For some adults with tooth loss, getting dentures means several trips to a dental office. Mobility challenges can make those visits difficult. Cost and limited local access can also stand in the way.
A ScienceDaily article citing the Surgeon General's report on oral health estimates that about 10% of U.S. adults age 18 and older have lost all their teeth. Among adults 65 and older, the share rises to about 33%. Oral diseases affect about 3.7 billion people worldwide, according to the University of São Paulo's Jornal da USP report, which also describes financial barriers to treatment and tooth replacement.
DentKits and Dentistry.One have announced a partnership that adds clinical review to DentKits' at-home process. The companies say a licensed Dentistry.One dentist will review every case without requiring a patient to visit a dental office.
How the at-home review works
Patients begin on the DentKits platform and receive an impression kit. They take impressions at home, then provide smile photographs and their medical history. DentKits creates a patient record and sends the case files to Dentistry.One for review.
A licensed dentist assesses the submitted information and prescribes full or partial dentures when indicated. The patient and DentKits receive the findings in an oral health report. After delivery, patients who need further support can arrange a live video consultation with a Dentistry.One dentist.
The companies say the arrangement combines an at-home process with dentist oversight. Brant Herman, Co-Founder & CEO of MouthWatch and Dentistry.One, said the partnership brings Dentistry.One's nationwide clinical network to DentKits' model. Kevin Early, Founder & CEO of DentKits, said the service is intended to reach people who face barriers such as distance. He also cited cost and mobility.
Access and clinical boundaries
The model does not remove the need for in-person care in every situation. Dentistry.One says it coordinates referrals to local providers when a patient needs an office visit. The announcement does not say how often referrals may be required or what they cost patients.
A paper in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology discusses racial inequities in oral health, including disparities in tooth loss and pain. It also examines the role of restricted access to dental services, as described in the study on oral-health inequities.
Access initiatives take different forms. A Connecticut pilot connected families with supplies and affordable care through a dental-bank pilot. The DentKits partnership instead builds remote clinical review into a denture workflow.
For Dentistry.One, the arrangement extends its asynchronous review model into direct-to-consumer oral health. DentKits says dentist review and prescribing are built into each case. When remote support falls short, Dentistry.One says it refers the patient to a local provider.
