A nice website with good articles is a great start to marketing your dental practice. However, in today’s multi-media, multi-platform world, that alone is not enough. You need a variety of content types, with video being one of the most important. Video is one of the most popular and fastest growing marketing mediums. In fact, … Read more
In our world that has rapidly changed over the past 18 months, we have had the choice to either evolve proactively, beyond all of the extreme changes, or we could become paralyzed, stuck and increasingly diminished by them. Today, confidence and focus are the most important human abilities. Without confidence and focus, embracing change and … Read more
Knowing what I know now, if I could travel back in time and talk to my former professional self—oh, the things I would tell her. With 16 years of experience as an RDH, it’s now been 5 years since I made the decision to become an independent dental hygienist and open my own stand-alone, storefront … Read more
The conditions created for the healthcare industry in 2020 have created substantial pressures for professionals within the industry—dental hygienists and other dental professionals included. A 2021 journal published in the BMC Journal of Systematic Reviews found that, globally, there is huge scope for dental hygienists feeling extra pressure—socially, professionally and ethically. The pressures put on hygienists are greater … Read more
Still confused about the 2018 AAP Periodontal classification. Never fear! The next few monthly columns will review some of the most important updates made to the industry’s global periodontal guidelines to help hygiene teams achieve the highest level of care. Once we have exhausted this topic we will move onto other questions about the process … Read more
In recent history, in situations when the world was facing global calamity, our leaders countered with great initiative and unflagging hope. The Lincolns, Churchills and Roosevelts rose to the challenges and overcame extreme odds. In the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China, hope, positivity and confidence have largely been absent. … Read more
While the telephone remains the most popular way for dental offices to communicate with patients, there is no denying that, as the result of many digital developments, the number of platforms to reach patients has grown. With so many options available – from email and texting to Facebook and Zoom – it’s difficult to decide … Read more
Esthetic Dilemma of the Gingival Margin The data is unambiguous; both porcelain and composite resin are biocompatible with the gingiva and well tolerated.1-3 The caveat is that composite tends to cause tissue irritation if it comes into intimate contact with the gingiva.4-6 This ultimately causes unesthetic gingival recession. Porcelain is less problematic, but plaque build-up … Read more
COVID-19 has raised new concerns about respiratory viral infections (RVI). This virus can reproduce within the cells that line the human respiratory tract and the resulting infections cause respiratory issues and may infect multiple other sites. At this time, there are more than 200 known viral strains that cause respiratory infection, including the coronavirus, influenza … Read more
Lips are defined as “either of two fleshy folds that surround the mouth in humans and many other vertebrates and are organs of human speech essential to certain articulations”1. Lips are unique oral structures, as individual as fingerprints, that play important roles in mastication and deglutition, sound articulation, facial expression and physiological protection. Lips are … Read more
Robotic guidance has enhanced and improved various surgical specialties and is now available to implant dentistry for both partially and fully edentulous patients through the Yomi platform developed by Neocis Inc. (Miami FL)1,2 Accuracy of implant placement has been shown to have a direct correlation with the prosthetic results.3 The Yomi platform provides visual, audio … Read more
When I discovered CAD/CAM technology more than 10 years ago, I was amazed at the technological world that I was entering. It was novel and it was creative; but it was also rather daunting. My student years had provided some abstract images of various scanners and milling machines that were available at that time, but … Read more
Background The exponential growth of digital technology in dentistry is inherently accompanied by a significant expansion of 2D and 3D dental image records. Traditional stone models are impractical to keep long-term due to storage volume and fragility. Comprehensive and accurate models offer an excellent record of the preoperative dentition for the complete restoration of a … Read more
It became painfully obvious to those of us practicing in the 1980s that those new-fangled “posterior” composites were just never going to handle like amalgam. For starters, composites cannot be “condensed” or “packed.” Ever since then, clinicians, academics, and manufacturers have sought to create or re-design the successful armamentarium for direct esthetic posterior restorations. Most … Read more
Practicing dentistry at a distance, utilizing instantaneous virtual mobile technology, was the stuff of science fiction just a few decades ago. We were taught in dental school that our capacity to diagnose disease and to perform dentistry relied entirely upon our hand instruments and our clinical abilities. Thus, the stereotype of the dentist holding a … Read more
It is vitally important to look past stereotypes and get into the real data about millennial behaviour that can inform how you interact with them as a potential customers and patients. Is your practice ready to meet this generation where they are? Mapping out this new patient journey is what keeps Paul Intlekofer, CEO of … Read more
According to the World Health Organization’s March 25th, 2020, report on oral health, dental caries remains the number one dental issue globally to this day. While we are seeing a decrease in dental caries in both fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities in Canada, there is still much work to be done. Dental decay occurs when the … Read more
I have been a dentist for 30 years but only practised for seven. I spent more than 20 years in the regulatory sector, and taught oral health professional students in six post-secondary institutions and medical students at two universities. I also have mental illness. After I was interviewed recently for a feature article in another … Read more
It happens daily. A dentist looking to practise is presented with an associate agreement. Meanwhile, another dentist, selling their practice, is presented with a purchase and sale agreement. Both agreements include a non-compete clause, which tries to restrict that dentist from practising within a certain geographic area (e.g. 5 km radius from the practice) and … Read more
Every dentist shudders when they think about it: You’re going through the mail for your practice and amidst junk mail and bills, there’s an envelope with the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) logo in the top left corner. It’s marked “PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.” You open it and are shocked to learn that … Read more