With technical advancement in the healthcare sector all around the world, the industry is growing rapidly and its impact can be seen in every medical field including dental. Although new trends pop up in this industry with every passing year in terms of digital or in-office solutions such as 3D printers, digital impressions, laser, etc., the most exciting developments for both doctors, and their patients is the establishment of blockchain solutions. One of the leading experts in this discipline is Dentacoin Foundation, the first and only blockchain solution for the global dental industry. Dentacoin Foundation was officially established in March 2017 in the Netherlands with a combined effort and expertise of more than 120 advising professionals from the dental and general medical field, blockchain developers, financial and marketing specialists. But this is not where it ends. The organization strives to improve oral health globally using a preventive, smart contract-based dental assurance model, a set of dental apps, incentivizing beneficial user behavior, and a functioning cryptocurrency, used for rewards and payments. To know more about how the company came to serve 200K+ individuals and 1.9K+ dental offices worldwide, we sat down with Jeremias Grenzebach, the Co-founder and the core developer at Dentacoin Foundation.
“I strongly believe that it should be a basic right for every person to have access to high-quality dental care. The reality, however, shows 440 billion US dollars are spent every year on dental problems and 90% of them are proven avoidable with regular dental visits, proper nutrition, and good oral hygiene.”
From Sick Care to Health Care
Jeremias Grenzebach: “I strongly believe that it should be a basic right for every person to have access to high-quality dental care. The reality, however, shows 440 billion US dollars are spent every year on dental problems and 90% of them are proven avoidable with regular dental visits, proper nutrition, and good oral hygiene. The high level of fragmentation on the global dental market turns over 1.6 million dentists worldwide into lone fighters, unable to achieve efficiency and forced against their beliefs by the current system of tariffs, settlements, and insurances.Having these factors in mind, I found myself within a group of doctors, university professors, medical marketing specialists, and other professionals, eager to invent a solution to this deplorable state of affairs. Ever since, we have been fighting to develop Dentacoin into a solid concept, benefiting the global dental industry as a whole along with the oral health of every individual. Every product we are developing is devoted to the mission to make dental care more sustainable and affordable by focusing on better awareness, conscious prevention, and financial benefits. We have the ambitious goal of aligning the interest of these groups and position Dentacoin as a solution suitable for all.”
Innovation and ease
Jeremias Grenzebach: “Dentacoin apps are designed to help dentists build a loyal patient base and get access to valuable market research data, while simultaneously allowing users to earn Dentacoin (DCN) for their beneficial behavior. Dentacoin Assurance is our cornerstone product and it has been recently released as the first dental assurance plan based entirely on direct smart contracts between patients, and dentists. It focuses on prevention and is exclusively paid in DCN cryptocurrency. Other apps include:
DentaVox Paid Surveys – It is a market research website that generates valuable market insights and rewards its users for taking various oral health surveys. Since its launch, DentaVox 35,000+ users have been rewarded with 300+ million DCN.
Dentacoin Trusted Reviews – It is the first-ever platform for genuine dental reviews which allows dentists to improve their services and enhance their online presence. Patients are invited by their dentists and rewarded for providing valuable feedback. Through this app, dentists get an opportunity to improve upon the feedback received and are incentivized for the same.
Dentacare Oral Health App – It is a specially designed mobile app that enables users to build and maintain healthy oral health habits by taking three months of the incentivized challenge. Through reminders, notifications, voice navigation, and tutorials, customers are guided towards establishing and maintaining healthy dental care habits.
Dentacare: Jaws of Battle– It is the latest collectible card game aimed at educating children and adults on good and bad oral health habits. In this innovative game, users fight for their teeth, while learning more about what’s good and bad for their oral health. It also educates them about the treatments applied to solve dental problems.
Dentacoin Non-Custodial Wallet– It is a one-stop e-wallet that allows users to store, send, receive, and buy DCN currency in a completely secure environment. It facilitates easy payments amongst dentists, patients, and suppliers.
“The traits that I value most in our company’s culture are the complete openness both within the team and towards the community, as well as the constant drive to innovate, create, and improve. I am utterly happy to work with all these ambitious young people who devote so much time and energy to develop Dentacoin to its greatest potential.”
An industry leader
Jeremias Grenzebach: “There are no other active blockchain solutions focused on the dental industry, so we don’t have any direct competitors. As for the general healthcare field – in these very early market development times, we prefer to look at other blockchain solutions as potential partners rather than competitors. The main feature that sets us apart from many other blockchain solutions, though, is the clear focus on bridging the gap between this new blockchain technology and the real-world industries. Many aspects of our everyday lives can improve thanks to a smarter and more user-friendly application of blockchain. However, one common misconception is that Dentacoin can be used only by dentists. No! Dentacoin can be used by absolutely anyone. Moreover, the DCN currency is officially accepted as a means of payment by 120+ companies in 27 countries.”
Staying on top of the trends
Jeremias Grenzebach: “It’s challenging to be the first in your field – there is no other company you can learn from – so innovativeness and creativity have been crucial requirements for us since the very beginning. The traits that I value most in our company’s culture are the complete openness both within the team and towards the community, as well as the constant drive to innovate, create, and improve. I am utterly happy to work with all these ambitious young people who devote so much time and energy to develop Dentacoin to its greatest potential.”
Navigating COVID-19
Jeremias Grenzebach: “I believe that being part of a digital company significantly reduced the negative effects of the pandemic. The main change we had to make is to switch to the home office for a while which in our case has always been an option and thus it did not interfere with our plans and progress. The entire crypto market, of course, suffered a downtrend but it seems that it is already on the way to recovering. Plus, the substantial value of Dentacoin is much more related to its adoption rate than to its current, short-term market value.”
All set for the upcoming developments
Jeremias Grenzebach: “We are gradually developing a solid user and partner base across the globe which will be our main focus in the years to come as well. Our upcoming participation in the world’s leading dental summit – IDS in Cologne, Germany – will help us reach thousands of new dental practitioners, suppliers, and manufacturers. From a development point of view, the next projects on the roadmap are an updated version of Dentacoin Assurance, Dentacare: Jaws of battle for iOS, Dentacoin custom hub app for dentists, and integration into a dental practice management software. Anyone who wants to stay up-to-date with all updates, can follow our blog or join our Telegram group for daily discussions.”