Established since 1990, LQ Dental has been providing patients with comprehensive dental healthcare for more than 30 years. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck and Singapore had entered Circuit Breaker in April 2020, Dr Darren Lee, Clinical Director at LQ Dental knew he had to seek ways to further enhance their patients’ health and safety whilst seeking dental treatments. Dr Lee was introduced to our Senior Business Advisor, Sneha Menon, who assisted the clinic through a business transformation journey.
Embarking on a Growth Roadmap
As part of the clinic’s growth plan, Dr Lee shared with Sneha of their plans to adopt a new-to-market technology – a handheld 3D scanner that allows for dental mouth scans to be done on their patients with significantly reduced turnaround time and risk of exposure to Covid-19. The proposed technology reduces the risk of patents gagging and coughing during the digital mouth scans – replacing the more traditional moulds, which had to be placed in the mouth to gain measured impressions.
Sneha first conducted an advisory to understand the clinic’s needs and how the pandemic has impacted their existing processes and value propositions. A Business Diagnostics then delved into their business processes, customer engagement strategy and overall business impact due to the pandemic. Given the uncertainty of the pandemic at that time, it also explored ways of contingency management, sustainability, and recovery.
Upon further assessment, Sneha recommended for LQ Dental to tap on the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), under the category of Innovation and Productivity – Process Redesign. The grant encourages companies to improve their operational efficiency and productivity through the adoption of technology.
“Being in a post-growth stage of the business lifecycle and in the hands of key decision makers who are of a younger generation, the need for brand differentiation to remain market-competitive and to further their growth is essential. Through the Business Diagnostics assessment, LQ Dental was able to identify customer engagement and retention strategies. Adoption of technology is a critical element as it sets the practice apart in patient diagnostics and treatments providing improved visual clarity on current and potential prognosis and treatment,” shared Sneha.
In November 2020, Sneha assisted Dr Lee and team to apply for the EDG and in January 2021, the company successfully received up to 80% funding support on the purchase of the equipment.
Going Digital
“We were delighted to know that our application for EDG was successful. Previously, our dental processes used to be conventional and manual where a mould had to be created which would often be uncomfortable for patients and time-consuming.
Through the use of this handheld 3D scanner, not only can we offer our patients a peace of mind with enhanced hygiene standards; we are also able to significantly reduce turnaround time especially in those instances where patients needs have to be addressed urgently. In addition, patients now have a comprehensive and first-hand view of their teeth as opposed to an impression using synthetic materials,” explained Dr Lee.
Since the adoption of the 3D scanner, Dr Lee shared that the clinic has seen an increased in productivity and customer satisfaction by up to 75%. He added that the clinic’s employees have also expressed that they feel that there are safer and value-added interactions between the dental team and patients.