A recent NY Times article reported that, in an experiment, Parkinson’s patients said an expensive version of a drug worked better than the cheap version of that same drug. Does the same principle apply to hygiene services? Would patients rate an expensive cleaning more thorough and effective than a cheap cleaning? Perhaps or perhaps not, … Read more
American companies are getting tough on disease. Increasingly, they incent their employees to participate in wellness programs by connecting healthy behavior to lower cost healthcare insurance. In some cases, poor health behavior leads to increased premiums. They are following the lead of some German insurers who limit dental coverage for those who skip their hygiene … Read more
The shingles vaccine provides a good model for a new kind of dental care which is emerging to better serve an older, more knowledgeable and sicker population. The shingles vaccine is indicated for those at high risk of this acute infection — those over 60 years of age (older folks have difficulty generating immune cells … Read more
Such is the future of the British population and that in Canada too. The UK prognosticators now say: Newly retired men in the UK can expect to live more than two years longer than those who finished work a decade earlier. But they also face almost an extra year of ill health. Women currently aged … Read more
This intriguing statement recently appeared on the PBS newsletter for older Americans called Next Avenue. (I recommend you subscribe to Next Avenue to better understand your aging community — it is free.) The article reported there are two different groups of Boomers. The Oldsters (those born between 1946 and 1954) and the Youngsters (born between … Read more
I recently visited a great dental practice which is symptomatic of where much of Canadian dentistry is headed: most of the patients were over 60 many had root caries all, reportedly, had dental insurance even into retirement. both dentists were part-time, and my guess, so too were the hygienists. We talked about what patients prefer … Read more
Please join us as we kick off AIDSbeat this year. We will be opening the night at 8pm. Here are a couple of videos from last year: SoSumi – Foo Fighters (Cover) SoSumi (Pearl Jam Cover) Click below for tickets and don’t forget to check off that you are supporting “SoSumi”. For more information, please … Read more
Green Shield Canada announced recently that it was bringing the concept of wellness to Canada. According to this insurer’s announcement: “The company hopes to redefine the concept of wellness by utilizing analytics to target employee populations diagnosed with chronic disease and, even more proactive, reach out to those plan members at the highest risk of … Read more
The National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council Annual Status Report was released July 1. The report highlights advancement in implementing the National Prevention Strategy (NPS) and reaching its goal of increasing the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life.2 The NPS pictures a prevention-oriented society where all segments recognize … Read more
How do you rank? After decades of coaching thousands of dental practices in North America to be their best, via patient retention, new patient growth and case acceptance, I have created the following list of characteristics that patients value most, in order of importance, about their dental experience. These characteristics are essential for patient loyalty, … Read more
This past week I met with several dental teams and asked them about the “3 Ds” which now characterize their patient caseloads: Do you have diabetic patients? Do you have patients on diuretics? Do you have patients with a dry mouth? In all meetings, there was instant agreement that many patients have one or more … Read more
MADISON, Wis. – Improve your own health while restoring the smile of someone in need: Join the Virtual Race for Smiles, which benefits the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Charitable Foundation’s (AACDCF) Give Back a Smile (GBAS) program. GBAS restores the smiles and lives of those who have suffered dental injuries from intimate partner, family, … Read more
Recently, National Public Radio featured a story on stress felt by American adults. It featured a survey by the Harvard School of Public Health which found that 1 in 4 had a great deal of stress in the previous month, and 1 in 2 in the past year. How is this stress manifest? Look at … Read more
The Canadian Lung Association reports that 10% of Canadians have lung disease or COPD. Half of these 3 million Canadians have a formal diagnosis, the others simply struggle on with difficulty breathing. A growing number of studies have connected oral health to lung function. But only recently has there been a prospective controlled study to … Read more
The most recent data on the prevalence of Americans for high blood pressure show that about 1 in 3 are hypertensive at mid-life, and over age 60, 2 out of 3 are. A preferred first-line method to manage blood pressure is diuretics. In this context, a recent Japanese study of institutionalized seniors found that the … Read more
A 4-year study of older Japanese men and women living in their homes has connected the number of root caries to systemic inflammation. Refer to Figure 1. This study also found a significant association between root caries and irregular heartbeat, allowing for other confounding variables. So what? What should the dental team do with this … Read more
Nutrition is vital to a person’s oral health — and therefore to their overall health. Collaboration between registered dietitian nutritionists, dietetic technicians, registered and oral health-care professionals is recommended for health promotion, disease prevention and intervention, according to a new practice paper published by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The practice paper “Oral Health … Read more
If you are like most dental office leaders, you have had times when you thought it would be impossible to get your team members on the same page with an idea, system, or process. Why is it so difficult? You have told them what you want or how you would like something done, right? You … Read more
A common practice after dental surgery or to deal with dental pain, is to do just what the title of this blog says. Extra-strength Tylenol in my medicine cabinet contains 500 mg of acetaminophen per caplet. 6 of these pills means a daily dose of 3,000 mg of acetaminophen. That is close to the new … Read more
Partners in Complete Health today announced its film “Say Ahh,” the world’s first documentary on oral health, is now available to the public, including non-dental and non-medical communities. Featuring doctors, patients and a few minor miracles, “Say Ahh” takes an informative, patient-friendly approach to explaining the oral-systemic connection and its impact on the health and … Read more