New site filling the gaps in dental care
IT’S a statistic that doesn’t even shock iNEEDadentist’s Dr David Hills.
“There’s a massive trust issue among the general public when it comes to dentistry,” he said.
It’s, as you’d assume, a lack of trust driven by the feeling that at any moment your dentist will whip out a drill and start wielding it like Darth Vader, just without the compassion. Almost.
“Research shows 30 per cent of people don’t go to the dentist because they think dentists will do unnecessary work,” Dr Hills said. It’s a statistic the nineyear dental veteran has set out to erase.
Dr Hills, who practices out of Teeth on Ferry in Southport, built the iNEEDadentist website as a way of giving patients a better way to choose a dental practitioner.
“We took some of the best ideas from similar websites in order to try and give patients the features they need to make an informed choice on the clinic they want to visit,” he said.
It’s also a way of pushing back against what Dr Hills sees as the growing encroachment of cashed-up health funds into the dental industry. He said there was a growing practice of funds buying out dental clinics and then referring clients to those clinics for work.
“If you at similar sites that are available there’s health engine and some other booking platforms,” Dr Hills said.
“The problems we’ve found is some sites delete negative comments about practitioners and some sites sell data about patients, which is unethical stuff.
“This website is about taking control back from major corporate players who are just adding to the cost of healthcare.”
Dr Hills said he was not running the website to be profitable, but rather to add to voice of dentistry.
And he has great plans for the website, including the option of 3D tours of clinics so patients can get a firsthand view of a clinic before they set foot in it.
“Most dentists run software for clients which are online booking tools. I want to take that one step further by asking patients what they want from their dentists and then we will try to place them more appropriately,” Dr Hills said.
“We also include 3D tours of surgeries so people can see the clinic before they go there.
“So there’s a few ideas in one location.”
While the site charges dentists who want to obtain a better listing, Dr Hills said those fees were yet to cover costs.
He said the site would also give users transparency when it came to health fund provider schemes.
THIS WEBSITE IS ABOUT TAKING CONTROL BACK FROM MAJOR CORPORATE PLAYERS