DENTISTRY ARTICLES

The goal of The Practice Solution Magazine is to provide practice owners with practice management information that will assist them in achieving success.

Office Manager Purpose

This article will cover what to do once you have decided to hire a new staff member. The first thing to do is have them complete all appropriate paperwork. This would include…

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Putting New Employees on the Job

This article will cover what to do once you have decided to hire a new staff member. The first thing to do is have them complete all appropriate paperwork. This would include…

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What is Your Responsibility to Your Staff?

What is Your Responsibility to Your Staff?

Just as your staff has responsibilities to you and your practice, you likewise have several responsibilities to your practice and staff.

The complexity of active leadership can be best understood by breaking it down into its essential and integral parts…

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Did you hire the wrong person?

A recent survey conducted with practice owners across the US revealed that the number-one management problem they have is personnel issues. Among the issues mentioned by hundreds of owners surveyed were…

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The Responsibilities of Managers and Staff

Dealing with staff can often be a confusing and complex subject.  Certainly if a staff member was overtly unwilling, refusing to do what was expected, gossiping, constantly complaining and so on, this is a staff member you wouldn’t tolerate. On the other hand…

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Screening Applicants

Screening Applicants

Finding a new employee is a very time consuming process. To consolidate efforts and streamline the initial stage of the interview and selection process, have all of the applicants who meet the basic criteria…

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Resolving Negativity in Your Office

Since dealing with staff bickering and personality conflicts can be a major source of stress in an office, knowing how to deal with it can be extremely useful. When you let employee situations linger too long…

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How to Handle Confrontation With Your Staff

A very common confession I hear when I analyze practices is that the executive isn’t good with confrontation and thus lets things slide when they shouldn’t.  I want to address this issue for a number of reasons:

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Presenting Treatment Plans – the Do’s and Don’ts

Proper treatment-plan presentation can boom your practice, give your patients the best quality of care and can give you the ability to demonstrate how much you care for your patients. It can also generate more referrals from happy patients and help the practice to grow to its fullest.

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Discussing Payment: How to be Both Polite and Effective

Discussing Payment: How to be Both Polite and Effective

You should always assume that a patient/client can afford the recommended treatment when discussing payment with him. Don’t be shy, embarrassed or apologetic about the cost of your services. This can give the appearance that the treatment isn’t worth the fee being charged…

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Leadership Attributes and Management Qualities

Leadership Attributes and Management Qualities

As a practice owner, you should be asking yourself the following questions objectively:

Am I a good leader?
Do I run from conflict?
Am I able to motivate my staff?
Is my office harmonious or is it filled with conflict?
Does my staff “own” their jobs, or do they just punch in and out?
Do I ever feel that my staff is “holding me hostage”?
Am I running my practice? …or is my practice running me?

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What Are the Four Components of Great Service?

What Are the Four Components of Great Service?

There are Four Components of Great Service. Great service to your patients/clients is one of the most important factors required to build a successful and thriving practice. Under the heading of great service, you will find the following key components…

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A Functioning Office Manager

A Functioning Office Manager

The primary function of the office manager is to accomplish the goals and purposes of the practice as determined by the owner of the practice. The OM should assist the owner in developing policies that forward the purpose of the business as a whole…

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How to Structure a Bonus Plan in a Private Practice

It is very wise to have a bonus plan for staff in operation in your office. If you reward staff for increasing their production and the production of the practice, they will naturally want to continue to do that, and the whole staff will tend to operate much more as a team.

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12 Steps to Collect Past Due Accounts

Collecting on past due accounts is a function that the Accounts Manager will find herself/himself having to do. Any contact with a patient/client, even under these circumstances, should be…

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The 6 Recovery Strategies for Dealing With the Pandemic

COVID-19 has changed the healthcare profession forever, with practice owners feeling exposed to threats within and outside the clinic. The good news is that, with the right strategies, you can fly past competitors whose slow response time is crippling their ability to deal with issues as they arise.

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Covid-19 and it’s economic impact on private practices

Covid-19 and it’s economic impact on private practices

Hello, This is Ken DeRouchie, the editor of The Practice Solution Magazine. On March 11th, I decided that The Practice Solution Magazine needed to shift its focus to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is effecting private practice. This is still an ongoing research...

