Practice Management

The new year brings many of us face to face with a daunting set of wish lists. We call them “resolutions” or even “goals.” We look at what we want to accomplish personally and professionally and-having written them down-proceed to ignore them and work in ways that manage to bring about somewhat opposite results. How does that happen?

Mini Dental Implants are a practice builder for general practitioners, offering a highly profitable revenue stream, an expanded patient base and increased referrals. General dentists can begin placing MDIs after a one- or two-day certification course and with a minimal investment in the system.  MDIs offer a low-cost option for patients who cannot afford or do not qualify for root form implants.

If I took an educated[1] guess on what topics the majority of The Pride Institute’s phone calls for “help” were based on, I would have to say half of the calls are from hygienists who feel under appreciated, undervalued and underused, while the other half come from dentists who are, quite frankly, a little anxious about their relationship with their hygienist(s). Considering the No. 1 secret to succeeding in these challenging times is a modern, interactive hygiene experience, we need to get to the bottom of what seems to cause frustration for the key players involved in continuing care.

Information provided by Henry Schein Inc. A complete online digital prescription workflow that helps route and manage lab casework, DDX Labscripts is a new feature of Henry Schein’s DDX (Digital Dental Exchange) digital case management system.

For those Baby Boomers (and older) the term is largely pejorative, owing to its association with those who aided the Axis Powers during World War II. But there is another side to the collaboration coin. It is synonymous with team work. 

1. The BlueView cure-through matrices offer clinicians plenty of options and are available for Class II, Class III, Class IV and Class V restorations. 2. The Matrix Tape features blue tinting to provide much needed contrast between the matrix and tooth structure, making it easy to see preparation margins and correct matrix placement.

No self respecting discussion about communicating with patients of record would be complete without including social networking. Here are a few statistical tidbits, according to Socialnomics’ "Social media (is not) a fad: It is the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution.":  

Purchasing an intraoral camera is one of the fastest, easiest and highest returning investments a dentist can make. A quality intraoral camera system can generate a full return on investment in as little as 1 to 3 months.

January 13, 2011  | dentalproductsreport.com Have you heard a lot of patients who need to schedule either hygiene or restorative treatment say, “I think I’m just going to wait because..." (Pick one)

You may not be a football fan, but hang in here for a minute with the analogy, because there are some important dental “plays” that you can implement when you have a change in your schedule.

A Web-based dental laboratory and supply-chain management software, SoundTrack is a suite of innovative tools designed to help labs drive revenue growth, decrease costs and strengthen customer loyalty. Designed to blend seamlessly with emerging dental technologies, labs can manage hundreds of concurrent cases online from anywhere there’s an Internet connection.

Lava™ Design Software 7 from 3M ESPE offers a new and powerful software platform that delivers greater design flexibility, customization capability and “best in class” functionality. Lava Design 7 offers a full range of indications and exciting new features including parallel scan and design, rescan, opposing arch and full arch scanning. Additionally, an integrated file transferring system makes data transfer within the Lava™ Network simple.

They are lurking in your office waiting to steal treatment plans and hide them in the unscheduled treatment reports in your computer. If you track case acceptance, you are one step ahead of these robbers because you can then start to identify and analyze your systems and communication skills to find your vulnerable areas and take steps to shore them up. Guessing or using your “gut feeling” about case acceptance will not serve you well. A good goal to aim for is 85% for new patients; 90% for patients of record.

Many dentists have a written document that outlines their practice’s vision and philosophy. Ideally, the doctor shares this with the dental team and with patients as it is not only a statement of what you aspire to attain, but it is a useful tool for clear communication. It has been said that the difference between a vision and a hallucination is how many people see it! If your team and patients have not seen your practice philosophy, it may be a hallucination.

“You’re wrong!” A patient complaint is as powerful as a slap in the face. The words sting and when they come from a patient it most certainly feels like a threat to your integrity. Most people are tempted to show how they cannot possibly be wrong. Most people want to prove not only that they are in the right, but that the other person-in this case, the patient-is wrong.

Q:  How do I get my team motivated to think like an owner and go the extra mile?  First and foremost, no one can motivate anyone to do anything. Motivation has to come from within! It’s an internal process, a reason to act a certain way based on the good ole’ radio station WII FM (What’s in it for me?). So if that’s the case, why are there jillions of books, lectures and articles written on this very topic?  

General dentists see volumes of patients each year. However, only 1 in 4 adults has straight teeth and a healthy stable bite. General dentists can add Invisalign® to their practices knowing there are many patients who can benefit from treatment.  An excellent way to market Invisalign is to educate patients about its benefits.

You’ve gone through the extra training. You’ve talked to specialists and even spent some time in their practices observing and learning. You’ve put the time in, and now you’re ready to add a new specialty service to your list of offerings.

The old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression” is so appropriate when thinking about the opportunity to convert a first-time caller into a loyal patient. The first minute of the call can make or break the relationship. A shared goal

Creating a successful dental practice can take years of hard work. Your professional skills, relationships with patients and business ability surely assist in bringing the practice to the high level of professionalism necessary for determining if it is the appropriate time to sell it.

The concept of market segmentation has been a part of the marketing scene since long before the phrase was coined. Any time someone with something to sell (or say, for that matter), identified and spoke directly to “…a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations with one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function“* they employed a market segmentation strategy.

There are two benefits your practice realizes from getting its patients to submit posts to customer review sites* and your social media. First, people increasingly depend upon service review sites in forming their opinions about a product or service, which in turn, predisposes them to making their product or service selection.

Have you ever wished you had an extra employee whose job was to organize all of the practice information you generate each day and use it to help you run your practice more efficiently? Obviously a position like this would not be a cost-effective tool for practice improvement in any but the largest offices. Fortunately Dr.

Line item accounting helps offices keep an organized record of clients’ services. New customization options allow the user to personalize the software to accommodate their individual office needs. Increase office efficiency with features like “family walkout” and the “patient bar.”

Is your staff referring to itself as office furniture?  At a recent convention, I asked a young woman about her role in the practice, to which she responded: “I’m the front desk.”  This employee has clearly lost a sense of her true value to the dental practice, and it’s likely the office is losing out on the benefit this woman could be providing as communications central.

November 2010 | Dental Products Report When we started our practice from scratch 25 years ago, we worked out of a one-room operatory. Computers were not yet high on our priority list, but within a short while we obtained a computer for administrative tasks and eventually grew to using practice management software on a more robust computer network.

We see it, hear it, read it, and we live it every day. Our economy has taken a dive and it has shown in the bottom line of our dental practices. So what can we do to help counter the effects of the downturn? One of the great things about being a general dentist is we have the opportunity to provide a diverse offering of services to our patients. I’ve been practicing for nearly 13 years, and still thoroughly enjoy the diversity of being a general dentist every day. Each day is different from the last and you never know what you might get tomorrow.

Sports Dentistry Dr. Alexander Della Bella Team dentist for Major League Baseball’s Cincinnati Reds and the East Coast Hockey League’s Cincinnati Cyclones Imagine your patients walking into your practice to find a local professional athlete sitting in your waiting room.

Information provided by 3Shape. Improving on existing functions and adding expanded capabilities, 3Shape’s Dental System™ 2012 software is designed to provide CAD/CAM solutions for new indications, help dental labs increase productivity and help dental labs help their dentists.

I use E-volution to denote the Electronic Revolution sweeping over us. One area where growth and change are particularly great is the relatively new phenomenon called Online Reputation Management (ORM), which, according to Wikipedia (as of 1/2010) is: The practice of consistent research and analysis of one’s personal or professional business or industry reputation, as represented by the content across all types of online media.