
Why the Tellies?
2022 continues to see growth in how dental providers and organizations understand the importance of the telehealth capabilities in dental care and oral health.
Who has been helping to shape best practices, create new approaches, and make the technology work for real world benefits? The Tellies is here to help dentistry learn from innovators.
Help the world learn from those leading the way. Please nominate your candidate for the MouthWatch Teledentistry Innovation Award, “The Tellies”.
Award Categories
Dentist/Specialist
The entry will celebrate a dentist or dental specialist who has incorporated teledentistry into their practice model to reach new patients, connect existing patients to care, collaborate with other providers or shown true innovation in the way their care is enhanced through teledentistry.
Hygienist
The entry will recognize a dental hygienist who has used teledentistry technology to bring new ways of thinking to the delivery of preventive care. From enhanced screening programs, mobile hygiene programs, public health settings, collaborative or independent practice models and any other way to increase connected care delivery.
Oral Health Programs
The entry will be an organization (non-profit or for profit) who has introduced teledentistry into their workflows in order to increase efficient care delivery, bring dental expertise to new settings and improve the oral health of patients in any setting.
Educational Institutions
Which centers of dental education are showcasing how to use teledentistry in preparing future dental professionals? Or, using teledentistry in community outreach or other settings? Who is leading in the development of curriculum and hands-on experiential use of telehealth workflows in dentistry and oral health?

Award Details
Eligibility
Nominees may be using any teledentistry application that remotely connects patients to providers, or providers to providers for coordinating care. The application can be in any setting: private practice, group practice, schools, senior care, medical/dental integration, dental specialists, dental vendors (such as labs) and in any dental professional role. International nominees are welcome!
Deadlines
- Submissions for 2021 nominees are now open.
- The MouthWatch Teledentistry Innovation Award Dental, Dental Hygiene, and Program Category
- Winners will be announced during an online ceremony at the end of December 2021.
- Award winners will be contacted by MouthWatch ahead of the announcement.
Award
The Teledentistry Innovation Award will be selected from submissions received through these nominations. We are
looking to award Dentists, Dental Hygienists, Educational Institutions and Dental Care Programs. See further details on award categories below.
Awardees will:
- Receive a cash grant of $1000
- Be invited to speak at the award ceremony and other possible speaking opportunities
- Have their business, practice or program highlighted in a press release and announcements from MouthWatch

2021 Awards
Hear the four recipients of 2021 Tellies talk about their work.
Our Vision
MouthWatch creates tools for connected dentistry.
Our passion for connecting patients and providers led us to the develop the only software solution designed specifically for the implementation of teledentistry across a range of settings. By connecting all dental care providers through groundbreaking software, effective dental care delivery can now be unleashed no matter where a patient might be located. Using teledentistry, care providers are reaching new groups of patients, in a sustainable and profitable manner – addressing access to care issues for patients along with the business and care-delivery challenges that today’s dental care providers face.
TeleDent, the MouthWatch teledentistry solution, streamlines collaboration between patients, dentists, hygienists, specialists and other health care providers across a wide range of settings.
In 2018, we launched the Teledentistry Innovation Award to highlight the varied ways that teledentistry is being implemented across the spectrum of dental care and dental providers that are realizing the potential for connected dental care technology to reshape the nature of dentistry and oral health in the US and beyond!
The 2022
Teledentistry Innovation
Awards
Who is connecting dental care to change?

Why the Tellies?
2022 continues to see growth in how dental providers and organizations understand the importance of the telehealth capabilities in dental care and oral health.
Who has been helping to shape best practices, create new approaches, and make the technology work for real world benefits? The Tellies is here to help dentistry learn from innovators.
Help the world learn from those leading the way. Please nominate your candidate for the MouthWatch Teledentistry Innovation Award, “The Tellies”.



Nominate an Innovator…




Award Details
The Teledentistry Innovation Award will be selected from
submissions received through these nominations. We are
looking to award Dentists, Dental Hygienists, Dental Care
Programs and Educational Institutions. See further details on award
categories below.
Awardees will:
• Receive a cash grant of $1000
• Be invited to speak at the award ceremony and other
possible speaking opportunities
• Have their business, practice or program highlighted in a
press release and announcements from MouthWatch
Dentist/Specialist
The entry will celebrate a dentist or dental specialist who has incorporated teledentistry into their practice model to reach new patients, connect existing patients to care, collaborate with other providers or shown true innovation in the way their care is enhanced through teledentistry.
Dental Hygiene
The entry will recognize a dental hygienist who has used teledentistry technology to bring new ways of thinking to the delivery of preventive care. From enhanced screening programs, mobile hygiene programs, public health settings, collaborative or independent practice models and any other way to increase connected care delivery.
Oral Health Program
The entry will be an organization (non-profit or for profit) who has introduced teledentistry into their workflows in order to increase efficient care delivery, bring dental expertise to new settings and improve the oral health of patients in any setting.
Educational Institutions
The entry will be a university, college or other dental education provider who is developing teledentistry approaches as part of their curriculum or integrating into services they provide. They may highlight individual student success with teledentistry or positive impacts on their community.
Award
Eligibility
Nominees may be using any teledentistry application that remotely connects patients to providers, or providers to providers for coordinating care. The application can be in any setting: private practice, group practice, schools, senior care, medical/dental integration, dental specialists, dental vendors (such as labs) and in any dental professional role. International nominees are welcome!

