10089755Make healthcare and dental care safer by preventing 'wrong tooth removal', a serious incident and the commonest wrong site surgeryClosedInvestment AcceleratorInnovate UKDental extractions are among the most common procedures in NHS and private healthcare, with 3 in 4 adults having had a tooth extracted. There are an average of 3.71 million annually within NHS England, but private dentistry numbers are difficult to obtain. A major risk during the procedure is the possibility of wrong tooth removal. It is the commonest reported 'Never Event' in healthcare, defined as a very serious patient safety incident that is potentially preventable. There is evidence that some incidents are not reported. Wrong tooth removal causes irreversible damage to oral health, reduces trust in healthcare and requires the need for additional treatment while not solving the initial problem. These also have significant financial impacts, such as litigation costs, restorative treatment to the patients and healthcare system, and time off work due to pain or difficulty with eating. Dental extractions are a two-stage process with a time-lag that could extend into months, involving communication gaps between different practitioners. Mistakes are made for reasons like the lack of standardisation in dental notation systems for identifying teeth, errors while writing down the tooth to be removed and tooth alignment changes. The current practice is the identification of the tooth to be removed with a notation system, sometimes confirmed by a second professional. Truetime Health has developed a unique method of identifying the tooth to be removed, which overcomes these challenges. We have carried out initial proof-of-concept and have received positive feedback from dental practitioners and key opinion leaders we surveyed. We tested our prototype on animal teeth, being very similar to human teeth, in order to judge its effectiveness and have had a positive result. Our vision is to enhance patient safety by developing a product that can systematically prevent the problem by becoming standard practice. As yet, we have been self-funding with the delivery of cancer-diagnostic services to NHS. Being awarded this grant would be a game-changer. It will enable us to conduct a 12-month project for technical development, clinical feasibility on human teeth, health economics, market traction research and intellectual property protection. Above all, the Innovate UK-Unlocking potential award will develop the award-holder in the various areas needed to realise the innovation due to the tailored business support on offer. It will also enable the award-holder to act as a role model to inspire others to enter a career in innovation and promote diversity and inclusion in innovation.