As disruptive as blockchain technology is, it is only a matter of time before it reaches into every sphere of industry. The dental industry is not immune to the far-reaching effects of the blockchain technology. Dentacoin is cryptocurrency for the dental industry. $440 billion is spent annually on dentistry. The problem with these high costs are that people do not do regular checkups at the dentist. They end up spending more to fix dental issues instead of exercising preventative measures. A single, global dental currency will give people access to better quality dental services as well as a greater pool of dental expertise. But how does this all work? Let’s unpack Dentacoin.

What is Dentacoin?

It aims to solve the constraints of the traditional dental industry. Firstly, Dentacoin creates incentives for people to contribute to the community through research and reviews and by giving something back – cryptocurrency. The Dentacoin community is founded on the core values of transparency and shared responsibility. The company even has a vested interest in the dental industry and purchased the Dentaprime International dental clinic based in London. The clinic cost $90 million and was paid entirely in the Dentacoin (DCN) cryptocurrency.

What Solutions Will Dentacoin Provide?

The Dentacoin Foundation looks to solve three main issues. The quality of dental care needs to be improved worldwide. There are many people around the globe without financial means or access to quality dental providers. As mentioned, high dental costs are also a major issue. Through preventative dental care major problems can be diagnosed early on and treated before it becomes a major expense. There is no real global dental community. Dentacoin will create and maintain this network. There will be different tools as part of Dentacoin. The patients will have power in that they can review and recommend good dental professionals and earn coins. Dentists on the other hand will also have ways to contribute and also earn cryptocurrency for their efforts.

What Goals Does Dentacoin Want To Achieve?

Any service industry thrives on user feedback. It is this feedback that drives the business to innovate and to change for the better. The healthcare industry and specifically, dentistry can use this to great effect. Trust is one of the most valuable commodities that a business can have. There is currently no central dental community to create this type of relationship within the dental industry. This is where the Dentacoin trusted review platform will come into play.

What is the Dentacoin Trusted Review Platform?

This platform is a blockchain-based review platform for dental reviews. Although these types of platforms already exist, there is no decentralized platform of this nature. With centralized platforms, it is often easy to manipulate ratings or pay individuals to leave favorable ratings. With a decentralized platform it is near to impossible to manipulate the ratings system. This benefits both doctor and patient. Patients have a platform to make themselves heard and to be validated through rewards. In the same way, doctors will have access to quality feedback data and patient profiles that will help them maintain a good client base. The Dentacoin platform will use review system or Ethereum smart contracts to send DCN to users as rewards.

What Are The Benefits of Dentacoin?

The biggest advantage of a blockchain-based reviews system is that the data is immutable. In blockchain speak this means that the reviews cannot be edited or manipulated by anyone. A database exploit to a traditional database would allow a malicious user of hacker to modify reviews. If this were to happen on a decentralized review system, the modified review would simply be rejected by the blockchain, as it is not in consensus with other copies of the database. Another benefit of this platform is that the rating and review of dentists is transparent so patients can make an informed decisions when they choose to visit a dentist. Reviews are anonymous so patients have the freedom to speak their mind. It is also resistant to censorship as the dental provider cannot delete any negative reviews. The onlus is also on the patient to write a quality review. These reviews need to be of a good standard otherwise patients will not be rewarded for their reviews. They can also gain DCN (Dentacoin) cryptocurrency by doing research surveys.

What Is The DCN Coin?

It is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 compatible token that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. There are eight trillion coins available. The benefit of this coin is that patients earn these coins for their contributions on the platform. The coins have real-world application and can be used as payment for dental treatments from any one of the Dentacoin partner dentists or clinics.

Dentacoin Wallets

DCN is an Ethereum token so it can be safely stored in most Ethereum wallets which can handle tokens such as Trezor or Ledger Hardware wallets, Jaxx, MyEtherWallet, Metamask, Coinomi and imToken.

How to Buy Dentacoin DCN Tokens You are not able to purchase DCN with “Fiat” currency so you will need to first purchase another currency – the easiest to buy are Bitcoin or Ethereum which you can do at Coinbase using a bank transfer or debit / credit card purchase and then trade that for DCN at an exchange which lists the token. Read on to see how to purchase it. Register at Coinbase For first time buyers of crypto currency, we recommend that you use Coinbase to make your first purchase – its easy to use, fully regulated by the US government so you know it is one of the safest and most reputable places to purchase cryptocurrency from. Coinbase offers the ability to purchase Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum with a credit or debit card or by sending a bank transfer. The fees are higher for cards but you will receive your currency instantly. You will have to carry out some identity verification when signing up as they have to adhere to strict financial guidelines. Make sure you use our link to signup you will be credited with $10 in free bitcoin when you make your first purchase of $100. To get started, click the “Sign up” button where you will be taken to a registration form where you will need to enter your name, email and choose a password. Purchase Ethereum In Coinbase, visit the “Buy / Sell” tab at the top, select “Ethereum”, choose your payment method and enter the amount you wish to purchase – you can either enter a US Dollar amount or a number of Ether. You will then be asked to confirm your transaction, if paying with a card you might have to complete a verification with your card provider. Once that’s complete, your Ethererum will be added to your account. Purchase DCN at Exchange You can now send your Ether over to an exchange which trades in Dentacoin. At the moment you have the following options : Cryptopia

HitBTC

CoinExchange

Mercatox

How Will The Trusted Reviews Work?

To ensure a good standard of reviews, the user-submitted reviews will be separated into standard reviews and trusted reviews. Any user can write a review but trusted reviews will be by actual patients. After visiting a dentist, the patient will receive an email link where they can review the dentist that they had visited. This ensures that the patient is linked to the correct dental provider. Trusted reviews are rewarded with more DCN than a standard review. This also encourages patients to follow through and leave a review as there is a financial incentive attached to providing this valuable feedback to the dentist or provider. A single review is not worth much value but in context the effect is compounded. Millions of trusted and unbiased reviews are worth a lot of money.

What Does The Roadmap Look Like?

The team is soon to release the Dentacare mobile app. The app is still currently under development for Android. The aim of this app is to educate users about good dental habits. It introduces these habits over the course of three months through gamification. Good dental behavior is reinforced and the use of the app becomes part of the user’s life creating new and improved dental habits. There is also a feature where users can contact dental specialists with questions. The best feature of the app is that users are rewarded for completing the entire three months period with DCN coins. Another great development is the DentaVox tool.

What Is DentaVox?

The DentaVox tool is a customer intelligence tool that collects opinions and feedback from patients. It uses questionnaires to elicit feedback. There are a variety of healthcare topics and questions range from 8 – 100 questions at a time. The patients will earn DCN coins for their efforts and based on the time and effort they spend on it. A smart algorithm will detect their level of engagement with the questions and they will be rewarded based on this. This will guarantee high quality results and prevent patients from manipulating the answers. The feedback from these questionnaires is available to all dentists and providers on the platform. Custom surveys can also be conducted by companies based on a specific audience.

Conclusion

Dentacoin aims to reduce dental costs by creating incentives for patients to visit the dentist. By leaving quality reviews on the Dentacoin platform they will earn DCN coins as reward. This can be used as actual payment within the Dentacoin dental network. The reviews are by real people and cannot be manipulated. Dentists and dental clinics have access to the honest feedback which is invaluable information for any service industry business. Surveys are also offered to increase quality feedback to dental providers.