What follows are excerpts from popular article in a leading international newspaper called the Guardian. This article shows how and why your older patients are now more informed about their oral health, and why they say “overall health” is their primary reason they sit in your waiting room. “In the past decade, there has been … Read more
Your dental website will probably have a call-to-action to encourage visitors to fill a form, leave a comment, or call up your office for an inquiry or appointment. You can try to maximize visitor response in your favor, if you website fulfills the following pre-requisites. User-friendly Web Design Create an efficient and hassle-free user experience … Read more
“5 Success Factors To Better Compete” For many dental offices, the business year correlates to the calendar year. Here we are at Q4 and it’s time to be strategizing and executing on business growth initiatives to finish the year strong, while also establishing momentum for a fast start in 2016. If attracting more new patients … Read more
Be aware of the little habits that make a big difference.. Below are some common reasons that dental practices run behind. Identify if any apply to your practice and then discuss at the next team meeting to brainstorm solutions. 1. Starting late at the beginning of the day 2. Don’t audit charts prior to the … Read more
As many as 1 in 4 older Canadians are diabetic, or in danger of this chronic disease. Likewise, more than 1 in 4 older Canadians have high blood pressure. The overlap of these conditions is common and makes for a lot of high risk adults sitting in the dental waiting room. A new study reports … Read more
Essentially, we don’t know which hygiene procedure should be done first, nor for that matter, whether flossing has any preventive effect on dental decay. Read this quick review by the New York Times about the limited evidence to support flossing. So why do we recommend it, and even gently nag our patients about flossing? There … Read more
Move great ideas forward….. Ever have a great idea bubbling in your brain that you share with one or two colleagues throughout the day? An idea to minimize tasks, bring new patients to your practice or how to save on expenses? Sharing your idea with one or two people usually means that’s as far as … Read more
A survey about how Americans prefer to access their healthcare providers shows a gap between what the community wants and what the healthcare providers offer. Most patients want digital access to healthcare advice,says this survey: We communicate with our friends, our families and our coworkers via email and Facebook, and apparently, most Americans also wish … Read more
What are the top 10 tips? Tip #1: Act as a role model and inspire employees to identify what they are passionate about at work. Then provide them with some projects in their area of passion or interest. A happy employee is a motivated employee! Tip #2: Clearly define the organization’s vision, mission and strategy … Read more
This may be habit forming … I have to share the prescription I received last week from my medical doctor upon completion of my annual physical examination. My doctor stated that he was going prescribe a rare and unique script for me that I will be required to adhere to for the remainder of my … Read more
A new study which followed mortality of young Seniors over 5 years, found a significant predictor of death was the number of teeth. Even when allowing for other risk factors for mortality (gender, BMI, serum albumin level, current smoking status, education, number of family members living together, history of chronic disease), the risk of all-cause … Read more
Green Shield Canada, our fourth largest administrator of dental claims, has just published the list of the most commonly prescribed medications for Canadians between ages 50 and 70. These are listed below in terms of number of prescriptions. Note that 4 are for blood pressure and the most common drug is for mood disorders. Combining … Read more
A Scottish study of over 11,000 adults tracked over 8 years found that frequent brushing of the teeth significantly lowered the risks of having a coronary event (e.g. heart attack). This association allowed for other risk factors for heart disease such as socio-economic status, obesity and family history. Note that participants who did not brush … Read more
Ensure patient confidence with this post-hygiene system… EVERY DENTIST HAS experienced it: a choppy hygiene report that createschaos, patient confusion and a ripple effect of schedule delays. When it becomes chronic, it has a deleterious effect on your entire operation. How to fix this common but potentially dire problem? As with just about every aspect … Read more
Treatment of acute dental problems in the Emergency Department of hospitals has been growing relentlessly in Canada and the US for several years. A new study in Health Affairs shows that dental visits are impacted by government coverage of dental services for those on low income. Withdrawal of such dental coverage results in a higher … Read more
The impact of today’s technology on your business… Social Networking is the dialogue used by one or all of the above to converse, communicate and contribute online. Social networking can re-connect someone with their past, update today’s world on your daily events, share opinions, experiences and insights to a virtual friendship that can reach many … Read more
This (shocking) statistic was recently released by the US CDC. How does this level of under-treatment compare to untreated diabetes or hypertension, 2 other prevalent chronic conditions in America? A study published in 2011 found that 2.4% of American diabetics were untreated. A study published in Hypertension in 1995 reported that about 30% of American … Read more
Andre Picard, the Globe’s healthcare columnist, recently wrote an article on the aging population’s impact on overall Canadian healthcare. But what about the impact of the aging Boomers on the dental care system? Many of you will already know — the older the patient, the less likely they are regular attenders and the more likely … Read more