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Dealing with a Problem Employee

Dealing with a Problem Employee

I received an email from a doctor having a staff problem. I replied to her and thought this might benefit some other people out there. Please see our discussion below: Hi Ken, As an employer, how can you tell your employee to stop his/her: gum smacking, not to laugh...

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Generating New Patients by Using Surveys

Generating New Patients by Using Surveys

How do you market for new patients in a cost efficient and effective manner? Starting with internal marketing is always the best approach­, as it produces the most cost effective return, which is of utmost importance in managing a practice. Surveys are one method of...

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Optimize Your Marketing

Optimize Your Marketing

In today’s economic climate a great deal can be said for the benefits of marketing effectively. There are many mediums for marketing a practice – referrals from existing patients/clients are normally the best and most cost effective means of getting new...

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How Healthcare Marketing Has Changed During COVID

Marketing and Promotion Ideas for Your Practice

In my nearly 23 years of delivering practice management training and consulting, I’ve found that of all of the marketing techniques available, properly asking for referrals is easily one of the most useful marketing and promotional ideas for your practice. There are...

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Proper Case Presentation and Better Case Acceptance

Proper Case Presentation and Better Case Acceptance

We have found that doctors can lose thousands of dollars per month because they are unaware of some of the principles associated with proper case presentation and case acceptance. In addition, sometimes the best treatment planning and case presentation doesn’t result...

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Recruiting New Employees

Recruiting New Employees

Who, what, when, where and how: It is a 100% certainty that with any practice you will need new employees at some point in time, either to replace employees who leave or to help the practice grow. Where do you find the type of people you want to work with, people that...

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The Key to Effective Marketing: Surveys

The Key to Effective Marketing: Surveys

Surveys can save you time and wasted effort. By properly utilizing surveys, you will not be shooting in the dark when you implement a new idea. You will not be left wondering why people are not coming back to your practice. You will know what your public needs and...

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Public Relations and Social Responsibility

Public Relations and Social Responsibility

This article concerns the benefits of getting out of the office and getting actively involved in your community. Whether it’s sponsoring your local little league team, encouraging your area’s children’s museum to do an eye screening or “Celebration of Smiles”...

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Get Your Promotion Organized: A Promotion and Marketing Calendar – Part 1

How to Set Reminders for Continual Services (Recall)

Whether you are using an automatic reminder system, or it is someone's job function to send out reminders; or a combination of both. The below information will be highly beneficial to increase your appointments scheduled, reactivating clients/patients and having them...

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How The Practice Solution Works

Here is a video that we have put together explaining how The Practice Solution works and how wego about compiling practice management articles and resources for our readers.As you can see, everything that we do depends on the help and cooperation of practice owners...

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Termination Series:Guidelines to Follow When Terminating

Termination Series:

Guidelines to Follow When Terminating

This article is a continuation of our termination series. To view the previous article, click here. This series will go over how a termination decision should be made, how the organization handles problems before making a termination and how to convey the news for a...

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Two Steps You Must Do Prior to a Successful Marketing Campaign

Marketing: Why are Surveys Important to Your Practice?

Are you as confident in your ability to get a steady flow of new patients into your practice as you are in your ability to provide high quality technical care? You should know that successful marketing has a technology that, when applied correctly, will get results...

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How to take ownership of your Google+ and Yelp pages

How to take ownership of your Google+ and Yelp pages Over the past few months we’ve done several articles about consumer reviews and their importance. A question I often get asked has to do with claiming one’s business page in Google+ and Yelp. Many practice owners...

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The Truth About Referral Marketing

The Truth About Referral Marketing In my nearly 23 years of delivering practice management training and consulting, I’ve found that of all of the marketing techniques available, properly asking for referrals is easily the most useful. There are several reasons for...

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Getting Your Staff on the Same Page

Getting Your Staff on the Same Page

  This article is a continuation of Critical Practice Foundations. If you haven’t done so yet, we recommend reading the first article to get a better context. The Staff Meeting One very important activity you, as the owner, should implement is a...

