Dr. Cherif Massoud Founder & CEO of Basma while conversing with Daily NewsPK explained how they are transforming dentistry and making treatments more convenient, affordable and accessible in MENA region.
1. What led you to create ‘Basma’? When was it founded?
Dental healthcare is painful and expensive.
Today, 7 out of 10 people could benefit from having straighter teeth and getting a more confident smile and according to the American Association of Orthodontists, 66% of people want to have aligned teeth.
However, customers have only 3 options at the clinic: metal braces, veneers, and in-clinic aligners. All of which are painful, expensive, and required multiple clinics to the doctor.
We want to change that. We want to bring the teeth straightening process home directly to the customer to make it more accessible, affordable, and convenient to everyone.
Invisible aligners were introduced to the market in 1997 and proved to be the modern alternative to metal braces. With more people turning to remote care, the concept of remote treatment and teledentistry emerged around 5 years ago in the US with Smile Direct Club and was a great success. In a typical Basma teledentistry treatment, the patients are connected to their treating doctor through an online platform where they can discuss their smile concerns and get a customized treatment plan sent directly to them.
BASMA is the first company of its kind in the MENA region to bring invisible aligner treatments directly to the customer.
2. What is the core service/solution you are providing? What are the pain points that you are targeting and what is the key differentiating factor from similar offerings?
With remote treatments, we are making teeth straightening treatments more convenient and accessible. People get in touch with our orthodontists and align their teeth from the comfort of their home using our Basma invisible aligners. Our aligners are made of the highest quality food grade elastic plastic.
The main pain points we are trying to solve are;
- Price – Dental braces and in-clinic treatments are expensive and Basma invisible aligners are 65% more affordable
- Time – Aligning teeth requires time and multiple visits to clinics. With Basma, the treatment is done remotely from the comfort of the home
- Inconvenience – Metal braces are not physically pleasing and after a certain age, people avoid wearing them. We offer the customers aligners that are invisible and removable.
Key difference:
- Transparent – One set price, no last-minute extra cost, and fully certified treatment with honest expertise
- Excellent customer support – Fast response rate and continuous monitoring throughout the treatment
- Affordable & 100% at-home treatment – Reduced price and payment facilities available. For 160$/month, customers can align their teeth for the price of one coffee per day.
3. What are the parameters to measure client satisfaction?
We have our own version of NPS where we ask for our clients to review the important touchpoints during their journey to continuously optimize the journey. We also measure our customer service team’s response rate to make sure queries and questions are answered quickly.
4. What is your future outlook and what do you stand to achieve by next year?
By next year, We plan to treat more than 2000 clients, to become an established healthcare brand in the region, catering to make quality dental care more affordable and accessible to the maximum number of people.
