Virtudent

A new start up offering teledentistry:

Source: Virtudent

I am a huge fan of the concept of Teledentistry, I believe it has the potential to vastly improve treatment options and lower costs.

This new effort was born in the Innovation Laboratory at Harvard. It is very much a start up with only very basic elements in place and lots of development still needed. However it is a start and may be able to lead the way to future more sophisticated solutions.

The web site does not address this problem. That is the recommendation from the ADA that a teledentist be licensed in the state the patient lives in. Professional licensing is a tricky political problem that wavers between public safety, consumerism and guild protectionism that stifles competition. If a patient can only seek help from a teledentist in his or her own state then much of the benefit of teledentistry is lost.

And what about the patient in Poland (for example) seeking help from a dentist in the US? Or vice versa?

It is perfectly legal for a patient to travel to another state or country for dental treatment. How can it be illegal for them to seek the same kind of care through the Internet?