{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Startup Junkies Podcast","title":"How a Dentist Grew a Telehealth Startup 1,200% with Dr. Maria Kunstadter","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/c4e8545a\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1436,"description":"Toothaches are one of the top reasons people end up in the emergency room, where there’s no dentist to treat them.\nIn this entrepreneur interview, Dr. Maria Kunstadter, dentist and founder of The TeleDentists, shares how a national conference on the opioid crisis sparked the idea for virtual dentists. She also explains how COVID drove 1,200% growth in a single year, and why she’s now taking teledentistry into emergency rooms, rural communities, and countries with only a few hundred dentists. Whether you’re a startup founder in health tech or a healthcare leader working on access to care, this founder story shows what it takes to build in a space that’s been slow to change.\n\nWhat you’ll learn:\nHow teledentistry consultations work\nWhy toothaches cost ERs nearly $3 billion\nThe link between oral health and chronic disease\nScaling a telehealth startup across states and countries\nWhy dentists gain patients, not lose them\n⏱️ Chapters:\n0:00 “You saved my life that day”\n0:22 Introduction\n0:48 How teledentistry works\n2:11 Why toothaches end up in the ER\n4:11 COVID and 1,200% growth\n5:29 The $3 billion ER toothache problem\n6:41 Why dental is separate from medical\n7:58 Oral health and chronic disease\n9:32 Teledentistry in rural communities\n14:08 Health care is cultural: going global\n15:48 Why dentistry is slow to innovate\n17:45 Scaling telehealth across borders\n18:36 When a dental emergency isn’t an emergency\n19:30 Why dentists should welcome teledentistry\n21:11 Fuel, Northwest Arkansas, and how to connect\n\nAbout Dr. Maria Kunstadter: Dr. Kunstadter is the CEO and founder of The TeleDentists, a teledentistry platform offering virtual dental consultations, e-prescriptions, and next-step appointment scheduling. She is a member of the Fuel health tech accelerator cohort.\n🔗https://www.theteledentists.com/\n---\n🎙️ The Startup Junkies podcast is brought to you in part by RISE, which helps Arkansas tech and tech-enabled startups grow with no-cost coaching, capital navigation, and...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/VIqyFnVoemaY16I1CQ_9OtsZkjBwg6MwfUeTfBb7LPw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hMTg0/ODVhOTk1ZmFiOTQ2/MWM3YTk4MTcxOTg3/NmY5Mi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}