My Dentist Pal is Revolutionizing the Dentist Industry in The Philippines
Going to the dentist probably does not rate very high on most people’s favorite daily activities; it most definitely does not on mine. There’s really very little fun or enjoyment to be found in a visit to your dentist, more often than not it’s painful and terrifying. So you really have to wonder, what does a dental-themed startup have to offer to change that? Enter My Dentist Pal.
Founded in January of 2012, by Cloudwalk Digital, My Dentist Pal is a web-based tool for dentists that aims to digitize the dental practice. It basically allows dentists to access patient records, tooth charting, and even simple accounting, to find out who’s paid and who hasn’t, from anywhere. Patients can get updated on their next dental appointment, or even find the location of the nearest dentist.
According to Cloudwalk Digital’s Marc Medina:
Cloudwalk DigitalのMarc Medina氏によると
Cloudwalk DigitalのMarc Medinaによれば、
”The dental industry in the Philippines is being left behind by others who are going digital. We want to embrace the benefits of going digital and make their practice more productive. My Dentist Pal allows PDA (Philippine Dental Association) members to keep abreast of emerging new technology, and to find relevant information in their dental practice enabling them to maintain a competitive edge and build a strong presence in today’s business world. “
Subscription is fast and easy enough; it’s just your usual fill-in-the-blanks registration form. And at the moment it’s free too, as the site currently relies on ad placement to make money. Unfortunately, the site advertises that it’s intended to be used by both dentists and patients, subscription appears to be for dentists only. Plus, the link to the How It Works PDF appears to be broken as well.
Website management aside, the services listing is robust (for dentists at least). You’ve got your Dashboard, your homepage for appointments, messages, news, etc. You can Add Patients to your Patient List. You can fill in an Address Book as well, for home visits perhaps? There’s a Scheduler, as well as access to Blogging and Messaging. Finally, you can get access to Accounting, to find out which patients still need to pay up.
My Dentist Pal is currently available to local dentists, though the team does have plans to take their approach to foreign shores.
現在My Dentist Palを利用できるのはフィリピンの歯科医だけだが、チームはこの方式を海外にも広げる計画を持っている。
![[削除済みユーザ]](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/695023b4efd563721d13716b1457bc73.png?d=identicon&mode=crop&r=PG&s=42)
My Dentist Pal は現在地方の歯科医に対して使用可能ですが、チームは海外の歯科医にも利用できるようにする計画をもっている。
Again, from Marc Medina:
”Initially, our target market is the dentists from the Philippines. But when we release our mobile app this year, we want to also target dentists globally.”
Being a startup in the Philippines can be tough, no doubt about that. Being a startup built around the dental industry, which is not exactly considered a necessity in the country, has to be downright tough as nails. So can the founders of My Dentist Pal offer any words of advice to other would-be online dentists?
” If you’re a startup in the Philippines expect to self-fund for a longer than usual because of the limited funds. The number of startups is absolutely bigger than number of angels willing to seed.”
「まずはフィリピンの歯科医をターゲットにしていますが、今年中にモバイルアプリをリリースし世界中の歯科医をターゲットにたいと考えています」
フィリピンでスタートアップを運営するのは困難である可能性があることは間違いない。フィリピンでは不可欠のものと考えられていない歯科業界関連のスタートアップは非常に困難なはずだ。そこで、My Dentist Palの創業者からオンライン歯科医志望の人へのアドバイスをお願いした。
「フィリピンでスタートアップを運営するのは、投資資金が限られているため自己資金での運営期間が通常より長くなると想定しておくことです。スタートアップの数はシード資金を提供しようとするエンジェルの数より絶対的に多いですから」
「当初は私たちの目指すマーケットはフィリピンの歯科医院です。しかし今年私たちのモバイルアプリをリリースした時には、私たちは世界中の歯科医院をターゲットにするつもりです。」
フィリピンでの開業は疑いなく困難を伴うはずだ。その国において必要性が正確には認知されていない歯科産業の関連分野を構築する新たな開業はまさに爪のように噛み切りにくいはずだ。そこでMy Dentist Palの創設者は他のオンラインの歯科医候補にたいしてアドバイスの言葉を与えることができるのか。
「もしあなたがフィリピンで開業するのであれば資金に限りがあるので通常よりも長期の自己資金負担を覚悟しなさい。開業者の数は確実に種をまいてくれる天使の数よりも多い。」
翻訳ありがとうございます。固有名詞（My Dentist Pal）は訳さずそのままにしてください。