Kids scared of the dentist? There’s an app for that! This new dental app for kids can help with those dental office fears in one clever—and dare we say it, fun—new way.
The Mimi the Hippo app is designed to prepare kids for a trip to the dentist’s office by introducing them to what the experience looks like and what they can expect. It combines footage of the actual dentist’s office that the child is going to visit and recordings of their dentist into an interactive virtual tour hosted by Mimi, a friendly animated purple hippo.
photo: Courtesy of Yonder
Mimi guides kids through the dental office at a kid’s eye level showing them all the sights, including dental tools and a friendly, smiling dentist.
Dr. Teresa Fong, a pediatric dentist with Metropolitan Pediatric Dental Associates, tested out the app on several patients and found success with all of them. The biggest change she noticed was that all of her patients were willing to open their mouths wide for an exam.
Here’s a demo of the app in action:
“We sit at the intersection of education and entertainment to drive better health outcomes,” said Adam Choe, co-founder of Yonder. “By blending those two things together, we think we can have a perfect platform to help prepare kids for better health outcomes.”
As of now, Mimi the Hippo is only available in the greater Minneapolis, Minnesota area—but the app developers hope that more dental practices will join their network of providers to help more kids.
—Shahrzad Warkentin
Featured photo: jarmoluk via Pixabay
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