Announcement
and Deadlines
• Submissions for 2022 nominees are now open.
• Award winners will be contacted by MouthWatch ahead
of the announcement.
2021 Awards
Learn about the 4 awardees for 2021 and watch interviewss with recipients.


Past Winners
2022

Dentist/Specialist:
Dr. Jin Xiao
Dr. Jin Xiao has transformed the clinical examination process by pushing the limits of teledentistry and combining teledentistry and artificial intelligence. Dr. Jin Xiao is among the first to incorporate artificial intelligence into existing teledentistry technologies, making teledentistry more effective, productive, and accessible to the communities she serves. This combination has transformed how she screens for dental caries outside a traditional clinic setting, making diagnosing and formulating treatment plans as convenient and accessible as possible.

Dental Hygiene Innovation Winner:
Tiffany Grant, RDH
As an advocate and champion of teledentistry for almost a decade, Tiffany Grant has traveled around the country presenting on the topic of teledentistry and has helped launch several successful teledentistry programs for associations, dental schools, and non-profits throughout the United States. She began delivering teledentistry at the first Missouri pilot program serving schools, nursing homes, and FQHC primary care offices. Tiffany is now using teledentistry in the private practice setting at Green Leaf Dental Care to expand hygiene hours and make dental care more accessible for those in her community.

Oral Health Program:
Floss and Gloss
Teledentistry has been a pivotal part of The Floss and Gloss Program from the Purchase District Health Department. Their teledentistry rollout in 2019 has allowed them to expand oral care accessibility to school aged children across Western Kentucky. The Floss and Gloss program has since grown and is now part of 38 different schools. This year, the teledentistry program will have two dentists and will be introducing SDF treatments on qualifying children in their pilot program to treat tooth sensitivity and slow tooth decay.

Dental Organization Innovation Winner:
Apple Tree Dental
Apple Tree Dental has made teledentistry an integral part of their dental services to underserved areas in North Dakota and Minnesota. Their incorporation of teledentistry played a crucial role in their mid-pandemic projects that targeted triaging urgent dental concerns and providing services to children with special needs including autism, developmental delays, and rare genetic conditions that typical dental offices are not comfortable treating. Virtual consultations were crucial to the success of their projects, as Apple Tree Dental recorded increases in pediatric patients seen, reduced wait time for appointments, and more productive in-clinic time. In-office visits were also more accessible to patients and their parents, saving them time, money, missed work time, and the need to arrange for childcare.

Educational Institution:
Fones School of Dental Hygiene, University of Bridgeport
The Fones School of Dental Hygiene at the University of Bridgeport was awarded a $225,000 grant that enabled their students to provide dental care to children, the homeless, senior citizens, veterans, and pregnant women, using teledentistry. They plan to continue this effort by making teledentistry and mobile dentistry a clinical rotation experience for all second-year students. Additionally, the Fones School of Dental Hygiene has developed a program that educates pregnant women on their heightened risk for oral health problems while providing on-site treatments to those in need.
2021

Dentist/Specialist:
Dr. Kwane Watson
Dr. Watson has pioneered methods to utilize teledentistry in a way that makes mobile concierge dentistry more effective, productive, and profitable – while also enhancing the experience for patients. He has greatly impacted the city of Louisville, KY with his practice Kare Mobile and continues to be a leader within the community with his outreach and work through his non-profit On-Demand Kare.

Educational Institution:
Harvard School Of Dental Medicine
The disruptive nature of the pandemic provided an opportunity to rethink and redesign courses at Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM). Dr. Sahni, a faculty member at HSDM who has been a dentist for over a decade and a half, saw the importance of teledentistry and teaching students about modern treatment options and technology.

Oral Health Program:
Health Ravenswood Family Health Center
In 2012, a grant from San Mateo F5 and a partnership with Arthur A. Dugoni Pacific School of Dentistry, enabled Ravenswood Family Health Center to pilot telehealth services with the goal of increasing access to diagnostic and preventive services. As part of this project, Ravenswood partnered with preschools in the community where services were provided by a dental hygienist. Additionally, Ravenswood implemented synchronous teledentistry visits to provide same-day preventive and diagnostic visits for children 12 months to 3 years of age who were seen in their pediatric medical clinics.

