Say Ahhhhh! Digital Signage at the Dentist

Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 1:35 pm by DigitalSignageBlog, 1 Comment »

Just the other day one of my tooth fillings suddenly broke and being annoyed at having a hole in my tooth I immediately visited the local dentist. I was quite surprised that quite a number of Dentists are not using digital signage in their theaters or offices – let me explain how digital signage can be used in this industry.

The majority of us will at least once a year visit the dentist, so you all should know what I’m referring to when I use the term “the Dentist chair” – yes that comfortable chair that has a little basin on the side, an extendable arm with a light, and is able to arch all the way back so that the person sitting on it ends up staring at the ceiling (see the top image). If you’re thinking in the right frame of mind you may have just encountered a “light bulb” moment – yes… that’s the spot for digital signage. We talked about location, location, location in one of our previous posts and I believe that’s the perfect location for digital signage.

How long do we generally sit on the Dentist chair, 10 minutes? 30 minutes? Well, my visit lasted 45 minutes starting at a blank ceiling and I must honestly say it was very boring. If there was a digital signage solution installed it can be used for quite a number of purposes and these are:

1. Depending on the age group, the dentist can offer to show a movie, music, a kid’s show to entertain the patient. Rather than having a screaming child, showing one of their favourite shows will help them to calm down making the experience for both the dentist and the patient more comfortable.

2. You may be able to potentially connect headphones to the digital signage solution and let the patient listen to calm music or the audio coming from the video. This is better than listening to all the drilling and crunching noises

3. Educational information – use it to display educational information/videos on teeth maintenance and oral care

4. For those who are intrigued at watching the dentist working inside your mouth, why not have a small camera attached to the drill bit thingy and show the video capture on the screen

5. Advertising – basically you can make some passive income from displaying advertisements. Colgate, OralB and other toothbrush/paste manufacturers would definitely jump on board if there was a network of screens

6. Motivational quotes – I recently watched a movie and in one scene the dentist had two posters stuck on the ceiling. If I remember correctly the quotes where:

Hang in there baby!!!

“Only a life lived for others is worth living.” – quoted from Albert Einstein

Wouldn’t it be great if the dentist a had digital signage solution to display a number of animated motivational quotes rather than a static poster.

So there you go, that’s how we would have used digital signage in this location. I do hope that the next time I visit the dentist I would be able to sit on that chair and maybe watch a movie or see something interesting or educational.