Chewsi, an app that connects users with a network of dentists that are willing to provide significant savings to patients for dental services not covered by dental insurance, began as a spinout of insurance company Delta Dental of Rhode Island.
Now nearly three years old, the startup has expanded out of Rhode Island and Massachusetts into Connecticut, southern New Hampshire and parts of New Jersey. Next on the docket is Hawaii, Nebraska, Missouri and other midwestern states.
Additionally, Chewsi's network of dentists grew to more than 2,500.
Rhode Island Inno spoke (electronically) to Chewsi President Blaine Carroll on the expansion.
Rhode Island Inno: What else, beyond the outlined expansion, is on the docket for Chewsi? Where do you see the company in a year’s time? Five years’ time? Carroll: We’re changing the conversation around how to get access to dental care and how to pay for it. Chewsi is a whole new way to save. How people work is evolving, with many folks moving from traditional employment to entrepreneurship and gig work. Since many of these workers don’t have access to traditional benefits, we think it makes sense for how people pay for dental health care to evolve, too. We see Chewsi as a critical player in that evolution and we’re proud to be on the leading edge. Consumer reactions tell us we’re on to something big here and we’re excited to see how Chewsi evolves in serving additional health care needs.
RII: Chewsi has expanded quite a bit. What has dictated where the company expands to? New England to Hawaii is an interesting leap. Caroll: As you know, Chewsi got its start here in New England, where we’ve really established a stronghold in Massachusetts and Rhode Island through our partnerships with organizations like Health New England, AAA Northeast and AAA Pioneer Valley. Our mission is giving all consumers access to great dental savings, so we’re always interested in conversations with strategic partners who can help us spread the word. Those conversations have led to expansion into Connecticut, New Jersey, Iowa and Hawaii, and we’re now recruiting dentists in Queens and Brooklyn.
For sure, certain areas of the country are ripe for a conversation about new ways to access and save on dental care. Hawaii is a great example of this — we know that the cost of living in Hawaii is quite high, so consumers are interested in ways to reduce expenses. So while Hawaii may be quite a geographic leap from New England, ideologically, expanding into Hawaii makes a lot of sense.
RII: How has Chewsi worked with dentists and other providers to grow the network? Caroll: The Chewsi network is rapidly expanding, thanks to the expertise and knowledge of our recruiting team. Our recruiters are constantly in the field, talking directly with dentists about the value of Chewsi. The dentists who are gravitating toward Chewsi understand the value it adds to their practice in increasing case acceptance rates among their patient base. We’ve seen a real uptick recently in happy Chewsi users talking about the great savings they get. Those testimonials, along with our marketing and advertising efforts, are helping to spread the word about Chewsi’s value and support the efforts of our recruiting team.
RII: What sets Chewsi apart? And what would you say has made it resonate so profoundly with customers? Caroll: What sets Chewsi apart is that we’re not like anything else out there in the dental space — and we can say that with authority. Chewsi was started by a team of professionals with years of experience in the dental benefits industry. We understand that not everyone has access to traditional insurance benefits and even when they do, there still may be gaps in their care. Some traditional insurance plans may have coverage limits, waiting periods or annual caps that can be challenging in a year when someone has significant oral health care needs. Insured consumers can use Chewsi to save on any dental service their insurance plan doesn’t cover and when they’ve bumped up against their maximum.
With Chewsi, there’s no need to be traditionally employed or to pay a monthly or annual fee. It’s free to download, and you pay only for the services you need, when you need them. Consumers love that!
Dentists love Chewsi too because it’s hassle free. We don’t require paperwork or phone calls. And we don’t make dentists wait for payment — consumers use the Chewsi app to pay and save right in the dentist’s office and the transaction processes immediately.
Simply put, it’s exciting to watch consumers learn about Chewsi and hear their feedback on how it easy it is to use and save on their dental care.
RII: How, if it at all, has Chewsi’s initial offerings changed or adapted as the company has scaled? Carroll: This is such an interesting and important question. Like many startups, we launched with a set of assumptions in mind. For example, we assumed that we’d see a surge of customers using Chewsi to save on cosmetic care like teeth whitening and braces, since those services aren’t typically covered by dental plans. While we did — and continue to — see many people using Chewsi to save on cosmetic services, we’ve seen a much greater surge of people using Chewsi to save big on expensive dental care needs like crowns and implants — not only people who don’t have insurance, but also insured folks who’ve needed so much dental care that they’ve reached the maximum on their dental plan. So we’ve pivoted our marketing to make sure we’re getting the word out about Chewsi to people who can most benefit from savings on critical dental care.
We’ve now expanded to more than 3,600 dental locations, and consumers using Chewsi have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars on dental care. Throughout this growth, our team has kept our finger on the pulse of our network by constantly asking users for feedback. More importantly, we’ve listened to that feedback and enhanced our search capabilities on our website to make it easier to find a Chewsi dentist. Based on consumer and dentist feedback, we’ve also got some new app enhancements up our sleeves in the coming year.
RII: Anything else I haven’t asked that’s important to note? Carroll: Those who don’t have dental insurance often feel they don’t have options for saving and may put their oral health at risk by skipping the dentist altogether. We know that good oral health is critical to good overall health, so we’re working hard to let people know there’s another way. We want to see people in dental chairs and to know that taking care of their oral health matters. We’re proud to be a leader in this whole new category. The positive feedback we’re getting from customers and dentists through our surveys and outreach efforts tells us we’re on to something. We can’t wait to see what the next year brings for Chewsi.
