Planet DDS founder Lee ahead of curve with Teledentix platform

Teledenistry quickly became a need amid virtual operations—but there’s a lot more that goes into building a strong business than access to a web camera, according to Richard Lee.

Lee founded Newport Beachbased dental support organization software provider Planet DDS in 2003. He exited the business as chief executive in 2015 and started devoting more of his time to improving oral health for children through Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County.

It was his philanthropic work to reach underserved communities, in large part, that led to the idea for Irvine-based Teledentix, one of the first teledentistry platforms that launched in 2017, Lee said.

The Teledentix-branded platform is owned by Virtual Dental Care Inc.

Teledentix differs from the competition in that it’s “not just a Zoom,” Lee said.

“We have communication, collaboration and outreach tools,” he said. “We’ve stitched everything together in a meaningful, seamless way to provide continual services from preventative steps to education to treatment.” The company, which works with a variety of dental support organizations, mobile dental providers and nonprofits, saw double-digit growth last year as the world went virtual, Lee said. Teledentix averages about 4,000 to 10,000 video sessions and about 5,000 online appointments every month. It reaches about 30 enterprise organizations through its clients and estimates it serves the largest number of mobile dental companies that serve enterprise businesses in the U.S.

For example, one of its clients is OnSite Dental, a San Clemente-based mobile clinic provider that works with Facebook and LinkedIn.

The pandemic demonstrated that “teledentistry is becoming part of overall offerings to patients,” Lee said.

Teledentix has also gained traction around its records-sharing module, which allows organizations to share dental records and medical records for whole-patient care, among other software features.