The teledentistry platform routes hospital dental emergency patients to a kiosk designed to provide immediate care and treatment from a virtual licensed dentist. 

Xpress DDS announced a new outlet to give hospital patients emergency access to dental care—one that builds on the rise in use of teledentistry. 

As the company explains in a press release, dental emergency visits increase wait times, occupy treatment rooms and decrease the capacity for more emergent patients. In fact, each dental-related ER visit costs the hospital on average more than $1,000. Additionally, 25% of patients with unresolved oral issues cycle back to the ER seeking relief, resulting in unmet needs and an expensive cyclical pattern. 

This teledentistry platform routes hospital dental emergency patients to a tablet kiosk designed to provide immediate care and treatment from a virtual licensed dentist, supported by referral and scheduling assistance at a local brick and mortar dental office.

“At Xpress DDS, our main goal is to help both patients and hospitals,” said Cassi Layne, CEO of Xpress DDS. “A majority of hospitals are just not equipped with emergency dental services, but patients should still be able to get the care they deserve. That’s when we step in.”

Xpress DDS aims to help hospitals decrease overhead costs, reduce long waiting room times for patients and eliminate the ER’s responsibility of having to source an emergency dentist. With telemedicine on the uprise in the healthcare industry, dental specialists are becoming equipped with the means to treat patients remotely. By providing quick diagnoses and remedies to their pain in real time, patients will avoid further dental complications and ERs can prioritize attention on non-dental patients. 

According to the company, it is actively working to add this feature to hospital ERs, allowing them to seamlessly integrate urgent dental services into their healthcare services.