent. Criticises batch-and-blast tools but still reads from the appointment ledger, not from a cleaned patient list.
- Layer3 Labs layer3labs.io
- People asking for it
- recall report reddit.com
A dental assistant describes the recall report work in a pediatric practice.
- When do you realize a recall problem is forming? reddit.com
A dentist says the early warning is how many patients are on the recall list and have not been touched.
- How Many Follow-Up Attempts Are Too Many reddit.com
Assistants describe very different approaches to overdue recall and unscheduled treatment.
- recall report reddit.com
- The big assumption
- Practice managers will pay for a one-off list clean rather than asking their practice management software vendor to fix the report.
- Test it this week
- Ask three practice managers for an anonymised patient export and manually produce a cleaned list with duplicate, dead number and dormant counts. See if they act on it and whether they ask for it again next month.
NHS Band Charge Checker
A quick checker that shows the correct patient charge band for a proposed treatment plan, built for UK dental practices that keep getting band disputes.
- Who pays
- Practice manager in a UK NHS dental practice
- The problem
- Patients dispute the band they were charged. The practice manager has to explain the banding rules again and again, and a wrong band can become a complaint to the ombudsman.
- The gap
- The banding rules are public and the practice management software holds the fees, but nothing in the results shows a simple checker that takes a proposed treatment plan and returns the correct band with the reason. The ombudsman says patients are confused and dentists must communicate costs clearly, which is a paperwor
- Already out there
- Software of Excellence EXACT help.softwareofexcellence.com
Holds NHS England and Wales banding and fees and updates them when fees change. It stores the fees, it does not check a proposed plan and explain the band to the patient.
- NHSBSA nhsbsa.nhs.uk
Official page listing the three charge bands and what each covers. Reference material, not a practice tool.
- Software of Excellence EXACT help.softwareofexcellence.com
- People asking for it
- NHS dentist, potential wrong band charges reddit.com
A patient questions whether they were put in the wrong band.
- Overcharged by NHS Dentist? reddit.com
A patient describes paying a large sum and considering a complaint about the charge.
- What does our work say about NHS dental charging ombudsman.org.uk
The ombudsman says patients are confused about dental charging and dentists should write options and costs in a treatment plan.
- NHS dentist, potential wrong band charges reddit.com
- The big assumption
- UK practice managers will pay for a separate checker when the banding rules are already in their practice management software and on the NHS website.
- Test it this week
- Show ten UK practice managers a paper version of the checker with five real treatment plans and ask whether they would use it before quoting a patient, and whether they would pay for it. Watch whether they reach for it during a real consultation.