A dollar a day for your annual dental care is just one initiative Dr Sundar Jagadeesan is introducing to his second and newest Hawke’s Bay dental clinic, Dentiq.
If his approach to growing bis first practice in Wairoa is anything to go by, Dr Sundar is sure to make a success out of his new state of-the-art practice on Gloucester Street in Greenmeadows, which opened in late December.
Dr Sundar arrived in New Zealand in 2004. He lived in Auckland for a couple of years before completing bis New Zealand dental licence in Otago in 2007. He then practiced in Greymouth and Hamilton before buying an already established practice in Wairoa in 2012.
T he practice had limited active patients when Dr Sundar bought it from the previous dentist, but with a mantra of ‘beautiful smiles begin here’, he quickly built the practice up to over 2,800 patients.
Dr Sundar is focused on creating a dental wellness pathway for patients, something that he learnt while studying in Seattle. He wants to sec dentistry as affordable for everyone and create long-lasting relationships with his patients.
“The framework is mainstream science-based dentistry but taking a medical model of delivering dental care rather than a masonry model. We treat the teeth in the context of the person behind the teeth and just not the teeth”.
“Regular routine dental care is less expensive than if you wait until it hurts!”
One concept to achieve this is by introducing the dollar a day subscriber model. He says a new patient gets about $650 of dental care in the first year for just $365.This includes two checks-ups during the year, x-rays and a fluoride application.
“Did you know that just 30 percent of the population go to the dentist regularly – which is one to two times a year – while 44 percent go every two years.”
When people come into the clinic they arc assessed over five measures using a traffic light system moving them from red to green: how comfortable they are with dentistry; what is their gum health; their individual condition of teeth; their bite and jaw joint; and aesthetics, that is, how good their teeth look.
“We risk analyse the patient’s oral health care across these five measures and move them into a wellness model, not into a repair model.”
The move from single tooth dentistry to comprehensive care requires a great understanding of risk factors and the ability to manage them effectively.
The comprehensive examination, the initial patient engagement focuses the clinician and patient on the variables most likely to ensure a predictable and excellent outcome.
The examination will be carefully examined to the patient understand it’s most diagnostically useful elements, including an insightful look at your medical and dental history, how to better account for a patient’s agendas and expectations, intelligent use o f radiographic and photographic documentation, and gum health (periodontal), teeth (biomechanical), bite and jaw joint (functional) and appearance of teeth (dento facial) presentations.
“It’s a refreshing way to approach one’s dental care and yo u will understand that we are interested to partner with you for a longterm dental wellness outcome rather than to fix a single tooth with less predictablity.”
Dr Sundar was personally trained by Dr John Kois a master clinician cum -teacher in Seattle, Washington, USA over three and half years. I t was a major commitment as he juggled his practice, young family and studies which all finished up well.
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” – Aristotle
The main focus of Dentiq is to empower our clients to make the right decisions based on the latest evidence based dentistry which will improve their lives holistically.
When you arrive at Dentiq, directly opposite Greenmeadows New World, you’re met by a welcoming team matched with beautiful smiles showing off their shiny white teeth.
White is also the predominant colour of the clinic and it’s noticeable that Dr Sundar has spent a lot of time designing the look of the clinic as well as its flow – from the comfortable reception area through to the dental care rooms.
“I wanted a large space. We have a dedicated room to risk analyse and diagnose the situation, and then two restorative rooms, one hygiene room and one denture making roo m. These are custom made for each procedure. We also have a fully fitted out dental laboratory on site and a client recovery room with a fully body massage chair. A client can rest and recover fully before they head out into their lLives .”
Dr Sundar says he’s regarded as a big dreamer and is looking forward to his dream coming to reality in his “new home” Dentiq.
Watch this space!
