Introducing Dr. To
Dr. Kevin To is passionate about dentistry, to the point where, “Sometimes I have to tone it down a little bit,” he says. It’s led him to provide free dental work for homeless vets and participate in a humanitarian trip overseas with the Navy. Practicing since 2015, he opened his emergency dental clinic, OnCall Dental, in 2020. Dr. To spends a lot of time on root canals, extractions, and crown work. His patients rave about the whole team’s bedside manner and Dr. To’s pain-free, efficient treatments.
From Gagging on Goop to Dabbling in Digital… And Back Again
As a new practice owner, the top three things Dr. To focuses on are doing good restorative work, running his business efficiently, and making patients comfortable.
And nothing stands in the way of patient comfort like the impression process. “When you have to put a bunch of goop in somebody’s mouth, you kind of start the gag reflex. It’s just not a comfortable process.” It’s even worse when an impression doesn’t turn out after the 3-minute wait and it’s time for a retake. Add to that the long turnaround times to get the final restoration from the lab, and patient comfort and efficiency bothgo right out the window.
The digital systems Dr. To used before had their challenges as well. First, the scanners were stationary which didn’t allow for use in multiple operatories. And working with his preferred local labs required a very hands-on approach. “They kind of had people that knew a little bit about digital workflow. But we had to work through things quite a bit, and I almost had to be there to kind of consult to them.”
In the end, Dr. To says, “I was kind of going back and forth between analog and digital. And when I first bought [my new] practice, we were all analog. And it just felt like I was going backward.”
Going Digital with Dandy
Back to doing analog impressions after glimpsing a better way, Dr. To couldn’t ignore how much patients really didn’t like “the goop.”
“I felt it was a priority for me to actually bring back digital workflow… I was considering buying a scanner prior to engaging with Dandy. But I was a new practice owner, so it was just outside of my budget.”
That all changed when Dandy popped up in a search for digital scanners. With Dandy, Dr. To was able to skip the upfront cost of purchasing a scanner and get right to work. He jumped at the opportunity. And even though it sounded a little too good to be true, he soon put those fears to rest.
Just 3 Hours and It’s Go Time
With previous scanners, Dr. To was always the one to train his staff – an area he admits was a struggle. But with Dandy, it was a different story. “The onboarding process was great. It was seamless and helped a lot with my staff. Dandy set up three hours of onboarding, just to make sure the staff felt comfortable using the scanner. And we didn’t get off the call until everybody had a chance to try it and go through the process.” It helped, he says, that, “Dandy’s scanner is just very, very easy. Very straightforward to use.”
Quick & Clean Scanning: Patients Delight and Reinvest
From the patient’s perspective, using the scanner is a game-changer.
Once actual patient work started, the difference was apparent immediately. Dr. To says that it only takes about a minute to take a full arch impression. “It just makes so much more sense from a comfort standpoint. Patients will say, ‘Man, I’m glad you don’t have to use all that goop in my mouth again.’”
An unanticipated benefit he’s seen is the excitement of patients when they see the 3-D render of their mouth for the first time. “They’ll say, ‘I’ve never seen something like this! That’s what my mouth looks like?’ And it gets people excited. It helps them actually reinvest in their own health.” He chalks this up to the old adage ‘seeing is believing.’ Instead of just telling people what’s going on, he can show them.
Stress-Free Efficiency with Dandy
As a small practice owner, Dr. To says “Efficiency is really a big deal for me.” One thing he loves about Dandy compared to previous scanners is its portability. With the scanner’s accompanying laptop and cart, he can just unplug and roll the scanner from room to room. In an urgent care setting, this allows him to give the best care to the most patients. “I can bounce around everywhere I need to go.”
Efficiency is inherent in the scanning and digital workflow process too. If “there’s something that doesn’t scan properly, you don’t have to redo an impression, you just kind of cut out a part that doesn’t look quite right and you can just restart and rescan that particular area and it fills it right in.” And there’s no wait time for shipping. “Incorporating digital dentistry actually helps a lot because I can submit something digitally. Dandy receives it right then and there and turnaround time doesn’t get affected by that.”
Ease and Office Growth
Dandy has helped me a lot with seeing more patients… the digital workflow creates a lot of efficiency. Directly and indirectly, Dandy actually helps build my practice.
In the end, Dr. To says that Dandy has just made his life easier. “Everything’s just been seamless… If anything I would encourage working with Dandy just because it just makes my life easy.”
Working with Dandy has allowed me to focus just on dentistry. I don’t have to worry about everything else, especially on the administrative side, so I can be the best dentist I can be.
And by making Dr. To’s life easy, Dandy has also helped his office grow. “Dandy improves the flow of my office and I don’t have to worry about the quality of my restoration. All I have to do is make sure I have a good scan. I literally just hit submit and Dandy does the rest, and the crowns show up on time.”
You’re actually not so much investing in Dandy as Dandy is actually investing in you… I would encourage working with Dandy because it just makes my life easy.