Professional Courtesy: Shark Food or Garbage Patch? by Dr. Thomas Giacobbi

Professional Courtesy: Shark Food or Garbage Patch?

Three ideas dentistry needs to realize ... or does it? You be the judge


by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, editorial director


The TV series Shark Tank is an inspiration for many inventors and entrepreneurs. I consider Dentaltown the dental equivalent because our community has been the launch pad for countless dental products and services— and if someone wants access to candid feedback on a new idea from thousands of dental professionals, they need look no further than Dentaltown’s message boards!

This month, I focused on a few ideas that might be the kind of thing you see on Shark Tank. I’ll let you decide if they’d be winners or should be tossed out with the trash.

(I used “garbage patch” in the headline to catch your attention and use the opportunity to share some quick trivia: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated to be twice the size of Texas and have a weight equivalent to 500 jumbo jets. Check out theoceancleanup.com. If this column doesn’t inspire you to invent something new, at least you’ll have a better appreciation for the scale of ocean pollution that exists today.)

Cleaner energy

Many patients bring removable appliances like partial dentures, night guards and retainers to their dental recare visits to have them “cleaned.” We put the appliances in a container with a cleaning solution and give them a ride in an ultrasonic bath, but what if patients could access this technology from the comfort of home?

Imagine a container large enough to fit a couple of partials or two retainers and some water, and in the base is a place to attach the motor from my sonic-powered toothbrush. Activating the brush motor would create “sonic action” in the water to help clean these appliances. This would be a fantastic way to leverage the power toothbrush technology that’s already a staple in many bathrooms today.

Shape sorting

More than ever, the proliferation of implant versions, sizes and the variety of components has made it difficult when an older implant needs restoration. Imagine just pointing your phone camera at the X-ray of an implant and receiving instant verification of its make, model and size!

The best current version of this, the website whatimplantisthat.com, is a great start, but artificial intelligence has the potential to make this process easier. In addition to identifying the implant, obtaining restorative parts will become more difficult. We’ll need a comprehensive solution to address these issues. (It’s worth saying that the implant companies themselves should work together to solve this problem.)

Identification of implants alone wouldn’t be a business in the world of Shark Tank, but I think if you can connect identification with the sourcing of components, you might have a winner.

TikTok trainer

The past two years have created additional challenges in hiring team members for our practices. The training resources currently available are fragmented. The gold standard of training team members would be for any office, regardless of size, to be able to hire the right people and transform them into “dental geniuses” consistently.

To accomplish this, the software programs we use would need to have tools that allow someone with minimal experience to be “walked through” the daily tasks in a practice. For example, if I need to check out a patient and collect their payment for today, the software could walk me through those steps. For dental assistants, the back-office training tool would operate in parallel to the practice management software.

Think TikTok meets dental training, with short videos relevant to the procedures on the schedule to coach the assistant on room setup and materials. Having training materials readily available would be like a virtual trainer at your shoulder whenever you need help.

I hope these ideas will spark some discussion online or inspire others to share their wish list for dental innovations. Please share your comments below. And you can message me directly via email: tom@dentaltown.com.



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