ToothIQ Blog

ToothIQ Goes Granular

Yesterday, Symbyos nearly doubled the amount of content and media available on ToothIQ.com. You spoke, and we listened. Carefully. For over a year. We paid attention to what you wanted to know, and built content around it. We now have animated and/or illustrated content for over 500 different dental procedures—not to mention extensive information on prevention; dental signs, symptoms and diagnoses; and links to articles/abstracts from over 125 international peer-reviewed dental and medical journals .

You also gave us input on how you like to learn, and again we listened.

Each day you visit us from seventy countries around the world. Each month, 150 countries. Over the last year, we've heard from people in virtually every country connected to the Internet. We're excited to bring you this even more helpful information to improve your oral health knowledge, and advance the cause of oral health literacy worldwide.

There's an App For That! ToothIQ iPhone App Released in Time For World Oral Health Day

After many months in development and awaiting the review and approval process, we are extremely pleased to announce that the ToothIQ™ App is now available on the Apple iTunes Store for iPhone® and iPod touch®. To find it from your computer, launch iTunes, visit the App store, and search for ToothIQ. To find it from your iPod touch or iPhone, tap the "App Store" icon on the device, and enter ToothIQ in the search box.

Our original intention was for the App to be free. However, Apple requires a fee for Apps which allow purchases of additional content from within the application.

That said, the App itself is now $1.99. It comes with one free animation on it. There are over a dozen additional free animations (diagnoses and prevention topics) which you can download. To keep the initial download smaller, we did not include all of these in the App itself. 

As is the case on ToothIQ.com, the procedure animations are not free. They range in price from $14.99 to $64.99, depending on how much content they feature. The app itself describes the animations in great detail, or you may browse the catalog at ToothIQMobile.com. Here are a few more goodies:

Currently, updates to content are planned to be complimentary unless they introduce a significant amount of new content. Whenever you launch the app, if your device has Web access, the app will check for updates and give you the opportunity to download the update. Once downloaded to your device, the animations play locally on it. They do not stream across the Web.

Initially, App Stores in the following countries will feature the App:

United States
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Ireland

The announcement came just in time to coincide nicely with the second annual World Oral Health Day on September 12.

iPod is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
iPhone is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

Symbyos Officially Launches ToothIQ Pro at Fiske Planetarium in Boulder

Nearly thirty dentists were on hand for the official debut of ToothIQ™Pro at Fiske Planetarium in Boulder, CO last night. Of those present, 21 are now subscribers. Thanks for your enthusiasm, doctors! We're here to make ToothIQ.com the Web's most accurate and trustworthy oral health information resource. Please let us know how we can improve our services for you and your patients.

Ken stands center stage, beneath the awesome big screen at Fiske (iPhone photo)

HON Re-certifies ToothIQ.com

Moments ago, Symbyos received word that ToothIQ.com has been re-certified for compliance with the HONcode, stating,

"...congratulations for your great website!"

Thank you HON Foundation, for providing such a wonderful service to users of the Web.

KCNC-TV Denver Airs ToothIQ Story

New Web Site Deals With Dental Health

Oct. 18, 2008, 5:52 a.m. MT

Dentistry is one of those rare purchases many of us make blindly without shopping around, getting a second opinion or asking a lot of questions, Shaun Boyd reports.

View the video at cbs4denver.com

ToothIQ Optimized for iPhone

Symbyos announces that its ToothIQ™ web site for dental information has been optimized for Apple® iPhone™ users.

iPhone uses the Safari™ browser and does an excellent job displaying web sites and making them relatively easy to navigate. However, web sites optimized for iPhone make the user experience even more convenient.

The ToothIQ iPhone interface has been specifically designed to utilize the entire screen in one easy-to-scroll column. Font sizes, colors, and design element placement have been modified to work best on iPhone.

"Accessing ToothIQ on a mobile device like iPhone makes dental information truly accessible anywhere there is a connection to the Internet—even on a phone or PDA" notes Tom Greany, Symbyos President and chief author and editor of ToothIQ. "Patients can get access to valuable information quickly, even while they are in the dentist's chair."

ToothIQ on iPhone is fast, even over the standard AT&T EDGE network (vs. Wi-Fi mode). The site is also remarkably legible. The unique implementation of Safari on iPhone allows users to utilize their finger as the input device and allows zooming and panning. ToothIQ dental images on the iPhone are clear in the standard viewing mode (especially in landscape orientation), but can be zoomed up on for even greater detail.

Symbyos plans to optimize ToothIQ for more mobile devices, including the new BlackBerry® 9000.

ToothIQ Receives HON Certification

Symbyos is proud to announce that its dental education Web site, www.ToothIQ.com has been certified by HON, the "Health on the Net Foundation" (www.healthonnet.org). HON is an organization founded in 1995 by 60 individuals from 11 countries (including the USA).

HON's mission is: "to guide the growing community of healthcare consumers and providers on the World Wide Web to sound, reliable medical information and expertise. In this way, HON seeks to contribute to better, more accessible and cost-effective health care... Quality assessment has been our concern since the beginning. We recognise the need for systematic and stringent peer review. We have led international efforts to improve the quality of medical information on the Internet, notably through the HON Code of Conduct [1] (HONcode©) for healthcare site developers. This remains a HON priority."

HON has become one of the most respected not-for-profit portals to medical information on the Internet. They are headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

The HON certification emphasizes Symbyos' strong commitment to accurate, high-quality, unbiased content and professional oversight.

Symbyos unveils ToothIQ

After a year of development, Symbyos has released ToothIQ (Beta) for review by a panel of dentists, dental hygienists, physicians, professional educators, and members of the community at-large.

ToothIQ provides valuable information about dental health and treatment for all users—whether they are a patient or a licensed health professional. The information is logically arranged and easy to navigate. It is intended to support sustainable relationships between patients and their dentists by valuing communication, continuing education, and technical excellence above all.

For users who desire more detailed information and greater depth about dental health topics, ToothIQ provides expert-guided search to content from over 100 international, peer-reviewed dental and medical journals, and other third-party web sites. Symbyos plans to use ToothIQ to offer continuing education for dental professionals, based on the extensive literature reviewed for the site.

Symbyos' objective for ToothIQ is to deliver a non-biased, evidence- and science-based information site and will not accept compensation from advertisers, manufacturers, vendors or providers in exchange for developing content for ToothIQ. Combined with the cost transparency and choice that Symbyos advocates throughout the dental healthcare delivery process, ToothIQ will establish Symbyos as a leader in the consumer-driven dental health marketplace.