Walmart made headway into the dental industry in 2019 and early 2020. Here's a timeline on those efforts and where they stand today:
1. Roshan Parikh, DDS, was named Walmart's head of dentistry in November, 2019.
2. Walmart partnered with SmileDirectClub in January 2020. That deal put exclusive SmileDirectClub products in more than 3,800 U.S. Walmart stores.
3. The second clinic to offer dental services opened in January 2020 in Georgia.
4. Walmart Health was in talks with Verizon to create 5G networks at clinics, according to a March 3, 2020, report.
5. As of Sept. 17, 2020, Walmart Health established six locations. By the end of 2020, two more clinics were opened in Chicago. A spokesperson for Walmart said dental services are being offered at clinics in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Illinois. Details about future plans weren't available.
6. Dr. Parikh was included in the Dental AI Council, which was launched to help define the future of artificial intelligence in dentistry, according to a Sept. 29 news release.
7. A spokesperson for SmileDirectClub said the company plans to introduce more whitening products at Walmart. Since the start of its partnership with Walmart, SmileDirectClub's whitening products were leaders at the shop and generated overall growth in the whitening category.
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