Success Story
About the Client
The client is a privately owned dental care organization operating a strong network of clinics across Sweden’s major cities, including Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Uppsala. The organization follows a distinctive cluster-based model, acquiring and managing groups of clinics within defined geographic zones. This approach enables general dentists, specialists, and hygienists within each cluster to collaborate closely, ensuring coordinated care and comprehensive treatment options for patients.
Business Situation & Requirements
The dental healthcare industry is undergoing rapid digital transformation, with growing demand for remote consultations, streamlined scheduling, and integrated care delivery.
The client had already developed a proprietary practice management app that enabled patients across Sweden to book emergency dental consultations and receive remote diagnoses via mobile devices.
However, as the organization expanded its cluster-based network of clinics, the existing application lacked advanced scheduling capabilities, comprehensive practice management functionalities, and seamless collaboration tools to support partner clinics and specialists at scale.
To realize its vision of building a unified, one-stop digital platform for dental services, the client partnered with Unthinkable. The goal was to enhance the application with detailed scheduling and dental practice management modules, enable peripheral camera integration for improved diagnostics, and simplify the onboarding of partner clinics and clinicians. The solution needed to strengthen operational efficiency, enable inter-clinic collaboration, and deliver a cohesive, patient-centric digital experience across the network.
The key requirements were:
Conduct an initial discovery and assessment phase to evaluate the existing application architecture, user journeys, integration dependencies, and define a scalable enhancement roadmap aligned with the client’s expansion strategy.
Identify and integrate a cost-effective intra-oral camera solution compatible with the application to enable high-quality remote diagnosis through a secure screen-sharing facility.
Enable seamless onboarding of partner clinics and integrate their respective practice management modules into the centralized platform without disrupting existing workflows.
Redesign and modernize the web application interface to deliver a more intuitive, user-friendly, and multilingual experience for a diverse patient base.
Develop role-based access and customized interfaces with differentiated features and functionalities for clinicians, patients, and organizational heads.
Enhance the platform’s scalability and interoperability to support expanding clinic clusters while ensuring secure data exchange and consistent performance across the network.
Solution
Unthinkable modernized the client’s dental practice management application to enhance patient engagement, expand accessibility, and support scalable growth across its clinic network. The objective was to transform the platform from an emergency-focused consultation tool into a comprehensive, one-stop digital dental care solution. The upgraded application now enables patients to pre-book consultations, register using Email ID and Bank ID, and access services beyond Sweden, expanding the platform’s reach.
To ensure scalability and cost efficiency, the infrastructure was overhauled using Azure serverless computing services, enabling dynamic resource allocation based on demand. Continuous integration and deployment were streamlined using Microsoft Visual Studio App Center to accelerate release cycles. The database architecture was redesigned into a role-based system, providing granular access control and operational autonomy to clinicians and organizational heads while ensuring secure, efficient data management across the ecosystem.
Infrastructure Modernization & DevOps Enablement
The application infrastructure was rebuilt using Azure serverless services to enable dynamic resource scaling based on real-time demand. This ensured optimal performance during peak usage while maintaining cost efficiency during low-traffic periods. Microsoft Visual Studio App Center was implemented to automate continuous integration and deployment processes, enabling faster iterations, quicker feedback cycles, and seamless delivery of updates. The modernization significantly improved system reliability, responsiveness, and scalability while reducing operational overhead.
Role-Based Database & Practice Autonomy
The legacy database architecture, previously built on SQL Server and Cosmos DB (for Admin), was transformed into a Role-Based Database system. This enabled organizational heads to define and assign database privileges based on user roles within the network. Dentists gained full autonomy to manage their schedules once onboarded, improving operational flexibility. The new structure enhanced security, streamlined access control, and ensured efficient coordination between administrators, clinicians, and partner clinics across the expanding ecosystem.
Integrated Communication & Partner Engagement Tools
Twilio was integrated into the application to enable secure messaging and seamless audio/video consultations between patients and clinicians. Additionally, a customizable add-on widget was introduced for partner clinics, functioning as both a medical questionnaire and a lead-generation tool. The widget collects patient inputs and helps assign general or specialized clinicians based on symptoms. Patients can upload images related to dental issues, allowing clinicians to provide preliminary insights before live consultation.
Intra-Oral Camera Integration for Remote Diagnosis
To enhance remote diagnostics, the team identified a cost-effective intra-oral camera vendor capable of providing SDK support. After evaluating global options, a China-based vendor was selected to ensure affordability, compliance, and compatibility. The vendor’s SDK was integrated into the app using a React Native bridge with native Android and iOS SDKs. Patients can capture and upload intra-oral images directly within the app, enabling clinicians to assess conditions accurately and deliver informed preliminary diagnoses remotely.
The Impact
The modernized app evolved into a comprehensive digital dental ecosystem, integrating the practice management portal and an add-on chatbot-like widget for structured patient intake and partner lead generation.
The patient-side Intra-Oral camera enables secure sharing of 3D dental images for accurate remote diagnosis, supported by video, text consultations, and 360° report generation. Organizational heads can onboard clinics and clinicians seamlessly, while dentists manage schedules and commissions independently, ensuring scalability and long-term growth.
