Case Study:
SMILE Health & The Grin Solution
SMILE Health Helps Grin® Scale Teledentistry to Engage More People in Need of Care
Approximately half of children in the US cannot receive regular dental care due to social determinants of health (SDOH). This lack of access often leads to more dental caries and subsequent health issues.
Recognizing this, a leading dental provider took a step forward by enhancing its teledentistry platform to bring preventative dental services to children in rural locations and increase oral health access for their families.
The Solution
Through the first-of-its-kind accelerator program, SMILE Health, the Grin solution was identified and connected to the dental provider, where, together, they expanded the solution’s application from orthodontics to preventative care for underserved children and elderly populations.
Powered by Smart Computer Vision technology, the startup’s platform and intraoral Grin Scopes® enable patients (or patients’ guardians) and Dental Professionals chairside to easily capture full-mouth video and images and share them with an offsite dentist or dental hygienist. Providers receive immersive views of the patient’s entire mouth, with clear, high-quality images that can help diagnose key intraoral conditions, all in minutes.
The solution’s technology will also highlight key areas of concern related to the patients’ oral hygiene and gum health – creating an interactive experience for providers and patients to communicate about diagnoses and treatment options. Because people with gum disease are 2-3 times more likely to experience a heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular events, this innovation impacts long-term, overall health outcomes.
Through its collaboration with Grin via SMILE Health, the dental provider identified a need for smaller intraoral Grin Scopes® for children. The startup successfully created the scopes, which were used to facilitate local Head Start programs. These programs run nationally and have reached an estimated 37 million low-income children and families enrolled in Medicaid.
Following SMILE Health, Grin received additional funding through CareQuest Innovation Partners’ ACCELERATE program to continue to scale solution and impact
Dr. Adam Schulhof
CEO and Founder of Grin
“SMILE Health opened the door to market opportunities we always knew would be a great fit for our technology but hadn’t yet proven. Our industry partner provided insights to help us focus our strategy and care for chronically underserved patient populations. We are now able to operationalize this new market focus, deepen our relationships with industry partners, and quickly advance our business priorities.”
The Results
By partnering with a mission-aligned startup, the dental provider was able to significantly increase teledentistry utilization for children, families, and elderly and overall access to care in its rural community.
Leveraging the innovative startup’s solution, the dental provider continues to strengthen and scale its leading teledentistry platform, which has been used for more than 20 years. Additionally, through the SMILE Health accelerator program, Grin helped the provider achieve significant results, including:
8
minutes on average were saved per patient examination
5x
faster speeds to obtain clinical images compared with existing solution
A dental hygienist and senior faculty member impacted by the solution said it best:
“We can’t expect the population to come to care; we have to bring care to the population . . . I’ve been doing this for 40 years, and this is the first time that I’ve actually felt hope that we are going to make an impact.”
Thanks to innovation and collaborations like these, the SMILE Health accelerator continues to make a lasting impact across the health care ecosystem, which benefits everyone.
About SMILE Health
SMILE Health is the program where transformational solutions to improve oral health take center stage.
We support innovators who challenge norms and are ready to advance solutions that improve accessibility, equity, and propel the integration between oral health and overall health.
Join us and learn more about the 2024 SMILE Health accelerator program here.
About Grin
Grin is a comprehensive digital platform that provides solutions for all oral health needs. The Grin App and Grin Scope® allow doctors to access a full patient management suite. Patients can access quality professional care from the convenience of their smart devices. Doctors can remotely monitor patients via virtual check-ins for complete visibility—reducing chair time, increasing patient volume, and ensuring safety and beautiful smile results.
To learn more about Grin, you can visit us at www.get-grin.com