Like many in the dental field, Cat Edney backed into the profession almost by chance. “We had a family dentist whose wife was his dental nurse and receptionist—really old school. That's the only experience with dental I'd ever had,” she says. After finishing her A-levels at 18, Cat took a chance and entered a hygiene and therapy program at King’s College in London, where she found her career passion: improving patients’ dental health through holistic treatment and education. Cat joined exocad Insights 2024 as an iTero keynote speaker on how digital technology has transformed her practice and improved teamwork. We caught up with her to learn how she uses digital tools to transform what dental teams can do for the practice and the patient.
Q: What does a dental therapist do?
A: Dental therapy is different in each region you go to. In the UK, a dental therapist can perform all the examinations and direct restorations for a patient, as well as periodontal and pediatric care. We also do extractions, restorations, pulpotomies, and pulpectomies on children. It's quite nice being a dental therapist because I don't have to deal with extractions very often and all the nasty stuff that the patients don't enjoy. Currently in the UK, many dental therapists (by some estimates around 70 percent) work as dental hygienists. They'll work with a dentist providing periodontal care, oral hygiene advice, scaling, and polishing.
Q: How is the role of dental therapists evolving?
A: We’ve seen a big change in the last few years. More progressive dental practices and dental teams are looking at how to better integrate dental therapists into shared care—using multiple team members to provide patients with a more holistic service. We can work as a team and ask patients: What is your idea of dental health? What is your idea of strength? Let's work to achieve that together. It's not until you get into patients’ psyches that you understand where they want to go with their mouth and oral health. You need time and a team to do that.
Q: How have you seen digital workflows influence teamwork?
A: It’s the digital workflows that have helped create that change. We wouldn't be able to communicate as a team if we couldn't use digital workflows—even from the very early stages of taking a photograph and then being able to pass that work from one team member to another. The integration of digital dentistry and use of scan data and 2D images to create and share designs with patients is a game changer. We can educate the patients and increase commitment before the final restorations are delivered.
Q: What’s your experience with design software? How has the software impacted the communication process for you?
A: I recently began using the iTero™ Design Suite, which is powered by exocad, and that is very exciting. My entire aim as a dental therapist is to communicate with patients to make sure they are satisfied with the restoration and treatment plan. To show them that their outcomes are flexible and they can choose their design themselves is exciting. They might think rounded embrasures are more beautiful than square. We may never know that without having that kind of software.
I’m a big advocate of iTero. The Design Suite is opening those elements to the dental team. If you have an iTero, you have access to the Design Suite or you can send the open STL files to the lab.
Q: What do patients like best about digital workflows?
A: The way I've been using the intraoral scans is to put it in front of the patient and say, ‘Let's explore this together.’ It helps my patients ask questions about things they haven't thought they could ask before or felt were stupid questions. I had a patient a couple of days ago say, ‘It’s interesting that area on my mouth has a flat part because I realized that every time I go to the gym and lift weights, I clench on that particular part of my teeth.’ And it's like, bingo, we understand you. We know that you need a mouthguard. We know that you need someone to look at your TMJ. We can change your habits at home. So much more comes out of it when you get the patient on board.
Q: What do you think are some of the obstacles to adoption of digital workflows from the team or practitioner side?
A: I think many practitioners don't see the wider benefit of adopting a digital workflow. They think I'm working great as I am. Patients are happy. My lab is doing an amazing job. So why would I change? And many doctors think investing in digital takes too big of a slice of the pie. But dental practice owners don't realize that by adopting digital workflows, they make the pie bigger rather than taking slices out of it. For instance, some see a digital scanner as an impression-taking machine rather than an educational tool, and some teams are worried about whether it will take more time. But it’s about education. I would not be able to do the work I can with my clinicians now, without that amazing support of a digital workflow.
Q: What first steps would you recommend to a practice looking to digitize?
A: Practices don't know where to start. Quite often they have a scanner that is gathering dust. The first thing I do is remove the scanner from the dentist. The scanner goes to the team, and the team uses it for communication. We do very intensive training on how to scan in a position where the patient can see the screen. The patient is engaged. We give the patients time and space to ask questions. Then we take the information we've gathered about the patient—the scans and the images, plus the gym visits, or the sleepless nights, or that this one tooth always breaks no matter what I do—we wrap it up into a package and start looking at the holistic treatment plan that can help that patient. Then we communicate that to our dentist and give them the bigger picture. The scans support the complete journey from the dentists to the lab.
Q: How does that impact the patient experience?
A: Allowing the patient to be part of that communication to the end restoration is the absolute key for me. Maybe the patient thinks the front teeth look great, but the side teeth look too small, or the canine teeth are too pointy. This saves time and money, improves communication, and ultimately, we have a happy patient. That's what we're all in it for, right?
Q: What's your favorite tooth?
A: Probably a lower six because I love recreating cusps and fissures. I look at someone's teeth when they come in for a checkup, at some of the restorations that are done, and I can almost tell the mindset of the dentist or the therapist that's done them. I'm often caught saying, ‘I love your fillings. They're beautiful. Someone's done a really good job here.’
Q: What advice would you give your younger self?
A: Keep on with the art. I was always led to believe, and I think a lot of people in Britain are led to believe, that the arts are not profitable jobs to be in. Art is what supports me in my role. The art of being on stage, training teams, but also the anatomy and the art of restorations.
Q: What’s your passion outside of dentistry?
A: It’s really old school—gardening. I'm a total cheapskate. I refuse to go to the garden center. I just get clippings and cuttings from my parents’ and friends’ gardens. I love to get the garden looking really nice.
Q: One word for exocad?
A: Exciting.
Multi award-winning Dental Therapist Cat Edney has over fifteen years’ experience working in specialist and private practice in the UK. In this time, she has developed a passion for multidisciplinary team working in the Dental Setting and a focus on maximizing the use of the full dental team and digital workflows to ensure profitability alongside patient care and engagement. Cat lectures internationally as a clinical educator and speaker and has developed hands on dental courses under her training brand ‘The Modern Therapist’ which aims to educate the dental profession about the role and integration of Dental Therapy, alongside focusing on providing gold standard hands on training and ongoing support to dental teams. Cat is on the faculty of the largest dental academy in the UK – The Smile Dental Academy, lectures for top dental manufactures such as LM, NSK, Oral B and Align Technology and also pens a regular column for Dentistry.co.uk. She is now an awards Judge for the Private Dentistry awards and was also named in the UK’s Dentistry’s Top 50 most influential dental professionals.
by Caitlan Reeg
Writer at exocad
Caitlan Reeg spends her days telling the world about the innovations her colleagues create. She’s passionate about healthcare, technology, and the ways the two interact to improve our lives. A former journalist, Caitlan has worked on staff at Dow Jones Newswires in Frankfurt and at the national public radio program Marketplace in Los Angeles.
