"Creative Care Delivery, Turning Ebb Into Flow, and Learning To Share" with Eden Ivie

📻 Episode 9 of Season 2 of Kinda Different is here!

In this episode, Matt chats with Eden Ivie, Director of Client Success and Clinical Innovations Lead at Mouthwatch and Dentistry.One. They discuss moving care delivery outside of the office to where patients are, getting out of stagnant waters, and challenges to overcome to help drive teledentistry forward. Listen on Apple or Spotify, or watch/listen below. A lightly edited transcript is below.

You can find Eden and Dentistry.One at the following places:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eden-ivie-92439995/Website: https://www.dentistry.one

Matt Allen:
What's up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Kinda Different, a podcast where we talk about innovation in dentistry. We connect with some absolutely amazing guests and we talk about together how we can all make dental care more human. And I am super excited for the conversation today to have one of my favorite people in the dental industry on with us, Eden Ivie, who is just such a wonderful human in addition to being a great hygienist, a really innovative thinker. I'm just somebody who you want to know. And if you ever get to meet Eden at a meeting, I'm sure you'll understand why. So Eden, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. Before I let you introduce yourself, I'll quickly introduce myself. I'm Matt Allen, the CEO, co-founder of Different Kind, host of Kinda Different. And yeah, just really excited to be with you today. So please tell our listeners who you are, give us a little bit of background, and then we'll jump in. We'll talk about innovation. We'll learn a little bit more about you, and we'll talk about how we can make dental care more.

Eden Ivie:
Great, thank you, that was such a nice introduction. I'm so excited to be here. I'm Eden Ivie, I am the Director of Client Success for Mouthwatch and Dentistry One. I am also the Clinical Innovations Lead. I started my career as a clinical dental hygienist. I practiced for 15 plus, maybe 18 years, I don't know, I have last count. And I have been with Mouthwatch for the last seven years.

Matt Allen:
Awesome, awesome. And you are doing some amazingly cool things right now that I'm super, super excited to talk about. So why don't we just start there because I'm excited about it. So I wanna hear what you're excited about in terms of it. So tell us just to start what you're most excited to be working on right now as it relates to innovation in our space. So, I'm gonna start with a question.

Eden Ivie:
All right, well, before I tell you what I'm most excited to be working on, let me just give you a little bit of background of what I've been doing for the last seven years. Mouthwatch has a teledentistry platform called Teledent, which allows for provider to provider communication and direct to patient communication. And so for the past seven years, we have been implementing that into practices and programs and FQHCs and really allowing providers to connect with their patients on a different level. Um, now we are growing that platform. We have created a new platform called dentistry one, and it is. A direct to consumer product. It is basically Teladoc for dental. Um, and it has been, we've been working on it for about the last 12 to 18 months. Um, it is really exciting. We are just launching this week, um, going live. So that is, that has been consuming all of our time and all of our energy. And we're really excited because it sounds cliche, it sounds cheesy, but this product is going to change dentistry. It's going to change the way that people receive dental care. And it is so exciting. So, I'm excited to be here with you. I'm excited to be here with you.

Matt Allen:
That's amazing. Congratulations on the launch this week.

Eden Ivie:
Thank you.

Matt Allen:
Obviously the work that you all have done over the past number of years has really laid the foundation, it seems like, for what you were rolling out here. Let's dive more into that then. So you're talking about this is going to change dentistry. Tell us how you think that's going to happen. You know, what, how does teledentistry fit into the future of where dental is going and how are you shaping that future as well? Mouthwatch and Dentistry One.

Eden Ivie:
So we've seen in our world in general, how technology has become so important in every aspect. I mean, when was the last time you stepped foot in a physical bank? Because I don't remember the last time I did. We do. Everything is a digital exchange. Now, of course, not all of dentistry can be a digital exchange. Um, but it can facilitate that communication and that care and make things so much more convenient for our patients and for our providers. We know that there is a shortage of dental providers in this country. And so we can't, we don't physically have enough providers to meet all of the needs of the patients in this country. So we have got to get creative and moving as many appointments as possible to a teledentistry appointment is going to really maximize our provider's time and also really provide convenience for our patients. A couple of things that I love about Dentistry One. So of course, it allows for patients who are having an emergency to communicate with a dental provider right away. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. We also have care coordination. So it's helping patients navigate their benefits because that's a difficult one. It's hard to find a provider who's in network. It's hard to know what services are covered. So we have the care coordination piece and then we also have oral health coaching, which I am super excited about because anybody who's heard me speak as a hygienist, I will always say the most important thing that we do for our patients is educate them on how to take care of their mouth. Because I can do, no matter what I'm doing in the chair, if that patient isn't taking care of themselves at home, the same problems are just gonna keep coming up. So with oral health coaching, It allows this team of oral health coaches to really educate patients, help motivate them, and empower them to take care of their own health. So it's really an all-encompassing solution.

