February 8th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Practice Management | Permalink | No Comments
Dentists rely heavily on the advice of colleagues in making dental equipment purchases, found a survey of UK dentists.
Two out of three dentist respondents said that peer recommendation was a major factor in making purchasing decisions.
February 8th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Insurance | Permalink | 1 Comment
California regulators are going after dental health plans that claim to offer big benefits but deliver very little.
There have been over 150 consumer complaints in California about these plans over the last four years. Though the state requires discount dental plans to be licensed, enforcement has been spotty. The state is now seeking new licensing requirements.
February 8th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Videos | Permalink | No Comments
Dentists love Invisalign, we found in this survey. Three quarters of general dentists say they offer Invisalign braces to their patients.
“You are crazy not to offer this service," advised one doctor. "As a dentist, we do simple cases and refer out to an orthodontist the complex cases. There are lots of dental CE opportunities to beef up your skill sets."
February 2nd, 2010 | Jim Du Molin | Dental Editorials, Dental Marketing | Permalink | 7 Comments
Dentists: why should you care about “Alternative” dental approaches? Because large segments of your dental market care. In these tough economic times, it pays to know enough about these alternatives to be able to discuss them intelligently when patients ask questions about them. From a dental marketing point of view, it is imperative that you treat these questions with respect.
Do you know exactly what holistic dentistry is? How about “biological dentistry”? What about things like dental homeopathic medicine, Dental Somatic Integration™, and mercury chelation therapy?
February 2nd, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Surveys | Permalink | 2 Comments
Dentists shouldn't have to retire just because they've reached a certain age, say doctors. This survey found only 1 dentist in 10 supporting a mandatory retirement age for dentists.
A mandatory dental retirement age was recently in the spotlight when the European Court of Justice ruled in favor of Germany’s law mandating retirement for dentists and firefighters past a certain age, finding it does not constitute age discrimination. [Read more]
January 28th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Legal | Permalink | No Comments
A Florida woman recently had an inch-long dentist drill bit burr removed from her sinus after nearly a year.
When an oral surgeon removed two decayed teeth from the 35-year-old woman's mouth, he apparently did not notice that he had lost the drill bit.
January 28th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Surveys, Dentures | Permalink | No Comments
Dentists nearly always provide in-house denture services to their patients, this survey found.
Fully 94% of responding dentists say they do, while only 6% say they send false teeth patients out to a prosthodontist for care.
January 26th, 2010 | Jim Du Molin | Dental Editorials | Permalink | 1 Comment
Dentists, take note: if your dentist website contains "graphic" surgery photos, you're at risk of being blocked by Google Safe Search.
The owner of one dental website complains that the filter, designed to screen out pornographic or violent images, is blocking his images.
January 26th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Continuing Education, Dental Surveys | Permalink | 2 Comments
When it comes to continuing dental education, over half of dentists say they plan to do more clinical CE this year. The average dentist expects to complete over 50 hours of clinical dental CE in 2010.
Even in the present economic climate, dental marketing and management education is somewhat less important to dentists. Only about one in three dentists plans to do additional dental management and/or marketing CE this year.
January 24th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Legal, Practice Management | Permalink | 1 Comment
The largest dental management company in the US is paying $24 million to settle claims of Medicaid fraud.
Forba Holdings LLC owns 68 "Small Smiles" dental clinics where pediatric dentists serve half a million low-income children in 22 states.
January 23rd, 2010 | Julie Frey | Braces | Permalink | 1 Comment
Dental braces for adults have become increasingly popular, new numbers from the UK suggest.
However, these "numbers" are in fact based on a five-fold increase in the adult braces patients of a single orthodontic practice.
January 22nd, 2010 | Julie Frey | Cosmetic Dentistry, Dental Videos | Permalink | No Comments
Teeth whitening is quite popular, but the average dentist says it doesn't necessarily lead to more cosmetic dentistry.
This survey found that less than half of teeth bleaching patients go on to get additional work from their cosmetic dentist.
