Practice Management

As we get closer to the end of the year, dentists often ask about how major technology purchases will impact their taxes. Applications such as lasers, CAD/CAM restoration systems, digital and cone beam radiology are large investments, and dentists who work closely with their CPAs can strategize to maximize the tax benefits of purchasing them. Capitalizing on Section 179

Ok. You didn’t go to dental school to become a marketer. But what’s a practitioner without patients?  One avenue for promoting a  dental practice is to sell yourself as an expert in your area of expertise. It can be a broad area –dentistry or a more narrow one-say teeth whitening or implants.

1. OS (oscillating segment) Discs are 60° segmented with a radius of 1.4 cm and a pivoting angle of 30°, allowing comfortable intraoral handling even in posterior areas with excellent user control. 2. A more effective method than manual enamel reduction, the OS Discs reduce the risk of injuring soft tissue without the need for a disc guard. 3. OS Discs allow very good vision for the user and provide optimal chip removal.

February 2, 2011 | Dental Products Report news DHPI partners with Learn HealthSci  

An investment in patient comfort, Gluma is economical to use at less than $1 an application. Plus it’s billable to insurance. The only desensitizer proven to penetrate exposed dentinal tubules up to 200µ, Gluma has received numerous accolades including “Top Desensitizer” from The DENTAL ADVISOR and Reality’s Choice 5-Star Award 7 times. Acts as a microbial barrier, inhibiting bacterial growth that can result in pulpal inflammation, secondary caries and restorative failure.

How’s your phone etiquette? Your team members can’t just answer the phone. They need to connect with the patient. Here’s how.

Intraoral cameras should be used on every patient because doctors and patients alike can reap benefits from the images they take, Drs. Jason Luchtefeld and Frank Clayton said. They also have specific recommendations about what images they see as musts for each of their patients.

June 4, 2010 | dentalproductsreport.com Photo: Getty Images/Don Farrall

You are not the only ones wrestling with this daunting task! The issue of finding comfort in the “asking” always reminds me of a Theatre 101 class I took years ago. The first rule of the stage is, before you utter one line of dialogue you have to ask yourself, “What’s my motivation?” Your answer will color the tone, pace and delivery of that one line.

Changing human behavior is not impossible, just almost impossible! This statement is easy to garner agreement around since most oral health care providers have experienced it on a personal as well as a professional level. A personal example many can relate to is losing weight which requires dietary habit changes, or getting more fit which requires additional exercise. Even when desiring the outcome the habit change would provide, changing a habit is challenging, and so the desired outcome is often elusive.

September 9, 2010-A brand new, course shows dentists fifteen of the fastest and most cost effective marketing strategies to grow any dental practice…during a “hot” economy or a “stone cold” one. This course is available by going to www.DentalMarketingDynamite.com. 

As I write, Massachusetts is sending a Republican Senator to Washington, D.C. for the first time since Edward Brooke served from 1967–1979. What’s this got to do with tax-law changes? A lot! Without making any political commentary, the facts are:

The search for a practice management software application that fits your practice’s needs can be a tricky endeavor. With a wide range of options ready to handle your scheduling, billing, patient records and more, it’s important to make the right choice because this will be the central hub for all of your practice’s information.

Given the state of our economy, businesses continue to look for ways to stay in touch with existing clients and attract new customers. One very effective tool, which is often overlooked because of the rush to get online and more involved with the digital world, is the newsletter.

In November 2010, the State of Michigan Court of Appeals upheld a Circuit Court Judgment that confirmed an arbitration award that ordered the selling dentist to pay a total of 80% of the purchase price in damages plus attorney’s fees and investigating expenses because he violated a restrictive covenant. (Case No 293996 Oakland Circuit Court LC No. 2009-098520-CK)

Everyone is talking about it: Social Media. From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn, and from YouTube to the blogosphere, it’s difficult for the dental team to know what’s relevant, where to start, and how it’s ultimately going to improve the practice’s bottom line. It’s important and almost impossible to fathom the size of the opportunity and to grasp just how many new patients you stand to lose by not joining the conversation.

The number of patients seeking therapy for snoring and sleep apnea has increased by 60% in the past decade, making sleep dentistry a profitable new practice driver for doctors and one of the fastest growing segments in dentistry today. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, oral appliance therapy is first line treatment for snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnea.

A hygienist lays out many of the frustrations dental professionals and their patients face when it comes to dental insurance. Editor’s Note: The opinions reflected in this article do not necessarily represent the views of the editorial staff of Modern Hygienist and Dental Products Report. Photo: Getty Images Dear Sir,

November 3, 2010 | dentalproductsreport.com

Have you ever heard of the Institute for Oral Health? This organization identifies best practices in oral health and then encourages collaboration between dental insurance companies, physicians, dentists (private practice, academia and public health) and researchers to benefit the public and the profession. This year’s annual conference theme was on preventive dentistry and I was lucky to attend.

Fred Joyal is CEO of 1?800-DENTIST and author of Everything is Marketing: The Ultimate Strategy for Dental Practice Growth. He can be reached at goaskfred.com.

For more than 50 years dental laboratories have worked hard to differentiate their individual laboratory from the masses. In the early 1960s porcelain fused to metal restorations were just beginning to “come of age” and a few smart dental laboratories took advantage of this new technique to try to stand out from the crowd. There have been other techniques, materials and product/service innovations that laboratories have used over the years to try and gain a competitive advantage in an industry where everyone offers the same types of products and services.

Now that you have your team in place, your next step is to find the dental practice. There are practices for sale throughout the country but the pricing is now increasing due to a number of factors such as the economy and the fact that dental practices are very stable financially so that dentists are not selling as readily as in the past. Many dentists have lost considerable money in their retirement plans and also can not afford to retire for that reason as well since their savings have been depleted.

You have effectively worked to keep your costs as low as they can possibly be. Your ability to use home equity lines at cheap rates have allowed you to save substantial money when borrowing for your practice needs rather than using commercial bank rates and terms for the practice.

Dr. William Twohig comes from a family with medical background that runs deep. His father was a physician and instilled in him open-mindedness and forward thinking. Soon after he began his dental practice he considered looking into methods that were unconventional in dentistry, and has maintained a “thinking outside the box” mentality throughout his career. Dr.

While advances in technology have dramatically changed the way lab technicians and dentists communicate and work together, and how and who is fabricating restorations, more changes are just around the corner.

Recent developments and enhancements to the components of the solution allow Delcam to offer a complete implantology system. The system includes the tools and software needed through the complete process. It supports the design of custom abutments to implant bridges and dental bars with a management system to track each stage of the process.

It’s 2010, and it’s official. With the advent of the new year, we also face an intriguing new tax-planning option, one that offers us both opportunities and challenges, especially during 2010–2112. It’s the arrival of new IRA-to-Roth-IRA conversion rules. Now that they’re here, it’s worth taking a bit of time from the bench to consider what they mean to you, your wealth, and your retirement and estate planning needs.

Online marketing is becoming essential for many small businesses. Patients increasingly turn to the Internet to seek and connect with service providers. The dental market has gone digital, with leading practices developing a Web presence via websites and social media initiatives. This shift has made the Internet a more crowded and competitive space for practices. Increasingly dentists and specialists are implementing sophisticated online promotion advertising to fortify their search engine visibility.

You can’t talk strategic planning without talking statistical interpretation of success, and you can’t talk statistics all by yourself. In the small business of dentistry, it is essential to keep the staff educated and engaged in your vision, values and strategies. That requires forwarding the concept of open book management as a key practice management tool. An open book? Open book management is when businesses share key financial and strategic details with employees.