Founder & CEO of RefClin

What problem did I see as a surgeon?

I founded RefClin because I receive referrals from general dentists every week, and for years I watched the same problems repeat. A referral form arrives without the radiograph, or with a radiograph too old to use. The medical history is missing a key medication. Someone sends a CBCT scan as an email attachment, and it never opens. The patient calls to ask whether anyone has received their details. And once treatment is finished, the referring dentist often hears nothing back.

None of these problems is about clinical skill. They are about the process around the clinic: the forms, the emails and the follow-up. Every gap costs time, delays treatment and, for an anxious patient, adds worry at the moment they most need clarity.

I also think about the referring dentist’s side. Sending a case and then waiting without news, unsure whether the patient has been seen or what the specialist has found, is frustrating for any dentist. It does not help the patient either, because their own dentist is the person they will keep seeing for years.

What is RefClin?

RefClin is a British platform for dental clinical referrals, which I founded and lead as CEO. RefClin lets a dentist send a patient to a specialist in oral surgery, implants, endodontics or imaging, follow the status of the case, share radiographs and 3D scans, and receive the treatment report. The clinic receiving the referral manages every incoming case in one place. You can see the platform on its official website.

What does RefClin do for referring dentists?

• A structured referral that asks for the information a specialist needs, so fewer cases come back for missing details.
• Radiographs, CBCT scans and intraoral scans shared with the referral rather than sent separately.
• A clear view of where each case stands, from received to treated.
• The specialist’s report returned to the referring dentist, so the patient’s own dentist stays informed.

What does RefClin do for specialists and clinics?

• One place for every incoming referral, instead of a mix of email, post and phone messages.
• The ability to review a case, ask the referring dentist for anything missing and book the patient.
• A simple way to send the report back once treatment is complete.
• Radiographs and 3D scans that arrive with the referral, ready to review alongside the digital planning of the case.

Clinical decisions always stay with the clinicians. RefClin organises the referral; it does not diagnose or decide treatment.

How does RefClin approach patient data?

A referral contains sensitive health information, so data protection shaped RefClin from the start. I designed RefClin for the UK with UK GDPR in mind: the platform records patient consent with each referral, clinics share files through the platform rather than as loose email attachments, and each clinic sees only its own cases. Every practice using RefClin remains responsible for its own data protection duties, as with any clinical system. The technical details are on the platform website.

Who is Tony?

Tony is the RefClin assistant for patients. On a clinic’s website, Tony can answer simple questions and collect a patient’s request so that the clinic team can follow it up. However, Tony does not give clinical advice, so it passes questions about diagnosis or treatment to the clinic.

For patients, the aim is simple. A person who contacts a clinic in the evening should not have to wait until the next morning to know that the clinic has their request, and the clinic team should start the day with that request already organised.

How does RefClin connect with my clinical work?

I use RefClin every day at EB Dental. Dentists who want to send me a patient can do so through my RefClin referral page, and the for dentists page explains what to include. My clinical background is on the about page, and the clinics where I see referred patients are listed on where I practise. Building RefClin has made me a better referral partner, because I now think about every step a referring dentist and a patient go through.