January 19th, 2010 | Jim Du Molin | Dental Editorials, Dental Embezzlement | Permalink | 8 Comments
Dentist office embezzlement is a major issue at dental practices, but most dentists don't even realize how widespread the problem of dental embezzlement is.
I'm a total cynic when it comes to dentists being embezzled. I've spent over 20 years uncovering over 100 thefts. I'm fully convinced that it happens all the time. (In fact, one of my surveys found that most dentists report being embezzled.)
January 19th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Surveys, Sedation Dentistry | Permalink | No Comments
Many patients who might see a sedation dentist are avoiding sedation dentistry for less expensive options, found this survey. Two out of three dentists say the recession has led to a decrease in demand for sleep dentistry.
This is especially true of oral conscious sedation, but also holds true for IV sedation.
January 19th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Videos | Permalink | 1 Comment
When it comes to dental marketing, more dentists increase spending during hard times than cut spending on dental practice marketing, this survey found.
“It’s a good idea to keep your name out there. An economic downturn does not mean people will not need dental implants and dental care!” advised one dentist.
January 19th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental News | Permalink | No Comments
To combat binge drinking, the UK will crack down on bars and ban drinking games such as "the dentist's chair."
It's very different from the dentist's chair at your office… this one is a drinking game that involves other people pouring alcohol straight down your throat.
January 19th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental News | Permalink | No Comments
A dentist who tricked patients into getting expensive and unnecessary dental work has been banned from practice by UK's General Dental Council.
Dr. Constantine Saridakis had previously paid a hefty amount for unneeded dental fillings performed before 2007. He was suspended from treating NHS patients in 2008, but did anyway, altering patient records to cover it up.
January 12th, 2010 | Jim Du Molin | Dental Editorials | Permalink | No Comments
Guess what Suzanne and I got from one of our team members this holiday season?
Dental-themed wine glass charms! What a classy dental novelty gift. "No, darling, your Merlot is in the glass with the tooth charm… The dental floss charm is my Cabernet."
January 12th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Surveys | Permalink | 1 Comment
More than half of dentists surveyed (55%) said they have noticed more patients opting for dentures and/or dental bridges over dental implants as a result of the recession.
Here's what dentists have to say about how the economy affects dental implant treatment:
January 12th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental News | Permalink | 1 Comment
Lucky for Utah dentists, a federal agency has vetoed Utah's plan to slash Medicaid payments to dentists.
While the state's dentists received a one-time 24% pay raise in 2008, Utah lawmakers recently reversed that. (And the dentists didn't get their 4.5% cost-of-living raise either.)
January 12th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Videos, The Wealthy Dentist | Permalink | 1 Comment
Two of three dentists say they avoid criticizing their colleagues’ work. Is this professional courtesy? A high ethical standard? Deep-seated fear of lawyers?
"There are many factors out of the doctor's control (we all know what those are)," said a periodontist, "and what comes around goes around."
January 5th, 2010 | Jim Du Molin | Dental Editorials | Permalink | 15 Comments
As we've been talking about dentists and health reform, I'm struck by how many dental practices donate dental care to patients in need. As one dentist pointed out:
January 5th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Surveys, Practice Management | Permalink | 3 Comments
Our survey found the average annual compensation for a dental associate to be about $160,000.
Of the dentists in our survey with an associate, one in three pay a salary. The other two-thirds pay a percentage, with the average associate payment being 33% of collections.
January 5th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental News | Permalink | No Comments
It turns out that dental health care reform isn't just an issue in the USA…
Included in the Tory Reform Plan For The NHS is a provision that would allow UK dentists to charge patients for missed dentist appointments.
January 5th, 2010 | Julie Frey | Dental Videos | Permalink | 3 Comments
Four out of five US dentists want one national dental license that would let them practice dentistry in all 50 states.
"I always thought that restraint of trade was against the law," griped one orthodontist.
