Cloud-powered dentistry is still relatively new, but as technology progresses, more and more dentists are making the switch.
In the early 2000’s, the transition from traditional methods of practice management to digital solutions marked an important era of transformation. Cloud is the next big thing. While some dentists may be worried about data security, cost, or the ability to integrate with existing tools and equipment, others are just comfortable with what they have and worry about the anticipated disruption that shifting to a cloud platform could cause. But most admit that the shift is likely at some point in the future.
In this article, we’ll take a close look at 4 dentists’ journeys from paper-based and/or legacy, on-premise practice management software to ClearDent’s cloud-based platform.
TKO Group: Kayla Clelland
Practice Type: Multi-practice
Previous Software: Curve, Gold
Location: Alberta
As the general manager of TKO Group, Kayla oversees the operations of all 9 locations including their call centre in Alberta. Part of a larger group of 50+ practices, they have plans to keep growing and adding more practices. ClearDent helps them scale their practices up as well as keep them updated with current technology. As TKO Group rapidly expanded, the ability to fulfill their mission of a seamless experience for every patient began to get complicated. Connecting multiple offices to a single call centre, while delivering a tight-knit practice experience required a lot of moving parts. According to Clelland, “We were adding clinics really quickly – overloading our servers, and we had a lot of VPNs and remote computers.” Fusing together the various digital odds and ends was proving to be slow, unintuitive, and inefficient. As the group tested other cloud solutions, none could compete with ClearDent’s functionality, ease-of-use, and reporting.
After the switch to ClearDent’s Cloud solution, many of Stadium Dental’s issues evaporated. Previously unreliable tunneling software, slow-to-connect VPNs, and remote access connections were replaced with a single URL and dependable connection. Access controls within ClearDent Cloud allowed Clelland to easily determine who could access what, from where, and during what hours. Staff received access to the areas of the practice that were required to complete their respective tasks – whether they did them from their office, call centre, or their couch at home.
The level of control they had over their entire operations was an unexpected delight for Clelland and the company. The ability to customize treatment plans, patient follow-up, and other day-to-day activities meant ClearDent’s Cloud solution felt more like Stadium’s personalized solution. As their location count grew, ClearDent’s ability to duplicate features and templates allowed them to bring a new level of consistency to other practices and get everything set up in record time. When staff move between clinics to see patients or fill sick day gaps, they instantly know their way around the systems.
“ClearDent Cloud has made life easier – not only have our practices made more money, but we’ve also saved money.”
Providing a uniform experience across offices while allowing dentists to review their workload and update notes from home has made the clinics on ClearDent Cloud more productive. That’s something Kayla knows for a fact, thanks to the accuracy and detail of ClearDent Cloud’s reporting capabilities. And one thing the TKO Group takes very seriously is data and insights. Data-driven decision making is core to their success and ClearDent has made it that much easier to extract important information and monitor important business metrics.
Kayla’s advice to any practice is to switch to ClearDent Cloud “Now, honestly.” The simple, secure, and available-anywhere approach that ClearDent Cloud offers even single-location practices, is something she firmly believes in. “ClearDent will improve your practice in ways you wouldn’t have thought needed improvement.”
Ari Pediatric Dentistry: Dr. Timucin Ari
Practice Type: Pediatric and Orthodontic, Multi-location
Previous Software: Dentrix
Location: Ontario
Dr. Timucin Ari is passionate about providing the highest level of care possible for infants, children, and patients with special needs. Focused on creating a relentlessly caring environment, the staff at Ari Pediatric Dentistry use their extensive experience to build the foundation for a lifetime of healthier smiles through pediatric and orthodontic care. Their three locations across London, Ontario ensure that each patient that comes through their doors leaves embracing their brighter smile.
Not long into the pandemic, Dr. Ari saw the opportunity to provide more care to children across southern Ontario. The decision to purchase two additional locations was a simple one, but the complexities of now managing multiple locations with multiple teams meant tripling the work that went into running a single profitable practice. Ari Pediatric Dentistry was already using ClearDent, but one of the new locations still relied on a paper-heavy process for providing care.
Bringing new technology into three offices was a smoother experience than he and his staff had anticipated. Dr. Ari’s offices with existing ClearDent services transitioned quickly, “It was seamless – it was so easy!” For the third location that was going digital for the first time, ClearDent’s training staff used their experienced onboarding trainees by simplifying training sessions and communicating the benefits of the remote approach to practice management.
Once all three Ari Pediatric Dentistry locations were connected via ClearDent Cloud, Dr. Ari found the dashboard to be one of its best features. An up-to-the-minute snapshot of each location’s performance was accessible from any phone, tablet, or computer with internet access. Dr. Ari and his team were able to closely monitor and see production breakdown, growth and trends. He was also able to monitor case acceptance, hygienists’ capacity, recall rates, and more. Easier access to important business analytics also meant that his financial staff, front desk, and office managers could easily understand how each office was performing.
“As a practicing dentist, I realize it’s really important for me to see what’s happening in each location.”
Even though Dr. Ari sees ClearDent Cloud as the ideal solution to multi-location practices, he also believes the solution is one that works across the board for all practice sizes and specialties. Everything from lower IT infrastructure costs, better security and data backups, dashboards, reporting and comprehensive business insights, practice owners get more visibility and oversight to help them optimize their practice. “Even for a solo, single-location practice, I think as a dentist, it is really important for us to be able to see what’s happening in our practice and ClearDent Cloud makes that possible.”
