Kris Mendonsa
Siddhant Pal
Kartik Patil
Sachin T V
Sambhu Sankar
Hiral Bulsara
Goa Institute of Management
Divya Singhal
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Dr. Diksha Batra has been a practicing dentist for over a decade, now 13 years to be precise. She has specialized in the field of implantology and is a surgeon who replaces missing teeth to restore people’s smiles. People often call her the “PainFreeDentist” as her practice philosophy is modelled along the lines of creating pain free dental experiences keeping dental fear and phobia away and dealing with patients to provide utmost care and comfort. While that is something she does as a business she also caters to underprivileged masses in our country who have no access to expensive dental care, the Angel Dentists Network, a part of PainFreeDentist initiative.
When she started on this journey she was one doctor and had one dental assistant ever since then they have grown to more than 500 volunteering doctors with over 300 camp locations spread across 16 cities in India. They started small but have gradually set up their processes to serve any community with special needs in any part of the country. One of Dr. Diksha Batra’s proudest moments was setting up the denture camps of Ladakh where they have been making dentures. At the foot of the Himalayas they have fixed the teeth for residents who don’t have access to dental care due to the harsh weather and underdeveloped regions. The residents trek 300-400 kms to avail the dental services.
One of the PainFreeDentist's most successful outreach activities has been to reach out to over 50,000 people across 16 cities in India where they have taught children the importance of brushing and were successful in providing them with the toothbrushes and toothpastes on the occasion of independence day. The effort was massive and the logistics were a challenge which they never thought they would be able to sustain. However, they persevered and the response pictures and videos were heartwarming and overwhelming. This stands out as a high point in Dr. Diksha Batra’s career.
They help to accomplish SDG 3 "Good Health and Well-being."
The PainFreeDentist is a company that has innovated in two sectors: the public and the private. In the private sector, it strives to provide pain free dental treatments; and in the public sector they have innovated by making dentistry mobile and available to all.
Dentistry has always been associated with two major myths:
1. That it causes excruciating pain.
2. It is prohibitively expensive.
The company wanted to take both those myths head on and solve that problem for the patients be it rich or poor; young or old so they decided to make dentistry PAINFREE & MOBILE (pro bono & doorstep).
Dr. Diksha Batra’s entire dental team led by the most senior consultants in Mumbai have been key in providing pain free dental care. The Angel Dentist Network has also been supported by more than 500 volunteer dentists across the country.
“Our volunteer dentists who have undergone training and follow strict protocols have done some amazing work with different populations from young children to geriatric patients, from visually and mentally challenged patients to AIDS and cancer afflicted to even sex workers. We have reached out and tried to customize our model to the need of different sectors.”
The entire dental team is working hard day and night to fulfill their goal of achieving one million smiles and have created painless smiles with testimonials from hundreds of happy patients impacting over 10,000 individuals to have disease free oral health and hygiene.
Angel Dentists Network
“Early on in my career I was oblivious to the fact that people dreaded the dental chair so much and that the association of pain would deter patients from seeking treatment, as this became more and more apparent with every interaction with my patients who expressed how scared they were getting a root canal or even simple anesthesia it made me realize that someone had to tackle this rampant issue. It was a vicious circle where patients fear would keep them away and neglect their problems till they actually became so painful that a preventable issue would become a complication. This led to the birth of our practice identity – THE PAINFREE DENTIST."
Dr. Diksha Batra feels that traditional dentistry in its current form is something that would be obsolete in the future. She feels the future of dentistry is definitely in technology and early adopters will benefit the most from it. Two areas that will develop and are already making great strides, the field of digital dentistry and the second, pain-free dentistry. She also mentions that pain and discomfort are not going to be accepted and the use of technology would make things seamless and available at the patients' doorstep, just like her very own mobile dentistry model.
Dr. Diksha Batra discerns an area of research that shows promise and that is stem cell research to create new teeth and robots replacing traditional dentists and joked that she may retire sooner than she thought.
Dr. Diksha Batra’s long-term plans are to pre-empt and embrace the above-mentioned changes and also to lead in ways that would at least influence her inner circle, patients, and the country.
Dr. Diksha Batra and her dental team have impacted the lives of numerous patients and their doctors. Creating and sustaining a platform that could help so many skilled dentists provide their services to those in need with the right mobile equipment and provide the best materials. The efforts and enthusiasm of young doctors provide a renewed energy in their efforts despite setbacks like the pandemic.
Dr. Diksha Batra felt that the pandemic changed and affected not only the personal and professional lives of persons but also had great impact on every industry including that of dentistry.
According to her, the pandemic time, however gave her organization enough time to start some unconventional associations and operations like many experienced doctors served as frontline workers and her organization had association with Boston University, the students of which, as a part of its public health program studied her organization as a global case study and also selected her organization to build an app to optimize the data and record keeping of her organization.
Dr. Batra also utilized the pandemic time by writing a book called “Let's Reset- Pandemic Proofing Your Dental Practice”, on the pandemic which became guidelines for everybody including non-profit organizations and the said book is available on kindle.
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Dr. Diksha Batra, Founder
Dr. Diksha Batra is a prosthodontist by education and a clinician practicing for over a decade in Mumbai, India. A decade of rich and diverse dental experience led her to pioneer the unique field of Pain-free dentistry in India. She is fondly called The Painfree Dentist” for pioneering work in eradicating dental phobia.
Her award-winning practice is home to thousands of national & international patients and was ranked amongst the top three dental clinics in Mumbai as per the “Times All India Lifestyle Hospital & Clinic Ranking Survey.