Loyalty Builds Your Practice Our survey results show that the main reason patients remain loyal to their dentist is because they trust them. This proves just how important it is to build strong relationships with patients. The best way to form a solid relationship is by being dependable in your clinical skills and taking the … Read more
2020 brought tremendous change, hardship, and loss for a great many of us. We were catapulted out of our comfort zones as we had to adjust to the new normal. With a new year around the corner, we have a unique opportunity to recognize how unprepared we may have been to handle an abrupt change … Read more
2/3 NEW OWNER POCKETBOOK – A Three Part Series In this uncertain time of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still clinics being sold and bought. Credit is still being issued and some transactions are expedited while others are stalling. When it comes to assessing a business, most rely on a broker’s appraisal document. Although it … Read more
I know we are all getting tired of talking about COVID-19, however, COVID-19 is here. COVID-19 is putting a wrench in the perfect plans we had set out when 2020 started. So, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to sit in the corner and lick your wounds, or are you … Read more
As the late poet Maya Angelou once said, “If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.” Angelou’s inspiring quote couldn’t be more relevant than it is now. Clarity on your practice’s past and present, including trends, is necessary to boost your bottom line. When business leaders lack this clarity, … Read more
Welland Smiles Dentistry, located in Welland, Ontario, is a 2900-square-foot space offering patients an eight-operatory dental office that is both functional and calming. One of the main goals of Welland Smiles Dentistry is to create a light and welcoming environment for patients visiting their new location. This is achieved by the abundance of natural light … Read more
Where do you see your practice – and yourself professionally – in 12 months? What about in three years? What are your longterm business goals, and are you on track to achieve them? You probably could have answered those questions easily a few months ago. Then COVID-19 struck, and everything changed. Your previous projections and … Read more
What can be said for 2020? Dentistry was completely shut down and no one was prepared. The dental industry had to fight for its life and for survival. On March 15, we closed our office and expected to create a plan to open within two weeks. We experienced pain from revenue cessation, overhead continuation, lack … Read more
By now you would have seen or heard of the new classification of periodontal and peri-implant diseases, which replaced the previous (1999) classification system and addressed most of its limitations. Research indicates that 80% of North American adults have some form of periodontal disease, while evidence also indicates that there is a link between oral … Read more
As we try and get used to our new normal, we need to look for ways to make our days run more smoothly and more efficiently. We need to implement processes to make our days run a little easier in the midst of so much emotion, frustration and fatigue. Figuring out a way to try … Read more
As a clinical dental hygienist for 30+ years, it pains me to say this, but exceptional hygiene departments are not the norm in the dental industry. What do I mean by exceptional? I mean utilizing “best practices” in the treatment of periodontal disease resulting in optimized client outcomes (less than or equal to 3mm PD … Read more
The hygienist plays such an integral role in the overall success of our relationship with our patients. From the work we provide directly with the patient, to the role we as hygienists play in passing the baton of goodwill to our doctors or business team members, how we execute each step of our hygiene appointments … Read more
Welcome back to part three of my article series, where did we leave off? In 2019, I shared the first steps that should be considered when opening a practice, a little sneak peek into the world of @Toothlife.Irene and the vision of my dream dental practice and studio. As a dental hygienist in the beaches … Read more
An Updated Look at Options for Setting Our Patients at Ease Two of the main culprits that prevent our patients from seeking care are fear and anxiety. Dentophobia (or odontophobia) is defined as “the extreme fear of going to the dentist”.1 True phobias, stronger versions of the common fear, require different and sometimes more intensive … Read more
I had virtual coffee with my former classmate last week. We’ve been having coffee nearly every month since we graduated from dental hygiene school together in 2007. We chat about dental hygiene, what’s new in our offices, cool things we’ve read, the weather, politics, the most recent Zara sales, and let’s face it, Facebook group … Read more
In March 2020, as Corona virus cases grew rapidly, it was advised that routine, non-essential oral health care be delayed until there had been sufficient reduction in COVID-19 transmission rates. What followed was an almost complete global shut down of most sectors of our society. While these measures have been central to mitigating the spread … Read more
INTRODUCTION The goal of modern dentistry is to restore the patient to normal contour, function, comfort, esthetics, speech, and health, whether by removing caries from a tooth or replacing several teeth. What makes implant dentistry unique is the ability to achieve this goal, regardless of the atrophy, disease, or injury of the stomatognathic system. However, … Read more
Dental wear is a general term that can be used to describe the surface loss of dental hard tissues from causes other than dental caries, trauma or as a result of developmental disorders. It is a normal physiological process that is macroscopically irreversible; Lambrechts et al.1 estimated the normal vertical loss of enamel from physiological … Read more
Background: Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED) is a genetic condition characterized by abnormal development of two or more structures of the ectoderm. HED is the most common form of ectodermal dysplasia, and is characterised by the cardinal features of hypohidrosis (due to hypoplasia of sweat glands), hypotrichosis (sparseness of scalp and body hair) and oligodontia. Four … Read more
Introduction Aesthetic dilemmas created by congenitally missing teeth in the maxillary anterior segment pose a challenge for dentists not only in achieving harmony between hard and soft tissues but also in producing a conservative and functional result. Maxillary lateral incisors and first premolars are among the most common congenitally missing teeth.1,2 The first step in … Read more