There is a saying, “Big things come in little packages.” And that cannot be more true for the charming little village triangulated between Fredericksburg and Richmond in central Virginia—the lovely town of Mineral. It is located in Louisa County and is known for its many iron, gold, zinc, lead, pyrite, and other mineral mines, where the town derives its name. Mineral, with a population of around 500 people, is also known for its charm, kind people, and being the home to Mineral Dentistry.
Mineral Dentistry is a practice that serves all of Louisa County and has been in the town for over 40 years. It is a staple of the community, and it is well-reviewed. Dr. Mahmood Alhajyat, Dr. Norma Gutierrez, and their team of highly educated professionals at Mineral Dental offer high-quality dental care in a private office atmosphere. They are committed to a philosophy of compassion with the goal of improving a patient’s health, smile, and overall quality of life. That was the main reason for transforming their practice into full digital capabilities and why they picked Dandy’s intraoral scanner.
The advantage of Dandy is that our offering does not require the upfront purchase cost. That’s right! Our intraoral scanner (IOS), an investment of over $30,000, is part of a package. We deliver the IOS, fast and intuitive scanning software, a high-powered laptop, and a rolling cart. All for free. Dentists only pay for the restorations. What great news for small practices, especially in rural areas that serve a larger community.
Leaving VPS impressions behind.
Every dental practice is concerned about overhead, but this is especially true of small practices that make up a majority of the dental practices in the U.S. To answer the rising costs of alginate, the gooey mess, bad taste, and smell, we submit Dandy’s intraoral scanner. Dentists also love cutting-edge technology that is simple to use and produces fantastic outcomes. Dandy, again, is the right fit for any dentist’s office workflow with an easy learning curve. To reduce expenses while supplying frontline tech and software, the solution for many dental practitioners’ woes is digital dentistry.
Now, place yourself in Mineral Dental shoes. They, too, want to be at the forefront of technology and supply their patients with the best ability to alleviate the need for Vinyl Polysiloxane Impression Material (VPS) and other impression materials. Additionally, using Dandy’s intraoral scanner perfected this motion for them.
Mineral Dental first started its partnership with Dandy over a year ago. Before then, they used impression material, including VPS. Since then, as Dr. Mahmood explained, “It’s been a year that we haven’t taken one VPS impression.” As for local labs, it has been the same experience. When asked if he was still engaged with local labs, Dr. Mahmood responded, “No, not anymore. Actually, Dandy gets most of my business.” He also shared that he uses Dandy for redos of previous work from other local labs. According to Dr. Mahmood, the process is “fast, fast, fast” and “accurate.”
Going full digital.
Dr. Mahmood is a big fan of the training that Dandy provides. It was performed via video call and was so easy that it was done in an hour. His favorite uses for Dandy are our crowns.
“Actually, the crowns have a really nice fit,” he explained. They look really nice and beautiful. And the impression is pretty easy.”
Dr. Mahmood Alhajyat
He also shared how Mineral Dental practice workflows have changed since using Dandy.
“We transformed to full digital now. Even our implants. Everything! We go fully digital with it, and I love it, actually,” Dr. Mahmood said excitedly.
When Dr. Mahmood discovered that Dandy had a new application called Soft Smile, he was highly hopeful. Dr. Mahmood leans into educating his patient. This new model will be more detailed in showing patients their current oral state and what the dentist predicts it will look like after treatment.
As for support and customer service, Dr. Mahmood could not hold back. “The good thing about communication is like ‘check, check, picture, send.’ What do you want us to do? Then we do it, and we’re good. Whoever did that is really a genius.” He also acknowledged that he is not alone in how Dandy has impacted his practice. The patient experience is also incredibly positive.
When asked what advice Dr. Mahmood would offer, he replied, “Go for it. It’s worth it.”