Michelle Vacha, RDH, BS
Throughout Michelle Vacha’s journey in meeting the needs of her community, she found that teledentistry was the best way to increase access to care. Her goal is to increase access to care to underserved populations by going into schools, institutions such as nursing facilities, and rural counties, and to bring oral health care into overall health care. She sees that teledentistry can help dental teams collaborate with physicians treating diabetes, surgeons performing joint replacement, and emergency rooms seeing trauma victims and oral pain. Below, Michelle shares her inspirational motivation for starting her nonprofit, Community Dental Health.
2020

Dental Innovator: Dr. Scott Howell
Dr. Scott Howell has created a robust oral health program at AT Still University/Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH). The program Dr. Howell helped to launch has trained hundreds of students in teledentistry. Students learn about the concept of teledentistry and examine how they can use it to reach a diverse patient population while also evaluating digital records collected via teledentistry.

Hygiene Innovator: Jingjing Qian RDH, EA


COVID-19 Response – Provider Innovator: Dr. Barry Raphael

COVID-19 Response – Oral Health Program Innovator: Advantage Dental from DentaQuest Care Group
2019

Dental Innovator: Paul Labbe, DDS – Planet Dental
Dr. Labbe is a pediatric dentist with 5 office locations. He uses teledentistry to provide care to underserved children in his community. Teledentistry enables him and his team to conduct dental screenings at local schools and then in turn, provide the parents and guardians with diagnosis and treatment plans with the option to bring their children to one of his offices for restorative treatment.

Oral Health Program Innovator:
MiQuel McRae, RDH – ToothBUDDS
Miquel founded ToothBUDDS, a non-profit
that employs a team of dental hygienists to
provide oral care to underserved children in
her area – Many of which have some form
or oral disease. Miquel and her team
provide education, screenings, cleanings
and fluoride treatments in local school
settings. Thanks to teledentistry, they can
connect children with urgent dental needs
to a local dentist, so they don’t fall through
the cracks.

Hygiene Innovator: Angie Stone, RDH – Hylife Oral Health Alliance
Angie and her team of oral care specialists provide onsite hygiene services to elderly patients who live in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and private homes. They use teledentistry to document each patient visit with intraoral photos and videos and to communicate with family members and participating dentists to ensure that their clients receive restorative care when needed.


PIONEER AWARD: Paul Glassman, DDS, MA, MBA, – University of the Pacific
Dr. Glassman is the first recipient in the newly created “Teledentistry Pioneer” category. He is the founder of the Virtual Dental Home Program, whereby he and his team at the University of the Pacific developed a more efficient way to connect patients to dental care through the combination of technology and innovation. This care-delivery model, combined with his efforts in education, in supporting legislative changes that support teledentistry and improve access to care have helped create a landscape where more and more programs and providers are interested in teledentistry and the opportunities it creates.
2018

Dr. Brittany Kinol – Miracle Dental
With two offices in the Pittsburgh area,
Miracle Dental reaches children in a range of settings that are most convenient for them and their families.By coordinating care delivery with Head Start programs, schools, and public insurance carriers, Miracle Dental’s mobile hygienists use teledentistry to deliver preventive care to students in the most convenient way possible.

Liz Best – NYU School of Dentistry
Liz is a grants administrator at the
New York University (NYU) College of Dentistry,
who obtained a Human Resources & Services Administration grant to fund the implementation
of teledentistry technology into the school’s curriculum. Working with TeleDent, NYU has incorporated teledentistry technology into second
year coursework.

Staci Stout, RDH, BSDH – Smart Smiles
Smart Smiles, a school-based oral health program based in Utah that focuses on prevention. Its mobile hygiene program provides care to children at school to ensure they have access to oral healthcare. A team of hygienists equipped with portable preventive care equipment and teledentistry technology see children at more than 30 schools in the Salt Lake City area.

Our Vision
MouthWatch creates tools for connected dentistry.
Our passion for connecting patients and providers led us to the develop the only software solution designed specifically for the implementation of teledentistry across a range of settings. By connecting all dental care providers through groundbreaking software, effective dental care delivery can now be unleashed no matter where a patient might be located. Using teledentistry, care providers are reaching new groups of patients, in a sustainable and profitable manner – addressing access to care issues for patients along with the business and care-delivery challenges that today’s dental care providers face.
TeleDent, the MouthWatch teledentistry solution, streamlines collaboration between patients, dentists, hygienists, specialists and other health care providers across a wide range of settings.
In 2018, we launched the Teledentistry Innovation Award to highlight the varied ways that teledentistry is being implemented across the spectrum of dental care and dental providers that are realizing the potential for connected dental care technology to reshape the nature of dentistry and oral health in the US and beyond!
