Deploying Blockchain In Global Dental Care

• Toshendra Kumar Sharma
• May 02, 2019

As we all know, blockchain is one of the highest disruptive technologies in the world. Numerous industries are looking to innovate the functioning of their businesses by adopting blockchain technology. Blockchain is being used by both healthcare payers and providers alike to manage electronic medical records and clinical trials data while maintaining regulatory compliance.

Blockchain is indeed a game-changer which has entirely transformed the healthcare landscape for the better. Major industry players are now moving beyond investigating blockchain technology and into the phase of building production-ready blockchain applications.

As the healthcare and life sciences, industries operate with overwhelming amounts of data, digitizing this data which belongs to the increasingly empowered patient is more important now than ever. Blockchain helps improve and personalize patient experience. It provides faster access to trusted data, increases transparency, and facilitates better collaboration. It helps to track and ban counterfeit medicines, boost the efficiency of research and development, and drive optimized business models.

Although the banking and finance sectors were the trailblazers in adopting this technology, they are no longer alone. Blockchain technology is transforming the manner in which data and services are handled in the healthcare industry, in general, and the dental care industry, in particular.

Let’s now understand the major tool which is changing the face of global dental care and the various functions it offers.

Dentacoin (DCN)

Feedback is the most valuable asset for all industries rendering services and this holds true especially for the healthcare industry where the patient is placed at the center of the healthcare ecosystem. Dentacoin is a decentralized dental platform which leverages the properties of blockchain to deliver cost-effective and efficient global dental solutions. DCN is the cryptocurrency token of the Dentacoin platform.

Mr. Jeremias Grenzebach is the co-founder and core developer of the Dentacoin. As explained by him, Dentacoin aims to give birth to an entirely new dental system with main focus on preventive care. Dentacoin is an industry-specific cryptocurrency with an Ethereum-based token.

He emphasized that Dentacoin aims to achieve a market share of 10% within the patient segment and 12.5% within the dentist segment. He further explained that as the Dentacoin userbase grows and it becomes an official means of payment, a substantial value of Dentacoin will be created which will continue to develop in the long run with each new participant.

Dentacoin offers numerous functions such as Dentacoin Assurance (providing people access to preventive dental care at affordable rates), Dentacare App (helping people improve oral hygiene habits), and DentaVox Surveys (providing reliable market data about patient’s opinions).

Dentacoin is designed to align the financial interests of dentists and patients. Dentacoin comprises of an audit framework on which patients share their genuine feedback about dental treatments and will get rewarded with Dentacoins which they can use to pay for their dental expenses. Dental care practitioners will then go through the feedback and enhance the quality of their treatment. Dentacoin offers blockchain tools through web and mobile-based applications.

The numerous functions offered by Dentacoin are:

 

• DentaVox Surveys

 

It is a market research platform where users need to fill out questionnaires with questions related to dentistry. They are then incentivized with different amounts of Dentacoins(DCN). It is the first cryptocurrency of the global dental industry. Its core mission is to promote prevention over treatment. This helps save pain, time, and money. The information provided by patients is valuable for dental specialists, patients, providers, and media.

• Dentacoin Assurance

It is a contract between the dental practitioner and the patient and can be accessed via blockchain. It is a smart contract which entitles the patient to lifelong, preventive dental care. Blockchain technology is applied in order to secure and automate the process. This will encourage both doctors and patients to opt for sustainable prevention instead of acute treatment.

 

• Dentacare Mobile App

It is an interactive app which offers a three-month boosted gaming program which instructs clients on developing and maintaining healthy dental care habits. It places clients in contact with dental authorities so that they can get the required assistance from them. It is also highly useful for patients to conduct regular follow-ups with doctors after treatments. By maintaining proper dental hygiene and adhering to all the recommendations mentioned in the app, users will be rewarded with Dentapoints and Dentacoin tokens. It is an app which provides intensive training through an engaging gamified environment which helps form long-lasting dental care habits.

Conclusion

As told by Miguel de Cervantes, one of the world’s most pre-eminent novelists and Spanish writers, “Every tooth in a man’s head is more valuable than a diamond.” This is indeed very true as oral health is as important as physical health and fitness are. Blockchain technology aids the sector of global dental health through its decentralized and immutable system by securing patient details, payment, treatment history, and doctor profiles and expertise.

Implementing blockchain into their databases can help the dental care industry save the costs incurred for maintenance of physical records and manpower. In today’s computerized world, information is key and that is exactly what these tools are doing: revolutionizing dentistry.