Patient’s frequently asked questions

1. Why would I use Denther?

Only if you need to be sure of your dental diagnosis. As a patient, you are not able to interpret dental evidence presented to you by a dentist. Denther helps you verify the opinion you have been given.

2. What does Denther offer?

Denther offers evidence based dental diagnosis. Our diagnosis is made by multiple, unbiased, independent and rigorously reviewed dental diagnosticians. We find independent dentists and incentivise them to maintain the highest standards.

3. Should I trust my dentist?

Your dentist probably does a good job. However, mistakes happen. And there are bad dentists. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know if any of that happened to you. This is why Denther enables you not to rely on a single trusted diagnosis source. That is to say, to rely only on one dentist. Using Denther, you can easily get as many opinions as you want, without a need to go to all of them physically.

4. How does it work?

Once we get your dental records (dental survey, exam notes, photos and x-rays), we ask 5 dentists to look at them and find existing dental conditions. All you have to do is get those initial records made. Sometimes Denther app will help you find providers in your area who offer this.

5. How is a diagnosis formed?

Diagnosis is formed out of the opinions of 5 dentists. We compare their submissions and if at least 4 of them (80%) agree on the same finding, we consider it a reliable diagnosis. Our threshold makes it pretty hard to slip in mistakes or cheating. This is because we make sure dentists are independent from each other and anyone else. We also make sure they are not biased in diagnosis by analyzing their past opinions.

6. How do you get dentists to agree on one opinion?

Our dentists are rewarded every time their opinion is confirmed by a majority (80%). They get a share of what you paid for diagnosis. Also, they get reputation points. These points help them get more cases and earn more money.
Opposite happens if their opinion is not confirmed, or they miss a finding confirmed by majority. They don’t get any money, and they lose points. If there is no majority, everybody loses points. This pushes dentists to think hard about each potential finding.

7. How do you ensure that dentists don’t cheat?

We use several methods to prevent any form of cheating. First, we ensure dentists are independent. When solving a case, the dentist won’t know who you are, who is your dentist or who are other dentists. All the information they have are current dental records.
Second, we ensure dentists are unbiased. When a dentist solves a case, we point out any mistakes they have made, and instruct them how to avoid repeating them.
Thirdly, we statistically analyze and compare each dentist’s opinions with those of all dentists to find any irregular patterns. This helps us find and kick out anyone who does something shady.

8. How can I get the top dentists to give me their opinion?

Denther enables you to choose between top 10%, middle 50% or all dentists. Depending on your choice, you will pay a different price as the better ranked dentists are more expensive.

9. How much do you charge?

Denther charges a commission on dental services we sell. How much we take depends on what you purchase. If you purchase an examination or recording, we generally take 20%. For verified diagnosis our commission is higher.

10. How can I be sure my diagnosis is reliable?

Studies have shown that image analysis can be superior or at least comparable to visual inspection techniques. In many cases your dentist will make preliminary conclusions based on simply seeing your teeth. For many conditions they too will not be able to form a diagnosis without seeing an X-ray of your teeth too.

11. What is a score of dental providers?

Every provider has a score. Score is the ultimate source of information about the experience and success of a provider in Denther. Providers with higher scores have more experience and are more successful in their work. Higher scores enable providers to compete for better paying cases. They are completely objective and we put a lot of effort into ensuring no one can fake their score.

12. How do you score dental care providers?

There are different types of scores based on different types of services. Providers can specialize for one type of service or for all of them. These are the different services that we keep score of dental examination, photography, radiography and diagnosis.
There are experience and success scores. Success rate shows what is the percentage of successful services in the total number of services provided by a provider.

13. How are scores calculated?

Scores are calculated automatically from points acquired by each provider when they provide a service. For example, providers who give diagnosis get 1 point if they are in the majority, and lose a point if they are not in the majority or if there is no majority.