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Critical Practice Foundations

Most doctors, when starting their practices, miss some of the basic actions that should be established prior to opening. An owner of a healthcare practice should always, as a first step, work out the following basics:

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Real Office Policy Examples and Checklist

Below is a list of items that should be included in any basic office policy or policies: Patient Relations Sexual Harassment Orientation and Training Work Hours Fringe Benefits Solicitation Equal Opportunity Statement Terms of At-Will Employment...

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Forming Office Policy

All doctors are extremely well trained in their profession. Unfortunately, very few doctors are trained in business or employee handbook policy creation and their appropriate implementation.

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Internal and External Marketing

Internal and External Marketing

There are two areas in a practice that are targeted when marketing your practice. The first is internal; the second is external. “Internal” deals with dissemination and promotion within your practice and to already-established patients. It includes things such as:

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Guest column: Coping With Conflict – Part Two

A Layperson’s guide to resolving conflict in the office By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA President, American Dental Company Part two in a series of two articles In last issue’s article, we discussed models and tenets used to resolve conflict. In this part, I’ll go over the...

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Case for Change in Dental Education Curricula

The American Dental Education Association’s (ADEA) Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education (ADEA CCI) was created to serve as a focal meeting place where dental educators and administrators, organized dentistry, and the licensure, accreditation, and...

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Music, Physics, A Sailboat and Dentistry

Profile: Dr. David Matthews Practice: David R. Matthews Dental Group, LLC Location: Eugene, Oregon Music, Physics, A Sailboat and Dentistry A music teacher with a penchant for physics, Dr. Dave Matthews changed careers after ten years of teaching music to become a...

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Saliva as a Diagnostic Tool for Periodontal Disease

A University of Kentucky research study could help change the diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease. An article, “Salivary Biomarkers of Existing Periodontal Disease,” discusses the importance of saliva and its potential to be a diagnostic tool. The study was...

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Claims Against Dental Amalgam Lack Scientific Evidence

Claims Against Dental Amalgam Lack Scientific Evidence

PANEL REPORT FINDS HEALTH CLAIMS AGAINST DENTAL AMALGAM LACK SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE The American Dental Association recently announced that a review of seven years worth of scientific studies concludes there is insufficient evidence “of a link between dental mercury and...

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Guidelines Change for Preventive Antibiotics

Guidelines Change for Preventive Antibiotics Before Dental Work According to new guidelines, far fewer people need preventive antibiotics before dental procedures than previously recommended, according to a recent issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource. The use of...

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When the Doctor is Away

How you keep the office running If you as the doctor/owner are planning to be away from the office – even for a day or two – the staff has some free time, too. The doctor/owner or office manager can make lists of things that need to be done. Make sure that if your...

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Are Lasers the Wave-Light of the Future?

Are Lasers the Wave-Light of the Future?

New applications and lower prices might allow lasers to replace traditional dental tools CHICAGO (Academy of General Dentistry) -Would you spend more than $40,000 on equipment that would allow you to complete oral surgeries with virtually no pain or blood and a vastly...

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Music, Physics, A Sailboat and Dentistry

Profile: Dr. David Matthews Practice: David R. Matthews Dental Group, LLC Location: Eugene, Oregon Music, Physics, A Sailboat and Dentistry A music teacher with a penchant for physics, Dr. Dave Matthews changed careers after ten years of teaching music to become a...

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Don’t Let Your Mouth Pollute Your Clean Heart

Don’t Let Your Mouth Pollute Your Clean Heart

Levels of Bacteria in Plaque Beneath the Gum Line May Increase Risk for Heart Attacks CHICAGO (American Academy of Periodontology) -Researchers have found evidence that the amount of bacteria in subgingival plaques, the deep plaques in periodontal pockets and around...

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Dental Center Takes a 900-Mile Detour for Disaster Relief

American Dental Association and Henry Schein Send ‘Tomorrow’s Dental Office – Today!’ to Help Mississippi Gulf Coast Residents; State-of-the-Art Dental Treatment Center Takes a 900-Mile Detour for Disaster Relief Answering the request of the Mississippi Department of...

