Press Release - March 19, 2001
E-DENTIST LAUNCHES SIGNIFICANT E-LEARNING COURSE
PHOENIX, Arizona (March 19, 2001) - e-dentist.com, Inc. (AMEX:EDT) announced today the deployment of an online course to provide training and certification of dentists using the BriteSmileTM Teeth Whitening SystemTM (Nasdaq:BSML). The course was developed through an agreement with Blatchford Solutions, Ltd., an international dental coaching, consulting and marketing company with headquarters in the United States. Dentists who wish to use the BriteSmile Whitening SystemTM in their offices may now receive their certification training online. Blatchford is reaching out to its existing dentist client base to utilize the online course accelerating the dentist's certification and use of the BriteSmileTM systems. e-dentist's proprietary learning management system (LMS) tracks all aspects of each student's progress. Students are tested after each lesson and then must pass a final exam to obtain certification.
James M. Powers, Jr., D.D.S., president and chief executive officer of e-dentist, said, "The Blatchford course showcases our training focus on products used by dental offices. Our learning management system (LMS) provides the dental vendor with clear evidence of a student's progress, increases content retention and improves student satisfaction. We see this course as the first of many courses that we will be developing with Blatchford."
e-dentist developed the course using its proprietary e-learning engine and hosts the course providing access through its online course catalog. Those dentists taking the course can train online 24/7/365 at their own pace. Blatchford has constant remote access to each student's progress, including the time spent on each subject, testing results and the progress being made toward certification. Each student pays $500 for a six-month course license. e-dentist anticipates that between 700 and 900 dentist and staff members will take the course before the end of this year. Peter Munton, chief executive officer of Blatchford Solutions, Ltd., said, "We are thrilled with the efficiency provided by e-learning over traditional teaching methods. This course combines the power of Blatchford's proven training solutions with e-dentist's state-of-the-art learning tools, which deliver measurable results in the training process. Best of all, our new program means that dentists can get part of their training without leaving their office, while still receiving in-office training and support from the Blatchford organization. The skills assessment tool provides information concerning the effectiveness of the course and provides skills gap analysis down to the lesson level. The verification and certification routines built into the course provide proof of a student's review and retention of the information necessary to use the product."
In closing, Dr. Powers added, "We are very excited about the momentum we have gained over the last few months. The launch of this online course follows several other important developments that the Company has announced recently. In early February, the Company announced that it had met the qualifications for enrollment in the Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training (CBT) Committee's (AICC) self-regulatory program for compliance. Later in February, the Company announced that it had trained 100 Oral B sales representatives online using its virtual classroom technology, which provides efficient training without the travel time and costs involved in traditional training sessions. We expect these developments to add to the recent improvement in our financial results, as evidenced by our return to profitability as reported in our third quarter results."
About e-dentist
Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, e-dentist delivers a dual strategy that provides online services to the dental industry as well as access to business services and products by dentists and their staff. The 150,000 dentists across the United States and their staff have access to e-Learning, Dental Careers, Practice Tools and a Shopping engine found at www.e-dentist.com. Additionally, the Company offers a comprehensive array of e-learning content development, hosting and delivery services to dental vendors and pharmaceuticals companies in the dental industry. e-dentist's learning management systems provide its customers and end users access to state-of-the-art synchronous and asynchronous content delivery solutions. Since 1998, e-dentist has provided training to its affiliated dental offices in 29 states with approximately 140 dentists in approximately 100 dental practices. Additionally, its 6,000 Web site members have access to a comprehensive array of products and services through its dental portal site, which can be found at www.e-dentist.com. You can view a sample course or production demonstration by visiting e-dentist's e-learning page at www.e-dentist.com/e-learning or their product demonstration page at www.e-dentist.com/demos.
About Blatchford
Blatchford Solutions, established in 1986, is a leading provider of dental coaching, consulting and marketing services to dental professionals in the US and abroad. The Company offers dental management expertise and experience, professional services, training tools and marketing and public relations elements. The benefits for dentists include maximized client leadership, improved management and verbal skills as well as niche positioning in their marketplace. The results include an increase in client income - while working less, greater staff compensation, and excellent patient care. Additionally, Blatchford Solutions offers a network or newsletters, educational tapes and seminars that specialize in education, consulting and branding. Further information can be found at the Blatchford Solutions website www.blatchford.com. Contact: Peter Munton, CEO, Blatchford Solutions, (760) 944-8040; pmunton@blatchford.com.
BriteSmileTM and BriteSmile Whitening SystemTM are registered marks of BriteSmile, Inc. BriteSmile has developed and manufactures the most advanced teeth-whitening technology available, as well as manages state-of-the-art BriteSmile Professional Teeth Whitening Centers. In addition to BriteSmile Centers, the Company has established more than 1,400 Associated Centers, with more than 160 of those Associated Centers located outside of the United States, in countries around the world including Argentina, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, France, Holland, Italy and Belgium. For more information call 1-800-BRITESMILE or visit BriteSmile's Website at www.britesmile.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of e-dentist that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results of operations to differ materially. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with affiliations, fluctuation in operating results because of affiliations, changes in government regulations, competition, growth of existing and new affiliated dental practices and the potential need for additional funding. These risks are described in further detail in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Founder: The Free and Clear Foundations of Earth, Chairman & CEO Penny King Productions, The Free and Clear Bancorporation, Senior Trustee; The Free and Clear Fund. A former banker, top analyst at exchange.com before they ran out of money, and Chairman o
