Change is everywhere and especially in dentistry. How are you adapting to the changes and using them to be more relevant to your patients? Technology, as we all know, is revolutionizing what the dentist is able to accomplish in the clinical arena. We now have a multitude of diagnostic tools that only a handful of … Read more
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What is the number one reason why patients do not return for their hygiene visits? Doctors and team members: if you don’t know, you need to find out! We’ve all heard the excuses; illness, my boss called a meeting, my kids have sports practice after school, I’m stuck in traffic, I can’t pay for it…..the list goes … Read more
A new study in the Journal of the American Dental Association shows that dentistry’s share of antibiotic use in healthcare has grown significantly. In 1996, dentistry accounted for 6.7% of antibiotic use. By 2013, its share was 11.3%. This results from both a decline of antibiotic use in medicine and a real growth in dentistry. … Read more
The Internet offers thousands of websites dealing with the same subject, and in many cases, offering very similar information. It can be difficult to distinguish one website from another when so many of them are addressing the same issues in the same manner and hardly providing any unique and differentiated value to the readers. Merely … Read more
The sustained popularity of Facebook as the leading social media network can be effectively leveraged to promote your dental website. In a highly competitive online environment, you need more than just website promotion and internal SEO to reach your target audience. Social media marketing plays a vital role, and Facebook continues to be the social … Read more
DOWNTIME: What happens when patients cancel or just fail to show up? This is especially a problem in hygiene (which patients often skip because, after all to them, “It’s just a cleaning”), but it affects the whole practice. Think of Downtime as a Percentage: Downtime is the share of non-productive time your practice incurs each day. … Read more
How does your practice fare when it comes to hygiene retention, filling your schedule and setting production goals? There are 3 key components that require consistent monitoring, with an awareness of what to look for and how to find the correct information. The 3 key components of your operations that have an impact on your practice operating … Read more
The primary goal of your online dental marketing campaign should be to disseminate information, educate the readers and deliver real value. When the focus is on helping the patients through your dental website, blog, social media and other online efforts, it will eventually help build a robust online reputation, build relationships, and translate into growing … Read more
After 30 years in the Dental Community, as a Dental Speaker lecturing in North America and internationally, I retired in 2015. Following my wonderful career, I wanted to give back and volunteer with women. Good Shepherd offered me the opportunity to donate my time and energy to its Women’s Services program. I didn’t realize how many women need … Read more
The traditional model of “dental customer care” has been in place for a long time, and it has seen little real change. It goes like this: modernize the dental office, promote expensive surgical procedures (e.g. implants and smile makeovers), put up a website and perhaps a Facebook page telling the world what services you provide. … Read more
New studies are identifying the key microbes and their interactions which cause a cavity. Essentially, we now know that dental decay is a “poly-microbial disease”, meaning the destruction of the tooth is caused by many different microorganisms and their complex interaction. Very promising stuff. We also know that a person experiencing a cavity or needing … Read more
Dental hygienists and therapists have been empowered by legislators in Canada, the UK and increasingly in the US to deliver dental services outside of the dental practice. There has been a boom in independent hygiene and this will only grow as patients seek more affordable preventive care. In the UK, for example, the reformed National … Read more
Search engine algorithms have evolved dramatically over the last few years. Following major search engine updates, particularly in the last three years, many of the traditional search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and tactics are no longer relevant. If you continue to embrace the old and outdated SEO practices, it will become increasingly difficult for your … Read more
A new American website called End Cavities is actively promoting prevention of dental decay in children. This website is organized by the Children’s Dental Health Project and it is well done and very worthwhile. My guess is that End Cavities responds to the growing coverage of children’s dental care by Medicaid. Again, another very worthwhile … Read more
Three news items crossed my desk in the past month. All seem to point to a future for dentistry which features more specialization around managing the cause of poor oral health. One news item was a video interview with a number of dental opinion leaders in Minnesota, about the emerging role of dental therapists. Dental … Read more
4 ways to enhance patient satisfaction…… Patient communication is more likely to succeed when there are more positive interactions than negative interactions. Luckily, we as humans have a unique ability to turn negative thoughts and emotions into positive ones. Here are a few more ways to hit the magic ratio and positively enhance patient satisfaction … Read more