MAP (Management Advisory Practitioners):
Andrew Moukled, CEO
Practice Type: Practice Advisor
Previous Software: ClearDent On-Premise, ABELDent
Location: Ontario
Andrew Moukled is the CEO of MAP (Management Advisory Practitioners), an organization that takes on the business and operational responsibilities of practice management for dental practices across Ontario. By advising accounting, risk and compliance, clinical operations, and strategy development, oral health providers enjoy a more satisfying work-life balance as they are free to focus on providing outstanding oral health care. A self-described ‘Big Thinker’, he takes a personal approach informed by his diverse experience and education in clinical management, human resources, and financial modelling. His passion for excellence in dentistry runs in the family with his brother Dr. Aziz Moukled who is a general dentist eagerly taking on complex cases. Andrew Moukled understands what goes into building a thriving business and is ready to lend a helping hand.
Finding itself with a unique opportunity for rapid growth after onboarding four new practices in the past year, MAP approached ClearDent to explore what new technology could assist their operations. They struggled to meet the demands of managing over a dozen practices spread across a large geographic area. Administrative staff and specialists had historically felt bottlenecked by the need to travel to each location – often after hours – to access reports, tackle scheduling, and take on strategic decisions. Key information gathering could only take place during specific hours of the day so forgetting one task or requiring clarification would cost additional hours in travel with the possibility of interrupting care provider workflows.
While MAP explored third-party options to remotely access multiple locations, the VPN and tunneling software options were unreliable, clunky integrations that required onsite tooling at every practice location. This piecemeal approach had left concerns around the security of all the sensitive information being exchanged. The leadership team were frustrated with their options and knew that sustainable growth would be at risk with their mostly on-prem solution.
After seven years working alongside ClearDent, MAP reached out about the potential of ClearDent’s Cloud solution. Recognizing the possibility of readily accessible information, Andrew Moukled, CEO of MAP, was eager to sign up, “We knew [ClearDent] would transition us very seamlessly to the cloud […] It was a no brainer.” Once ClearDent Cloud was up and running, the value became clear immediately. For starters, they removed the redundancies of third-party remote applications. Specialists and providers are now able to log in from any location and access everything they need to do their job. One administrative employee can now easily run multiple clinics. Best of all, the MAP team is no longer required to visit each clinic, staying out of the way of care providers. Across the board, teams are empowered and more efficient.
“Everything that you need is at your fingertips – not just the scheduling, not just the clinical charting, not just reporting – you have access to everything, wherever you are.”
Sarah Wakefield, Senior Clinical Team Lead thinks often about how ClearDent Cloud has enabled more sustainable growth for MAP. Cutting down on redundancies and inefficiencies while streamlining through job sharing has prepared them for the next phase of growth. With more accurate information immediately available, management is more confident in their decision making, “If I’m in a meeting and need to pull up a report, I can do that at the click of a finger.” And if you ask Sarah when the right time to shift to ClearDent Cloud is? “If you’re eager to bring that clinic to the next level, the answer is today”.
Dr. Kendall James
Practice Type: Multi-location
Previous Software: Paper-based
Location: British Columbia and Alberta
As far as specialists go, you may be hard-pressed to find a more enthusiastic prosthodontist than Dr. Kendall James. Dr. James is a Canadian-born nomad who earned his dental degree from the University of Sydney in Australia before diving into his specialization at the University of Minnesota. Since returning to Canada, he has met with some of the most complex care cases across British Columbia and Alberta. Past President of the BC Society of Prosthodontists, Dr. James now manages multiple locations incorporating the most recent advances in dental technology.
With multiple clinics practicing across two provinces, Dr. James wanted to connect offices to better understand the trends, performance, and health of each location. Using third parties to connect his mostly on-premise servers through portals, he was often frustrated by the inconsistent experience. It was tedious if not impossible to look up key scheduling or operational information, while concerns regarding security frequently surfaced through IT groups. Dr. James needed a more robust way to connect his practices and keep everyone on the same digital page.
Relatively early in the days of the cloud, Dr. James approached ClearDent to learn about possible solutions. Already using ClearDent’s on-prem servers, Dr. James wanted to reduce the risks that came with last-minute changes to schedules and charts during his weekly trips between BC and Alberta. When he purchased his Kelowna location, he saw the opportunity to transition to cloud technology. Now, after testing and using ClearDent Cloud, he says his practice has dramatically changed for the better.
As staff were provided with a view of the business beyond the day-to-day perio and endo work, conversations started to shift. Before ClearDent Cloud, the team might have anecdotal evidence or a feeling about how the business was performing, but now they were openly discussing referral patterns and what portion of their revenue was based on each coding. With the Cloud’s anywhere-access, this also translated to better communication between treatment coordinators and the front-desk with real-time updates to charts and patient files – even when specialists are out of the office.
“There are certain things that ClearDent Cloud offers that have changed the way I view my numbers.”
Looking back, he sees the switch as an obvious one, “I don’t think there’s any wrong time to switch over to the cloud.” Modernizing his practice with ClearDent Cloud has provided professional insights, increased efficiency, tighter security, and more control over how he runs his business – even if he’s on the road with his iPad. “ClearDent Cloud has given me the information I need about my clinic anytime, anywhere. It’s exactly what I want.”
Incorporating cloud computing into dentistry marks a major advancement in the delivery and management of dental services. Originally more common in IT and business, this cutting-edge technology is now gaining significant traction in the healthcare sector, especially in dental offices. But buyer beware: not all Cloud software is created equal. Read more about that here.
Cloud computing provides a range of applications for dental professionals, including improved management of patient records, more efficient appointment scheduling, the facilitation of remote consultations, and enhanced data security. The data and insights available from Cloud solutions enables better decision-making, and the anytime, anywhere access opens new doors of efficient operations.
The implementation of cloud-based technologies is revolutionizing dental care, leading to more efficient practice management, better patient interaction, and more collaborative approaches to treatment planning. Talk to ClearDent today to find out how you can become a Cloud-powered practice.
