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
Imagine if you shopped at Walmart and there was only one size of sweater, one variety of milk, or when you went to buy cereal, all it carried was Corn Flakes.And you grumbled to yourself that you would like some prices more in keeping with your family’s budget and needs.That is the approach taken, by … Read more
The key to improving patient satisfaction…… People are porous. They tend to absorb and reflect the atmosphere and motions around them. According to Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, we experience approximately 20,000 individual moments in a waking day. Each moment may only last a few seconds, but each is important. Dr. John Gottman’s pioneer research … Read more
Most independent dental practitioners have their own practice websites, and chances are that you are one of them. Some dentists have installed customized software programs for more effective communication and data storage. Web based solutions and technologies have also evolved rapidly in recent years to provide improved storage, backup and access of data in comparison … Read more
American doctors will increasingly be paid according to the outcome of the healthcare services they deliver. Just seeing the patient will no longer be sufficient for payment by the insurer or Medicare/Medicaid. Rather, it is the results from medical services which matter. Recently, a panel of federal government and insurers released seven groups of measures, … Read more
Paradox = conflicting or contradictory trends. So what might be the paradox in dental services? On the one hand we have this movement to cosmetic care. A recent survey conducted by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry says that more and more dental practices are conducting this kind of care. 74% of respondents said they … Read more
The March 3, 2016 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine has a provocative article called “Uber’s message for healthcare”. The thrust of this article is summarized below by the Kaiser Foundation: “Unreliable service, inconvenience, uncomfortable surroundings, and high prices make customers unhappy, and given the opportunity, they will go elsewhere. Uber, Silicon Valley’s … Read more
Very recently, there have been 2 announcements in the US about training physicians and nurse practitioners to look after oral health problems. The first announcement emanated from the University of California at San Francisco and the latter announcement from Harvard and Northeastern Universities. Serious stuff. The reasons behind this development appear to be twofold: (a) … Read more
Discover the power of the right words……. The vocabulary you use plays a powerful role in whether your patients choose to accept the treatment they need. In Transitions Group’s experience with coaching hundreds of dental practices across North America, we have found these key phrases to be very valuable: We now know … Latest research … Read more
A new study reports that among American individuals newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a periodontal intervention is associated with lower total healthcare costs (-$1799), lower total medical costs excluding pharmacy costs (-$1577), and lower total type 2 diabetes-related healthcare costs (-$408). The study will be published in the next quarter so details are not … Read more
A new report shows that more user-pay has little influence on comparison shopping for medical care. Even with “skin in the game” via high-deductible health plans, Americans did not normally seek out cheaper medical services.Instead, they simply avoided shopping for medical care altogether, and in many cases, failed to get preventive care. Canadian insurers and … Read more
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine summarized various initiatives in the US to improve the delivery of cancer care by examining all procedures (including drugs) for: safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity. The thrust of this assessment is to improve treatment outcomes, to pay for those procedures and drugs which have … Read more
In his popular new book “Happy Gut,” Dr. Vincent Pedre argues that chronic health problems can often be traced to the digestive system and fixed by changing the microbes in our gut. An upset digestive system is, according to Dr. Pedre, an imbalance between the good and bad bugs in the gut, including bacteria, yeasts … Read more
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
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
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
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