Dental Asia May/June 2022

DENTAL UPDATES
Penn Dental Medicine Online continues education programme enabling
dentists to better serve persons with disabilities
One in four US adults have some type of
disability affecting mobility, cognition,
hearing, or sight, according to the US Centre
for Disease Control and Prevention. In
addition, those with disabilities are more
likely to be obese, smoke, and have heart
disease and diabetes, further complicating
their healthcare.
To help address the oral health needs of this
vulnerable population with more clinicians
skilled in treating them, Penn Dental Medicine
has developed the Persons with Disabilities
presentation series — an online continuing
education programme aimed at building
competency among practicing clinicians in
providing oral healthcare to persons with
disabilities.
“We see this series as an important way to
not only build awareness of the barriers to
equitable oral healthcare for individuals with
disabilities, but also expand the number of
dentists treating these individuals,” said Dr
Miriam Robbins, director of Penn Dental
Medicine's care centre for persons with
disabilities, who helps to develop topics and
identify speakers for the series.
The series launched last year with support
from the Delta Dental Foundation of
Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina
(DDF), which recently renewed its support of
the Series with a second US$50,000 grant this
year.
Since its launch, the lecture topics have ranged
from defining disabilities across a lifetime
and caring for older adults with cognitive
impairments to how the payer system can be
strengthened to improve care for persons with
disabilities.
Developed and offered through Penn Dental
Medicine's office of continuing education, the
series is open to oral health professionals at no
charge.
Dentists completing 18 or more of the courses
within a three-year period will receive a certificate
of completion from Penn Dental Medicine as a
disabilities dentistry clinician expert.
Penn Dental Medicine offers a depth of live
online and hybrid learning opportunities across
dental disciplines and health policy as well
as a library of self-paced courses that can be
accessed at any time through its Penn Dental
Medicine Education Portal. ■
quip acquires teledentistry company Toothpic
quip has acquired Toothpic, a telehealth
company that offers teledentistry care through
dental insurers. Through this acquisition, quip
will add virtual access to dental professionals
through its mobile application.
and manage their oral health,” Enever said.
“We are excited to welcome the extremely
talented Toothpic team to the quip community
to help us continue building this much needed
platform for patients and providers.”
With quip, users will be able to track good
habits, monitor any oral health changes,
schedule virtual visits, and book appointments
when necessary on the application. Toothpic
will allow quip users wider access to vital
virtual care, according to Simon Enever,
co-founder and CEO of quip.
“By embedding Toothpic’s teledentistry
platform and nation-wide network of online
dental professionals into our app, we will
centralise access to a full suite of connected
oral care products and dental services that
will drastically alter the way people experience
The application provided through quip
and Toothpic will offer digital oral health
monitoring, a digital directory of dental
professionals, and personal care products
such as quip electric toothbrushes.
This acquisition was done to make oral care
more accessible, according to Shane Owens,
CTO and co-founder of Toothpic.
“We have made incredible strides in making
oral healthcare accessible to individuals and
businesses around the country through our
web and mobile applications,” Owens said.
“We share a vision for shifting dentistry from
a fee-for-service model to a preventativefocused,
value-based care one.
“We can’t imagine a better partner than quip
as we seek to further our mission to provide
innovative oral care solutions that not only
improve the lives of patients, but also improve
and modernise the delivery of care to our
provider networks and lower the cost of care
to our payers.” ■
18 DENTAL ASIA MAY / JUNE 2022