Becker's Dental + DSO Review

8 BECKER'S DENTAL + DSO REVIEW - VOL. 4 OCTOBER 2020 CLINICAL CARE New dental startup raises $37M; investors say traditional dentistry 'outdated,' 'broken' By Gabrielle Masson N ew dentistry startup Tend raised $37 million in a Series B round that will help the company's aim of making dental visits a positive experi- ence, reports Forbes. "[Dentistry] is just outdated and a bit broken," said John Lyman, a partner at GV, which led investors in the second round. "[Tend] has a different approach." The dental industry has seen "very little innovation," despite its almost $140 billion market, said Doug Hud- son, CEO and co-founder of Tend. "I was just blown away that no one had created a consumer brand for dentistry." Six things to know about Tend: 1. When patients make an appointment, they provide information on their insurance, but also what Netflix shows they want to watch during the visit, what flavor of toothpaste they want used and even what aroma- therapy scent they want in the room. 2. The drills Tend dentists use are quieter to reduce anxiety, and the company reformulated its gum anes- thetic to make it taste better. 3. Tend was co-founded by Mr. Hudson, Andy Grover and Michael Stenclick in October 2019. Mr. Hudson served as the former CEO at SmileDirectClub. 4. Tend has five studios in New York City, two of which just opened this summer. All the offices were forced to close in March at the beginning of the pandemic. 5. The company's revenue exceeded $5 million in 2019, though it is not yet profitable, said Chief Market- ing Officer Matthew Fitzgerald. Since reopening, reve- nue has recovered more than 150 percent. 6. Tend plans to expand to new cities, starting in Bos- ton and Washington, D.C. n 'Epidemic of cracked teeth': New York dentist sees rise in tooth cracks, fractures By Gabrielle Masson S ince reopening in early June, Tammy Chen, DDS, has seen at least one patient with a tooth fracture every day, according to a New York Times article penned by the dentist. The prosthodontist and owner of New York City-based Central Park Dental Aesthetics said she has treated more tooth fractures in the last six weeks than in the previous six years. On average, Dr. Chen is seeing three to four patients with tooth fractures each day. The tooth trauma surge may be a result of three factors, Dr. Chen wrote. One explanation is pandemic-related anxiety, which can lead to clenching and grinding and damage teeth. Poor posture prompt- ed from working from home can translate into a grinding problem at night. Lastly, not getting restorative sleep, with the body in a constant battle-ready state of arousal, can send tension straight to the teeth, according to Dr. Chen. n TikTok users shaving their teeth with nail files 'doing irreparable damage,' dentists warn By Katie Adams D entists are warning against a TikTok trend in which users are shaving down their uneven teeth with nail files, accord- ing to Insider. Texas dentist Chad Evans, DDS, told Insider untrained eyes should not be shaving down teeth, as they may destroy critical layers, causing pain and potentially killing the tooth. He also said the trend removes enamel from the tooth, stripping away its pro- tection from decay. "The moment that you remove tooth structure, if you don't know what you're doing, you're doing irreparable damage and de- struction to your teeth," Dr. Evans told Insider. Chicago dentist Suhail Mohiuddin, DDS, uploaded a TikTok video of his own, in which he reacts to the trend and suggests the peo- ple trying it should focus on the reasons their teeth are uneven to begin with. "Okay, you filed them, and they look pretty good, but you didn't solve the original problem," Dr. Mohiuddin said in the video. "So what are you going to do in a few years when they're uneven again and your teeth are shorter?" The dental community's reaction to the nail file trend comes about a week after dentists warned against another DIY dental trend that went viral on TikTok, in which users were applying undi- luted hydrogen peroxide to their teeth for whitening. n

• Cover