Charissa Wood Talks Phillips Zoom Delivered
In today’s fast-paced world, many Registered Dental Hygienists (RDH) feel pressured by the maddening T-word… time! More than ever, today’s marketplace expects everyone to “achieve more with less.” Theoretically speaking, that sounds nice; but is it possible? Continually pressed for time, it is understandable why many RDHs feel anxious about discussing professional teeth whitening with patients. Is this something that my patient really wants to know about?
If yes, do I really have time to make trays? And moreover, can our practice really squeeze in this patient for a second (non-monetizing) visit? All these questions are logical. And perhaps, it is a combination of these questions that prohibits your practice’s growth in the professional whitening space.
In 2021, Philips launched its latest innovation within the professional take-home whitening category. This innovation, dubbed Zoom Delivered, leverages an office’s intraoral scanner to manufacture, and then ship a patient’s custom trays straight to their home address.
By removing the need for an RDH to make patient trays and nixing the obligated second visit, Zoom Delivered creates time efficiencies for all parties involved. Recently, we chatted with Charissa Wood, Lead Hygienist at Atlanta Dental Spa, about her experience using Zoom Delivered and the proposition’s time-saving efficacy.
Charissa Wood
DT: You incorporated Zoom Delivered into your practice last fall, what has been your experience?
CW: Zoom Delivered has been an unexpected time saver for our office. At Atlanta Dental Spa we were already familiar using intraoral scanners. So, leveraging this technology for whitening was natural. The process of scanning a patient and uploading their order online is very, very easy. And the most beautiful part about Zoom Delivered is that the whitening kit arrives straight at the patient’s home!
DT: You mentioned that Zoom Delivered was an unexpected time-saver, can you expand?
CW: The number one hurdle for any Hygienist is time. We’re all trying to do way too much in way too short of a time period. So, to take a scan in three minutes, and upload an order online in one minute, we now can offer professional whitening in less than five minutes! Before, if we offered professional whitening, it took anywhere up to 45 minutes just to manufacture the tray.
DT: How have you seen your practice’s whitening business improve because of this innovation?
CW: Knowing that, if a patient wants professional whitening services, we can offer it to them in five minutes makes our team way more confident to broach the subject. Zoom Delivered has made our whitening process far more streamlined, and because of this we’re talking more about whitening with our patients when given the opportunity. Now, as masks cone off, people want whiter teeth! And Zoom Delivered allows us to meet this patient need with speed and efficiency.
DT: What advice would you offer practices that want to grow their whitening business?
CW: Well first, I’d encourage offices to look at their numbers. How many whitening kits are they currently selling per week? Do they want to sell more, or are they comfortable with this capacity? What we’ve learned is that whatever you prioritize will grow. Therefore, if you want to grow your whitening business, begin by understanding both your current and desired throughput levels. Then, if you have an intraoral scanner, certainly consider Zoom Delivered as an efficient option for meeting these goals. Having the right solution to support your desired goal is essential.
DT: How much whitening throughput is your office currently doing with Zoom Delivered
CW: As I said before, Zoom Delivered makes offering professional whitening so easy and time efficient. Since incorporating Zoom Delivered, we’ve seen our whitening throughput increase to about 1 kit per day. Yet, we’ve only just begun! Because so many people want whiter teeth, I can easily see this number grow to 2, 3 or 4 kits per day very quickly!
DT: How does someone get started with Zoom Delivered?
CW: Incorporating Zoom Delivered is simple. We spent about thirty minutes with our Philips rep who trained our staff and prepared our office. If interested, visit Zoom’s website and click on “Connect with sales.” There, all you need to do is note that you have interest in learning more about Zoom Delivered and a Philips sales representative will call your office to explain the onboarding process. It, like the solution, is pretty easy…
ABOUT CHARISSA WOOD
Charissa Wood graduated from Dekalb College in Dunwoody, Georgia with an associate degree in 1996. She has been practicing for 26 year, 13 at Atlanta Dental Spa. Charissa is also the co-founder of Bullet Proof Hygiene, a multi-media outlet with the purpose of sharing expertise and actionable next steps to create rock star hygiene departments.