Matt Allen:
Man, and there's so much there that, personally as just like somebody who lives in a rural area, I'm really excited about as well, right? I mean, I think when we talk about there's, we have a lack of providers, but we also, I think that, I think we don't necessarily feel that if you live in New York City, because you're like, well, there's probably enough providers here in New York City to like take care of the people, but like it's not correctly distributed, right? In terms of where all of our people are at in the country and whatnot. So, so many things there that obviously from, a provider standpoint that we can talk about, but also from a patient, like when I put myself in a patient's shoes of like, hey, if my kid has an issue and I need to talk to somebody, it could be a two hour drive, right? And now with platforms like this, it might not.

Eden Ivie:
Yeah, definitely. So one of my favorite clients, which I'm sure a lot of your listeners have heard of is AppleTree Dental. And they implemented Teledent. They've been using Teledentistry. So every person that calls in with an emergencyngets a Teledentistry visit. And that way their providers are able to assess the situation and then they schedule that patient for treatment. Oftentimes those patients are coming from across the entire state, having to travel 2 or 3 hours. It's really helping not only to save chair time, which is precious in a clinic, but also that travel time. So yes, for the rural population, it's massive.

Matt Allen:
That's huge. And I bet that there's probably patients there too, like given that model that you're talking about, they probably don't even need to come in for treatment, which just saves everyone huge amounts of time too, right?

Eden Ivie:
Yes, yes, with another client with Denequest or Advantage Dental, they found that 25%, between 25 and 33% of patients don't actually even need to come in. Their issue can be resolved just with a teledentistry visit. So, like I said, it's saving time, it's saving energy, it's just making things easier for everyone.

Matt Allen:
I think that's awesome. I love it. What have you, so you've been doing this work though for a while, right, with kind of provider to provider and Intelligent, and what have you learned that you feel like has really built up dentistry one to the point where it's different, you know, than than something else, or what have you kind of really understood that maybe people who are just getting into this game, you know, might not know about about uh, teledentistry in general.

Eden Ivie:
Well, I think one of the approaches that I love about Mouthwatch is it's always about our end goal is always improved patient care. It's always in the benefit of the patient. And our current model of dentistry, this drill and fill just treating disease, it's not working. Like we're on a hamster wheel that we can't catch up with. And teledentistry really allows us to provide more comprehensive care. working on prevention, we're working, we can provide non-invasive restorative therapies both through provider to provider where hygienists are being supervised by dentists and they're able to use SDF and smart restorations. And then also, like I said, in that direct to patient not oral health coaching, and we're looking at some exciting new therapies with iodine and things like that that we can coach a parent through. putting iodine on their child's teeth to help prevent caries in the first place. It's just a more holistic approach.

Matt Allen:
It's a different experience. Totally. You've kind of learned what has worked over the past number of years of like, hey, here's what kinds of not just, yeah, everyone can understand that you could have an emergency consult. And it would be great to somewhat diagnose that and come in and do those things as much as you can on those visits. But there's other things that we can do, I think, to your point, where, hey, there's a lot that we can actually prevent. conversations that we can have that really enable oral health and not just, you know, an emergency triage visit, right?

Eden Ivie:
Yes, definitely. And we've learned also, patients want this. Patients are ready for this. I feel like it's the dental providers who are a little more hesitant on this side. And they, you know, I get it. We feel like, what can I do if I can't put my hands in my patient's mouth, if I can't see them, if I can't touch them? So there's a lot of education. And we've learned that you can do a lot. You can do a lot through a video call.

Matt Allen:
I think it's a good point that we can do it without them. We can do it with them. We can do it with them. We can do it with them. We can do it with them. For sure. Just a re-imagination of our role in some ways and utilizing the technology, especially if patients do want it, right? Because we want to meet patients where they're at, which is so valuable. So I

Eden Ivie:
Yes.

Matt Allen:
Love that. Awesome. Let's move into kind of connecting with you a little bit more, letting our listeners hear just a little bit about you because... We've met a number of times at different meetings over the past year. And every time I get to see you, I'm just like, man, Eden is so fun, so thoughtful, so kind. So really excited to have you share a few things about yourself. And where I wanna start there is you've done a lot in your career. You are obviously just really well spoken, really thoughtful, probably have a lot to be proud of. So what's something that you're most proud of when you think about Eden? It doesn't obviously have to be with work, but when you think about just Eden the person. What is something that you're super proud of that you wanna share with?