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Guest Column: Infection control By Barry Levy, DDS

Guest Column: Infection control By Barry Levy, DDS

In the last issue of Solutions, I discussed the problems with “minimum standards” of infection control and how the dental practice act in California mandated “sterile gloves” for surgical procedures that involve soft tissue or bone. This is a situation that applies to...

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The Benefits of Regular Practice Newsletters

Marketing is a vital part of the management of any business, whether a health care practice or any business in general. Implementing successful marketing actions that help increase the number of new patients/clients as well as help facilitate the retention of existing...

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Letter to the Editor – Sleep Medicine

Letter to the Editor By David E Lawler, DDS, D. ABDSM Bloomington, IN Hello, This week, I had the pleasure of being interviewed for an article in The Practice Solution Magazine by one of your research staff. As a result of this interview, I want to encourage you to...

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Cannabis Indicated as Possible Risk for Gum Disease

Cannabis Indicated as Possible Risk for Gum Disease in Young People Newswise – Young people who are heavy smokers of cannabis may be putting themselves at significant risk for periodontal disease, according to new research. The study, published in the Feb. 6 issue of...

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Economic Fears Can Affect Dental Care

Newswise – Regular checkups and cleaning can save money in the end by heading off problems early. Nevertheless, when times get tough and people start losing their jobs, preventive dental care can be one of the first things to go. However, the correlation between...

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Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders

Letter to the Editor By David E Lawler, DDS, D. ABDSM Bloomington, IN Hello, This week, I had the pleasure of being interviewed for an article in The Practice Solution Magazine by one of your research staff. As a result of this interview, I want to encourage you to...

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Search Engine Marketing for Practices

(Article 2 of 4 Part Series) By Lisa Thayer, GoldfishNetwork.com “Spiders and crawlers and bots…oh my!” – Two views of the same website One of the most challenging aspects of optimizing a website is that there are two audiences to appeal to: 1) standard website users...

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Scientists Discover How Maternal Smoking

Can Cause Cleft Lip and Palate Scientists supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the National Institutes of Health, report that women who smoke during pregnancy and carry a fetus whose DNA lacks both copies of a gene...

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Periodontal Diseases Are Blind to Age

Two studies suggest that periodontal diseases should be a concern to women of all ages Two studies in a recent issue of the Journal of Periodontology (JOP) suggest that periodontal diseases are a threat to women of all ages due to hormonal fluctuations that occur at...

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Root Canals Just as Effective as Dental Implants

Dentists Emphasize Saving Natural Teeth and Patient-Specific Considerations For patients torn between the best way to treat a compromised tooth, the choice just got clearer. A recent systematic review comparing two of the most common treatment options – root canals...

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THE GOVERNMENT HELPS OUT ON NEW EQUIPMENT PURCHASES

Taking Advantage of the IRS Section 179 Write-Off Written by Brad Beck, Vice President Bank of America Practice Solutions What did you think the chances were that a banker would not start anything that is printed on paper without a disclaimer? Well if you took the...

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Extending Credit

Tips to Control Your Accounts Receivable Following are some guidelines to assist you in determining to whom you wish to extend credit and how to go about collecting on those accounts. * Assess the patient/client’s credit worthiness before extending any sort of credit....

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Employers Pay High Price for Vision Disorders

Uncorrected Vision Problems Contribute to Decreased Employee Performance Vision disorders carry a hefty price tag for employers and result in a marked decrease in productivity costing businesses an estimated $8 billion annually, according to a new report released by...

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Cracking the Root of Tooth Strength

After years of biting and chewing, how are human teeth able to remain intact and functional? A team of researchers from The George Washington University and other international scholars have discovered several features in enamel—the outermost tooth tissue—that...

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Guest Column: The Business Sense of Dentistry

Profile of Dr. Vincent Dolce, DMD By Charles Friedman As a National Geographic documentary producer, I have had the opportunity to see the world, weave between cultures, and meet many extraordinary individuals. Currently I am working on a documentary for the Florida...

