the DPR Editorial Team

You may think you've heard everything you need to hear about ultrasonics, but Rachel Wall, RDH, the owner of Inspired Hygiene, says that it’s always one of the hottest topics amongst dental hygienists and dental professionals.

The end of one year and the beginning of another is always a great time for reflection, introspection, and planning.

In this Q&A, we spoke with Russell D. Nishimura, DDS; professor emeritus, UCLA School of Dentistry; fellow, Academy of Osseointegration; and Steven J. Rosenstein, DMD, FAGD, about how general practitioners can establish a referral network, its advantages and the future of the dental implant industry.

As the clock winds down on 2014, more and more patients are trying to squeeze the last pennies out of their dental insurance and make sure they have taken advantage of every opportunity to improve their oral health. With that in mind, the end of the year can be one of the craziest times for dental practices.

Sikka Software Corporation is preparing for its 2015 Optimization Summit, scheduled for February 12-13 at the Monterey Marriott in Monterey, Calif.

Dental Products Report and Sikka Software recently unveiled the 2014 dental fee survey. In this survey, we looked at the four years’ worth of data for 20 of the most-used codes and the fees that more than 12,000 dental practices around the country were charging for each procedure.

Your dental practice may have the latest technology. Your dental practice may have the most awesome team ever assembled. Your dental practice may be in the shiniest, newest building in town. Your dental practice may run with flawless efficiency thanks to the greatest systems known to mankind. However, if your dental practice doesn’t have money, everything else is moot. 

Do you know what to do about your dental practice’s fees heading into the new year? Now is a great time to look at your business and see what you should be charging for everything from a crown to an implant.

In today’s economic climate, staying on top of your practice’s financial health is imperative. Now more than ever it is critical to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and make adjustments when needed to enhance patient care as well as practice efficiencies and profitability.

Looking for a way to make things easier in your dental practice? Komet USA is offering a new conversion service that the company says will do just that. Komet USA’s new conversion service offers an easy, fast method for converting existing burs, diamonds, and polishers to Komet® instruments. The program uses a specially designed conversion card (see below), which provides an efficient, user-friendly technique for doctors and lab technicians to identify and order the Komet equivalent of an existing instrument.

For years, there has been talk about digital radiography and why dentists and dental practices should make the switch from film to digital. We've heard the discussions about ROI. We've seen practitioners talk about the benefits of digital radiography for the environment. We've witnessed dentists tell us that digital radiography gives a the "tech-savvy" feel for their patients.

Crest recently unveiled what it describes as one of its most breakthrough product launches in a decade with the launch of Crest Sensi-Stop Strips. The small, flexible, semi-transparent strips provide targeted, immediate and long-lasting tooth sensitivity relief like never before.

Great Minds, Inc., and Rae Dental Management have launched a new product for dental practices looking for statistics to help make better decisions about their PPO dental plans. The PPO Analyzer for Dentrix is an easy-to-use report that gives the office a snapshot of how their PPO dental plans are affecting their practices’ productivity and profitability.

Don’t let your practice management system confine you to your office, or worse yet, your desktop. Too often you need to access patient data from someplace other than your office.

Bryan Couch, DDS, doesn’t mince words when it comes to his experience with digital impressions and in-office CAD/CAM: “It’s the single most important tool I’ve purchased in 29 years of dentistry.”

HygienistPrep™ released its NBDHE prep program to the public in mid-2013 and, after a year in business, is pleased to announce a 100% reported pass rate among subscribers.

In her 30 years as a dental hygienist, Elizabeth Martens has heard plenty of times why people won’t floss … they simply can’t get their hands and the floss inside their mouth.

Kevin Henry, group editorial director for Advanstar’s dental division, including Dental Products Report, Modern Hygienist, Dental Lab Products, and Dental Practice Management, was recently tabbed with an honor for his social media efforts as a British writer named him as one of the top 5 dental influencers on Twitter.

Esthetics are more important to denture patients than ever before. Finding a simple and predictable method of prescribing highly esthetic partial and complete dentures is necessary to satisfy the heightened expectations of today’s patient.

New to the U.S. market, Anthos digital dental units were developed to provide each dentist with a digital treatment center designed to suit their own operatory style. 

The number one mission in today’s dental economy is to increase practice production. But how do we get there?

Innovation drives our profession. Fortunately, dentistry has some amazing “renaissance” type of thinkers who are constantly problem solving from outside the box, inside the box, and under the box.

01. Overcome Your Own Objections Asking for referrals is not being sales-y. Internal marketing is simply utilizing your current patients to reach new patients. It’s a smart and necessary – not to mention cost-efficient – marketing strategy. 02. Get Your Team Involved

DPR talks to MacPractice CEO Mark Hollis about the workflow benefits of using Apple products, and how his company can help dentists take it even further.

Keeping up with all the new cosmetic dentistry techniques, products, news and developments can seem like a full time job in itself. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Are you making any of these website mistakes? It could be hurting your dental practice.

The formation of the KaVo Kerr Group strategically unites the leading dental consumable, equipment, high tech, and specialty brands under a single global platform. But what does this mean for consumers?

Are e-cigarettes really the safer alternative to cigarettes?

According to Frank J. Milnar, DDS, AAACD, for the best results when working with zirconia, users should rely on instruments optimized for the high-strength material.

From February 20-22, the entire DPR editorial team will descend upon the Windy City to provide our most in-depth coverage yet of any event we’ve covered in the pages of Dental Products Report or on the DPR website.