Client's Challenges

Dental treatment is more often than not associated with stress and fear that leads to reluctance, and it can be an even bigger challenge for small children and adults with special needs. With a commitment to offering high-quality treatment without fear and pain, Sleep & Smile dedicates all its efforts to discovering innovative ways to calm and entertain the patients, especially while they are in the waiting room.

Throughout the years the institute had experimented with a handful of conventional means ranging from various toys to a real-life clown, yet none of them have fully met the requirements. Furthermore, their mission extends beyond entertainment, Sleep & Smile makes a great effort to educate children and parents on proper dental care as well as the importance of routine checkups in pediatric dental care.

Healthcare sector has long stood at the front line of embracing changes. Deloitte 2019 Global Health Care Outlook has pointed out that with care delivery, patient centricity, digital transformation at the top of the agenda, health care sector leaders need to collaborate with all stakeholders—both within the healthcare ecosystem and those in converging industries. As patients’ role and influence in their health care evolves, care providers must shift accordingly.

The medical institutes of today are increasingly tasked with delivering optimal patient experience that meets the evolving expectations along with a humane and personalized touch. In light of the mission and vision, Sleep & Smile searched for an innovative tool that ticks all the boxes.

Solution

Pepper, embedded with robotic solutions developed by Weboffice, helps children and adults with special needs overcome their anxiety about their upcoming dental treatment.

Pepper explains the process of dental treatment with simple language and vivid interactive stories. At the same time, the robot shares knowledge about dental health and proper dental care among patients in a playful way. Parents and accompanying persons will be motivated to ask for more information from their person in care's doctor. As a result, the staff’s workload is reduced and can be redirected towards core activities with higher value.

Results

Pepper the robot, or Dr. Smiley for the Sleep & Smile, is considered as empathetic, patient, and always positive. It ensures consistency in quality and visibly optimizes the workflow of the caregivers.

Sleep & Smile reports that Pepper has:  +300 Average daily interactions

Staff has been able to easily focus on treatments and other more important tasks, and confidently rely on Pepper to entertain and educate waiting patients and their company. Pepper has also helped staff with patients (adults and children) that are handicapped.

Testimonies

“We are happy to report that our experiences at Sleep & Smile with Pepper, whom we call Dr.Smiley, are awesome! Our young patients are so focused and amused, they forget about their dentist appointment. Especially young children are nearly hypnotized.”
-Dr. Lydia Busenlechner

“We are happy about our Dr. Smiley. He’s become a member of our team and is very well-accepted by our staff and patients. On top of that, Dr.Smiley is very popular on Facebook and has been written about in the Austrian newspaper.”
-Dr. Dieter Busenlechner