Dentist/Specialist
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
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
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.
Dental Hygienist
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.