Invercargill-based oral health therapist Georgina Welsh was attending Electrify Aotearoa in Christchurch, an event for women founders, startup leaders, supporters and investors to fuel the growth of women-led high-growth ventures in New Zealand.
While there, she was struck with an idea to create something like MoleMap, the comprehensive skin and mole check service, but for teeth, and she was spurred into action to establish Map My Mouth.
Her aim was to improve access to oral health services throughout the country by providing triage and referral to a dental practitioner for treatment if necessary, diagnosis of dental decay and gum disease, treatment options and estimates and education and advice.
About 60% of adults did not have access to dental care, one in three New Zealanders were living with untreated tooth decay and half of all adults showed signs of gum disease, which was linked to conditions such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and heart disease, she said.
Often, the teeth of people visiting a dentist for a checkup were “in good nick” and Map My Mouth made it more productive for dentists as well, as they were able to focus on restorative treatments rather than preventive ones, and it would help address increasing wait times to see a dentist.
She was particularly keen to target Māori, Pasifika and those with low incomes and she wanted to make the experience not as clinical and scary as the “murder house days” that many remembered.
Ms Welsh, who has a degree in oral health from the University of Otago, started her career at the Southern District Health Board.
While in the United Kingdom, she had the extremes of working in the public National Health Service to private practice in the famed Harley St, where famous faces were often spied, and she laughed how she was just “a wee Invercargill girl” in that different world. She also did some dental volunteering in Cambodia.
She has taught in the oral health programmes at both Auckland University of Technology and the University of Otago, served on the Health Practitioners’ Disciplinary Tribunal and acted as an examiner for the Dental Council New Zealand.
Returning to live in her home-
town of Invercargill, she said the southern city was an easy place to live, it was home to nice people and it was also where her family lived.
When it came to the establishment of Map My Mouth, Ms Welsh said she had got to a point in her career where she wanted to either challenge herself or do something different. Hence attending Electrify Aotearoa courtesy of free tickets from Coin South, the innovation network for Southland startups and businesses.
It had been a few years in the making, but from last week, a regular clinic would be held at the main Invercargill campus of the Southern Institute of Technology. She was also working with Number 10, a health and social service for young people in the city, and waiting to hear back from other organisations.
At the moment, the startup is being funded by Ms Welsh herself, who is also working part-time at a private dental practice.
She wanted it to be “a bit slow and steady” initially as she was a “one-man show”. She was learning a lot about business, and it had been good to challenge her brain in a different way.
She hoped it would be eventually franchised and integrated into the Ministry of Health, rolled out nationwide.
sally.rae@odt.co.nz
