Planet DDS’ Denticon practice management software enables healthy smiles for California children

Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County—a non-profit that improves access to dental care in Southern California—is expanding its teledentistry effort to three more Orange County schools and 24 Head Start Programs by the spring of 2017.

Planet DDS is proud to partner with Healthy Smiles by donating use of its cloud-based Denticon practice management software, which allows the non-profit organization to deliver care remotely.

At a recent appointment at her elementary school in Anaheim, a young five-year-old patient received a basic dental screening from a qualified hygienist and two assistants. Her images and patient record were then uploaded to Denticon’s cloud, where they were reviewed offsite by a dentist who came up with a treatment plan. At the end of the day, the Healthy Smiles team packed up its mobile dental “Smile Mobile” and moved to the next treatment site.

This sort of remote treatment, or teledentistry, allows Healthy Smiles to deliver dental services to patients that otherwise don’t have access to care. In California, the challenge is acute. Even though many children in lower-income families are publicly insured through the state’s Denti-Cal program, it can be difficult to find a dentist who accepts Denti-Cal given the low reimbursement rates and overwhelming red tape.

Without Denticon for its practice management software, Healthy Smiles wouldn’t be able to share patient records and images remotely. According to Ria Berger, Healthy Smiles CEO, “Denticon is an invaluable tool for Healthy Smiles, and it makes a huge difference in enabling the kind of innovative dental practices we’re trying to spread across the state to reach underserved families. Without Planet DDS, Healthy Smiles would not have been able to more than double its capacity. This is one of the most important partners that we have for all of our future growth and expansion plans.” Denticon software allows the Healthy Smiles team to share patient information in real-time over a secure internet connection.

Planet DDS has partnered with Healthy smiles since 2015 by providing its Denticon software at no charge to the non-profit. Richard Lee, Founder of Planet DDS, added: “Our Denticon software helps multi-location groups across the country operate in complex enterprise environments, but it’s great to see a non-profit make use of the software too. Healthy Smiles is doing a lot of great work to improve dental health in California. We’re thrilled to be a key part of their expanding footprint in the Golden State.”

Denticon by Planet DDS is a powerful, flexible, cloud-based practice management software platform trusted by thousands of dental professionals across the country. Solo practices, mobile clinics, and large dental groups alike operate with far greater efficiency in the Denticon cloud than they possibly could with cumbersome desktop software. Planet DDS also offers outsourced business services to dental offices. Learn more about Denticon at www.planetdds.com.

Created in 2002, Healthy Smiles has combated tooth decay in OC’s poorest children by offering them low-cost or free dental services. Among their greatest assets are the two Smile Mobiles. These large RVs are fitted with two dental chairs each and visit 100 Title 1 schools in Orange County, with pediatric dentists, dental hygienists, and oral health educators aboard. During the school year they see 200 kids a day. Learn more about Healthy Smiles at http://healthysmilesoc.org.