Blogs Archive - Page 33 of 130

The Silent Issue of Dental Affordability

One silent issue in the dental industry is affordability. Surgical care is so expensive that it has restricted dental visits over the past few years and, in turn, driven down dental incomes by more than 20% since the start of the Great Recession (2008). Over the Holidays, there were more reports about this affordability problem … Read more

Making the top 10 list!

It is that time of year when the experts in healthcare predict the top 10 trends in looking after the community’s health. It is instructive that there seem to be no such Canadian forecasts — perhaps there is no significant changes coming in the Great White North! But in the US, where healthcare reforms are … Read more

The Evolution of The Hygiene Department

Dental hygiene has changed dramatically from a serious shortage of hygienists leading to high wages and a lack of choice for dentists to choose. Today, there is a vast over-supply; competition between job candidates and existing high-wage hygienists must earn their position with proper billing, periodontal care and overall patient service. The hygiene entry wage … Read more

What’s wrong with being mouthy?

MDA to launch exciting, emotional campaign. Ever notice that expressions related to our mouth always seem to be negative? “Don’t be a big mouth”. “Stop being a loudmouth”. And never, ever “put your foot in your mouth”. But what if “being mouthy” wasn’t such a bad thing? We don’t think it should be. In fact, we think … Read more

What’s on your teeth, may be in your heart

A new study in the journal Medicine reports that the bacteria initiating dental decay is also found on the heart valves of patients with heart disease. Nothing new here. Other studies have shown that Streptococcus mutans to be the dominant microorganism in diseased arterial plaque. (The picture above has blue chains of bacteria which are … Read more

Turning the Corner on Chronic Disease Management

The number of new cases of diabetes in the US declined to 1.4 million in 2014 from 1.7 million in 2008, according to a report from the CDC. The report stated that an improvement in healthy eating habits, a decline in the amount of soda drank since the late 1990s and a decrease in the … Read more

$45 Per Month

As of 2015, for the first time, Canada has more people over the age of 65 than under 15. The age group that now encompasses the boomer generation – 50 to 69 – makes up 27 per cent of the population, compared with 18 per cent in that age group two decades ago. The number … Read more

Dental Care for Your Mom

Two new studies involving older people, show that the following chronic diseases significantly increase the odds of dental decay: cardiovascular disease, rheumatic disease, mood disorders and eating disorders. The connection between diseases, is four or more medications taken regularly; this level of polypharmacy is the threshold for poor salivary flow. Saliva is a preventive agent … Read more

Using Visual Impact to Captivate Your Target Audience

The visual aspects of your dental website potentially holds a greater influence on a new visitor to your site. It is not just about grabbing the attention or arousing the curiosity of a visitor. It is more about impacting their thought processes favorably and getting them to take desirable action. Directing Attention The average online … Read more

AODA Compliance for 2016 – Giving and Receiving Feedback

As discussed in previous articles, all businesses are required to be compliant with accessibility standards to accommodate your patients who have disabilities. In 2015 the Customer Service Standard was the first to standard to be met under AODA. Now that you have met that standard, there is still more work to do. The Accessibility of … Read more

Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Dentists and Office Managers

It’s that time of year to make New Year’s resolutions, regardless of whether or not we intend to keep them. Why not try to make resolutions for your practice that are easy to keep. If you have difficulty making practical resolutions that result in management solutions, here are my top 10 New Year’s resolutions for … Read more

The 8 Leadership Secrets of Santa Claus

It’s not easy being Santa Claus. You may not know this, but Santa has two roles that people rarely associate with him; Santa the Manager and Santa the Leader. After all, he is running a business and he is the boss. There are workers to lead, letters to read, processes to manage, stuff to buy, … Read more

Boomer debt and visits to the dentist

Each day in North America, about 11,000 Baby Boomers retire. Most have no dental plan, most are taking more than 3 medications daily for chronic diseases and thereby are experiencing dry mouth, and most have all of their teeth with lots of gum recession. This is a perfect storm for 2 things: dental decay at … Read more

Identifying high risk adults for more preventive care

A new review of dental studies found that traditional risk factors for caries in adults are wanting in terms of accuracy. The best conventional predictors are recent experience with this disease and salivary concentrations of Streptococcus mutans; but even these, when used singularly are not robust. Because major payers of dental services are starting to … Read more

Changing expectations for dentistry

Are you getting the sense like me, that the expectations for family dental care are changing? It seems every week we learn from good scientific studies that good oral health is an independent factor in good overall health. Today, for example, a Korean study found that poor gums were associated with hypertension, irregardless of other … Read more

Do Your Patients Own Their Oral Health?

Help patients say “yes” to the treatment they need…. How would it be if all our patients accepted our treatment recommendations without having to be pressured, without stress or rejection? Why do dental patients reject appropriate treatment? 85% of case acceptance is related to our social skills and ability to relate to people, 15% is … Read more