Interactive patient education technology points way to oral health conscious patients

The Guru5 patient communication suite, a 2012 Pride Institute "Best of Class" Technology Award recipient, is designed to educate dental patients in a more visual, interactive way. With a goal of redefining patient education, Reality Engineering has developed a program that involves the patient in a variety of ways.

According to Reality Engineering President Rick Henriksen, the majority of products in the patient education category approach teaching passively.

"These other products [demonstrate] passive learning with DVDs," said Henriksen.

Loaded with hundreds of state-of-the-art animations, Guru5 features predefined case presentations and one-click operation. Its redesigned user interface sets a new benchmark in usability and user experience while greatly reducing the learning curve. The software is flexible and allows dentists to put together a presentation in seconds.

"[Guru5] has the ability to pull in intraoral camera shots and digital x-rays," explained Henriksen. "We can draw on those during the teaching process to customize the presentation to the patient."

According to Henriksen, the Guru5 helps to bridge the patient responsibility gap by motivating them to be their own advocate for oral health.

"We believe we can get patients to take ownership and make better choices," said Henriksen.

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