By Allan Maurer
VENICE, FL –It’s not always easy to figure out what a dentist is saying while pointing at an x-ray of your mouth and explaining what he thinks you should do. XCPT, a software company, offers dentists a way to explain what they’re up to more easily and understandably, increasing acceptance of the full treatment proposed.
Founded in 2006 by Steven J. Feldman, a Venice, FL, dentist who created the first prototype of the product, which he used in his own practice since 2003, XCPT (pronounced “accept”) has raised about 75 percent of a “low seven-figure private placement,” says Adam Schildkraut, COO and CFO of the company.
The company is seeking an additional $3 million in backing.
The seven-employee company is hiring to beef up its sales and development team, says Schildkraut.
The product evolved as a more succinct way for dentists to communicate with their patients, he says. It is a visualization tool that allows dentists to use the images of the patient’s own mouth to describe what is wrong and explain treatment options.
The company describes the product this way:
“It visually brings to light the science behind treatment planning recommendations to the patient. XCPT differs from other software applications in that it creates a document based upon the patient’s own clinical photographs, radiographs, cone beam images or CT Scans. Through its unique method, image manipulation, annotation and magnification tools, XCPT enables the patient to see and believe.”
“Dental schools turn out great clinicians,” says Schildkraut, “but there is not one course on how to make patients comfortable and motivate them to move ahead on the treatments suggested,” he adds.
“Our users find patients are completely engaged looking at themselves—by seeing their own bone loss, they understand why they need an implant, for instance,” Schildkraut says. Among other things, its images number the teeth so a patient knows where “tooth number 8” is.
“The dentist goes through his thought process with the patient aided by the software,” says Schildkraut. Also, anything shown on screen can be printed or emailed.
The software can show before and after images of what the patient’s mouth will look like after a given procedure.
The software also creates a level playing field between the dentist and other professionals such as an oral surgeon, he notes. If both parties have the company’s software, they can consult easily in realtime as opposed to emailing a jpeg back and forth.
The software, which the company sells for $3,500 to a sole practitioner initially and can be renewed for an annual $1,000 license fee. Costs include 24/7 support and training.
A newer version planned for mid-fall release will offer a subscription model that will allow buyers to get started at a lower cost.
On the Web: www.xcpt.com
© 2008, TechJournal South. All rights reserved.