Eden Ivie:
Um, well about seven years ago, well, maybe eight years ago. Um, I only worked two days a week in clinical. Um, my career was kind of stagnant. It wasn't really going anywhere. And I kind of my life in general was a little bit stagnant. Um, and I flipped things upside down. I got divorced. I went back to school. Um, I started going to conferences and connecting and, um, really pushing myself to make a difference instead of just, you know, floating along, cleaning teeth. And my life today is radically different than it was eight years ago. And the career that I have is radically different. And it's been so exciting to be a part of this, what I feel is transformational change in the dental industry. So I'm incredibly proud of that because it was scary to make those big changes, but it's definitely been worth it.

Matt Allen:
That's amazing. And if you were to give, you know, like, let's say some of our listeners are feeling like they might be, you know, sitting in, in stagnant water and not flowing along and the rushing river and are looking to maybe get out of that space, what was something that was helpful for you? What's one piece of advice that you could offer or just an insight that you feel like was, wow, this was really helpful for me.

Eden Ivie:
Um, just having your own back and trusting yourself and be, because I mean, I felt like I was jumping off a cliff with no idea of what was going to happen, but I knew that I would figure it out and just, just having having the guts to trust yourself and say, I will, I'll figure it out and take those first steps, right? You're never going to go anywhere if you don't take those first steps.

Matt Allen:
Yes, for sure. It is definitely scary to step out back into the river if we continue with that analogy, but it's going somewhere, right? And you will figure it out. So I love it. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. One other question just about you as a person. Tell us just about how, you know, like what values shape your kind of constant daily life? What values shape how you show up to work? I'm curious to that and maybe you could give us an example of, yeah, here's the value and here's what that means in terms of a practical practice or rhythm.

Eden Ivie:
I think, well, it's kind of Mouthwatch philosophy and it's my philosophy is that, like I said earlier, we are always trying to benefit the patient. We're doing what's in the best interest of the patient. And I think that you're going through life with that philosophy, obviously not at your own detriment, but if you are... doing what's best for the person that's in that chair or the person who's on the other end of your product, you're going to be successful. If you put them first. And our team, we have such a fantastic culture because we work really hard, we work together, you know, and it's always in service of the patient, of the client. And we achieve success by improving our own skills, by being the best that we can be and by really working together collaboratively as a team.

Matt Allen:
And I mean, there's so much that we can learn from that in our personal lives too, right? In terms of, you know, how, how are we serving the people that are in front of us? How are we listening to them? How are we being present? How are we showing up? Um, there's so much there that I think goes to, we've talked about this some on this podcast before, but the idea of. It's not, you know, I think the idea of sometimes of like, I'm going to be humble. It's actually just like, no, they're actually thinking about yourself more, but it's like, what we really need is this level of self forgetfulness of, Hey, I'm just going to. kind of forget about myself in a good way, in a positive way that allows me to show up and be present for those around me. And it sounds like you guys are operationalizing that within your company. And I do think that's an important point too, because we all, our work and our careers are part of who we are as people and to find places to work where it aligns with our values, I think is something, especially since COVID, but certainly in this generation, I think, of where we are, that people are really finding a lot of value in. it sounds like that's very true for you.

Eden Ivie:
Yeah, definitely. People want to do good. They want their work to be meaningful and impactful, especially like you said, this younger generation, they're not there to just punch a clock. They're there to make a difference. And so I feel very, very lucky that I found an organization that aligns with that because it is very fulfilling. I'm challenged to be more, do bigger things than I ever thought that I could. And I'm just supported by an amazing team in the process of that.

Matt Allen:
That's lovely. Thank you for sharing. Let's move on to making dental care more human and let's make that within the realm of teledentistry because I think we've been talking about that and obviously there's a lot there. And you mentioned the idea that for dentists, hygienists, that sometimes this can be a little bit scary especially if you're just starting out in this world. So what's one thing that you feel like has been small, easily implementable? for someone who's relatively new to tele-dentistry that you feel like they can do, that helps connect them, ground them, root them, and makes that visit not just a face on a screen, but an actual really good human inner.

Eden Ivie:
Well, that's kind of a hard question. I think that just if we always remember, we're meeting the patient where they are and that this tool is helping them get care and that we have to remember that we're providing care. Even though we're through a screen, we are providing care for our patient. I think if you remember that, you're gonna be fine.