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Half of General Dentists Placing Dental Implants

The Wealthy Dentist Survey Results Half of general dentists offer their patients surgical dental implants, according to a survey conducted by The Wealthy Dentist. On the other hand, fully four out of five specialists place implants. Dental implants are an essential...

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Surgeon Helps Volunteer Group Reach 20-year Milestone

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon Helps Volunteer Group Reach 20-year Milestone When oral and maxillofacial surgeon Louis K. Rafetto, DMD, traveled to Peru to donate his services last February, he became the 5,000th volunteer placement for Health Volunteers Overseas...

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Steroid Abuse Harms Gingival Tissues

Researchers found that using anabolic androgenic steroid is associated with gingival enlargement and may increase gingival index scores Researchers found that prolonged use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) is closely associated with significant levels of gingival...

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Fluoridated beverage consumption and dental fluorosis:

There’s a connection Fluoride is a mineral that protects against dental cavities; however, too much fluoride during tooth formation can lead to dental fluorosis, which is usually characterized by white streaks or splotches on the teeth. Fluoride is naturally present...

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Profile: Dr. Nancy Summer Lerch, DDS

Dentistry and Women’s Advocacy Practice: Center for Esthetic Dentistry Location: New Haven, Connecticut Dr. Nancy Summer Lerch is an evangelist for women in dentistry. “Being a woman in dentistry is a very great asset. Like any asset it’s something to be shared. It’s...

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Guest column: Dental Legal Issues

Is Fraud like Beauty, in the eye of the beholder? By Dr. Barry Levy, DDS In a case filed last year, a dentist has been criminally charged with fraud, because the dentist diagnosed decay in two teeth, using clinical skills and a DIAGNOdent (a fluorescent laser method...

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Guest column: Coping With Conflict

A Layperson’s guide to resolving conflict in the office By Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA President, American Dental Company Part one in a series of two articles Conflict is inevitable. As long as people possess the capacity for independent thought, there will be differences...

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OHSU discovers potential for treating craniofacial pain

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University’s (OHSU) School of Dentistry have uncovered an interaction between two proteins in the nerve cells that carry pain information from the head and neck to the brain. The finding could play a significant role in the...

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AGD Launches Dry Mouth Awareness Effort

Some Medication Warning Labels Are Tough to Swallow More than 32 million adults are at risk of dry mouth, or xerostomia, caused mainly by prescription and over-the-counter drug products. Dry mouth can lead to extensive decay, serious oral infections and make it...

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PROFILE: CRAIG SLACK, DDS

PRACTICE: CLINTONVILLE DENTAL LOCATION: CLINTONVILLE, OHIO How One Dentist Went From a Struggling New Practice to a Successful, Happy Life. “I spent seven months as an associate/slave and decided that was not how I was going to have a career in dentistry,” said Dr....

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Displaced Dentists, Hurricane Katrina and Reciprocity

By Barry Levy, DDS When the dental profession retains provincial ideas about how the profession is to be run and fails to address problems that exist, the idea of reciprocity between states in America becomes an issue that may slowly gain traction, but hasn’t been...

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Direct Reimbursement Plans: A trend waiting to happen

by Craig Beauchamp Direct Reimbursement Plans (DRP) may be the upcoming trend to provide for one’s dental care needs, while at the same time letting many dentists regain control of their profession and get the financial compensation they deserve for their work. The...

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Getting New Patients: A Practice Management Mantra

Doctors all over the country and the world are still trying to figure out, “How can I get more new patients?” The quest for new patients or customers is not indigenous to the medical professions. Every business is looking to find more people to buy their wares or sell...

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Guest Column: By Dr. Barry Levy DDS

DENTISTRY AT RISK: COMPLYING TO MINIMUM STANDARDS OF INFECTION CONTROL By: Dr. Barry Levy DDS If you are not aware of, or are not complying with minimum standards of infection control, you can be in for a rude awakening. While the below article addresses cases...

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Preferred Provider? by Dr. Charles S. Horn, III, DDS

Some months back, we did an interview concerning practice management with Dr. Charles S. Horn. At the end of that interview, Dr. Horn told us about a letter he had written concerning working with insurance companies. He asked if we would like to look at it and...

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