Matt Allen:
Yeah, that's a really grounding way of approaching it, right? Of, hey, there's a reason that we're doing this and ultimately it's a lot of convenience for the patient in those ways and getting care that they otherwise couldn't have got, man. If that doesn't get us out of bed in the morning, then I don't know what will. When you think about patient experience with as it relates to teledentistry, what is some... things that you think are really important, like best practices, like one or two best practices, where you're like, hey, on the best teledentistry visits that we've seen here, what providers tend to do that maybe, you know, it's like, maybe the same, maybe different than what's happening in the chair, but give us a couple of best practices that really help kind of help that patient know, hey, this is a first-in-class experience.

Eden Ivie:
Well, I think that we've all been adjusting to this digital communication to video calls. You need to make sure that your background looks good and that you are presenting yourself as a professional, even if you are sitting in your living room and eliminate distractions and just focus on your patient. I think those are just some of the very, very key things. Like during COVID, we've all had our kids running through the backgrounds of calls, but with... when you are providing a medical encounter, a teledentistry encounter, you need to limit that as much as humanly possible.

Matt Allen:
Yeah, it's a little different, I think, sometimes when it's, yeah, maybe just a work meeting versus, knowing your audience, I guess, is what you're saying right there, right? Hey, we are here to provide you just as professional of a service as you would have if you showed up to an office, so love that. One of the things that I would love to hear also about in this is that I think that there's some, you know, like, Telemedicine has been happening for a while. You've obviously learned from that with Teledent and the work that you guys have been doing in this space. When you think about dentistry kind of being, learning from medicine, if you will, what's something that you feel like we don't have to do as a profession as teledentistry becomes more and more common, right? So you mentioned like, you know, this is like Teladoc for dentistry. What's something we don't have to do that medicine has already made the mistake in that we can do better and not have to avoid that pitfall? And then what's one thing that maybe you think that they've gotten right that you feel like, hey, this is gonna become just part of the fabric of how we see people in the future.

Eden Ivie:
I think I'll go with what they've gotten right first. In medicine, telehealth and telemedicine has been happening for so long that it, they don't even think of it as telehealth. It's just the way things are done.

Matt Allen:
A different care delivery model.

Eden Ivie:
Right, right. I broke my wrist a couple of years ago. I went to the hospital. The radiologist was not on site that read my x-ray. And then when I went to the orthopedic on Monday, They had my x-ray, like everything was just shared digitally, which we call that teledentistry. That's just the way that medicine works now. And I think they've really embraced that, that model and the data sharing. That's something dental has got to work on is data sharing. We do not have easy ways to share data. Teledent has been big in that and bridging that gap. And I think that where medicine is still struggling is sharing of health records and not providers not having access. My GP doesn't have access to my information from my cardiologist or from my renal specialist. So that medicine is still struggling there and dental, we know how important that is in dental. And so that's a... That's a nationwide problem that we've got to figure out.

Matt Allen:
And let's get it right from the first time. Yeah, I mean, we're still in the early days of that. But with things like the 21st Century Cures Act and, you know, all of the interoperative operability that medicine is now being forced into when they haven't necessarily done it perfectly, I think we can learn from that and hopefully do it better from the jump, if you will.

Eden Ivie:
Yeah, I agree. And it's going to you know, Dentistry is gonna have to merge into that. We're gonna have to be able to share that data as well. So so yeah, let's get it. Let's get it sorted out.

Matt Allen:
Yes, exactly. I love it. This is, I mean, we could talk about tele-dentistry all day. And I would love to. But obviously, it sounds like you have a rollout to attend to. And we want to keep this relatively short so people can listen to it on a commute. So in that vein, let's have you, if you want to share how people get in touch with you, they want to talk more about tele-dentistry in general. They want to learn more about mouthwatch or dentistry one or just connect with you. Give us some ways that we can continue this conversation for those listeners who want.

Eden Ivie:
Sure, so I can be reached at Eden at mouthwatch.com, just E-D-E-N. And our website dentistry.one has all of the information. If you want to become a provider for dentistry one, there's information there. If you are a DSO or if you're part of a health plan and you're interested in offering D1 to your patients or your members, definitely contact us, because we would love to provide that for them.

Matt Allen:
Amazing. I'm so excited about the work that you're all doing. And I'm just so glad to call you a friend and somebody that I look up to in this industry as somebody who's just doing things the right way. So Eden, thank you so much for taking the time to join us on Kind of Difference today. It's really been a pleasure. And I'm just so grateful for who you are and what you bring to our great profession. So thanks a lot.

Eden Ivie:
Aw, thanks Matt.

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