The Dentist's Network #47


	Prospective Patients New Technology Debunking Dental Myths

Sally McKenzie, CEO
McKenzie Management
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Do Patients Need a Back Door to Get Past the Front Line?

Here’s a common scenario: It’s the usual busy day in the dental practice. The phone is ringing. Patients are coming and going. There’s a cancellation or two, maybe an emergency, etc. As the doctor passes the front desk, he hears the business assistant wrapping up a conversation. “No, I’m sorry, we don’t.” “We don’t what? What don’t we do that someone wants to know about?” he wonders. Here’s what the doctor didn’t hear:

Business Assistant: Good morning, Dr. Stanton’s office. Anne speaking.
Caller: Hello. I was just calling to find out if the doctor is accepting new patients.
Anne: Yes, he is, although the schedule is pretty full right now.

Without even realizing it, Anne is sending a message to this prospective patient that she/he might not be welcome in the practice.

Caller: Do you offer any evening appointments?
Anne: No, I’m sorry; we don’t. (Silence.)

The caller waits for another option from Anne, but none is offered.

Caller: Ok, thank you. (Click.)

To the business assistant, this is just a routine inquiry—nothing special—and she doesn’t think much about it. She’s just answering the usual questions from a caller. True, the practice doesn’t offer evening appointments, but perhaps the practice offers appointments beginning at 7 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Or perhaps the practice sees new patients at a specific time of day, so that the doctor can spend quality time with the patient and is less likely to be interrupted. But Anne doesn’t offer possible alternatives or educate the patient on the benefits of the other options. She simply answers questions and moves on.

How many new patients are lost every month because your business employees are handling new patient calls as routine inquiries rather than potential sales opportunities? If ever there were a perfect occasion to sell the practice and the services offered, it’s when the prospective new patient calls your office. They are interested, ready and willing to learn more.

However, dental teams routinely underestimate the value of phone inquiries from potential new patients and doctors are paying mightily for it. A prospective patient wants to schedule an appointment but is told they’ll have to wait three, four, six months to get in. Forget it. You’ve lost her.

In other cases, the prospective patient calls and asks for information on a specific procedure, such as implants or veneers, as well as information about the doctor and the practice in general. The business assistant quickly jots down the prospective patient’s name and address and promises to mail the information ASAP.

As Soon As Possible, in many cases, is about three months later when the business assistant happens upon the scrap piece of paper with the note to send practice info to that prospective patient as well as a handful of others. Those new patients are long gone to another dentist.

All the superior dentistry you have to offer cannot make up for weak communication skills or a lack of follow through on the part of your staff. The experience that prospective new patients have when they call your office is the “make it or break it” opportunity. It doesn’t matter if the caller knows you personally. It doesn’t matter if they’ve heard you’re fantastic. If the front desk is too busy to take the time to make callers feel valued and welcome, if the material they request is never received, if they simply don’t get the impression that their investment in your practice will be appreciated, a prospective patient is not likely to bother making an appointment.

Pay attention to how calls are handled. Keep a list of the types of inquiries the practice is receiving and discuss how the office typically responds. If patients are requesting information that you don’t have readily available, establish a timeline to develop and/or purchase the necessary informational materials. Establish a protocol for handling all inquiries, including calls from new patients seeking appointments and calls from prospective patients seeking information about the doctor, the practice, procedures offered, etc.

Oftentimes, just raising the level of awareness and education among staff as to how to properly handle prospective patient calls can significantly improve how your practice is perceived, not to mention the positive impact it will have on your bottom line.

Sally McKenzie is CEO of McKenzie Management, a nationwide dental management, practice development and educational consulting firm. Working on-site with dentists since 1980, McKenzie Management provides knowledge, guidance and personalized systems that have propelled thousands of general and specialty practices to realize their potential. Sally can be reached directly at 1.877.777.6151.

Interested in speaking to Sally McKenzie about your management concerns? Email her at Sally@thedentistsnetwork.net.

Dr. Lorne Lavine
Dental Technology Consultants
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The Final Four

The modern dental practice continues to evolve at a very rapid pace. Many systems that were based on paper and film for close to a century are being replaced with digital counterparts. There are now computers in almost every office and a large percentage of offices are using digital radiography, intraoral cameras, digital cameras, and practice and image management software. Many have embraced the Internet to handle mundane chores such as confirming patient appointments and even scheduling online. In short, the concept of a “paperless” practice is very realistic and obtainable in 2008.

A review of these newer technologies shows that all of them were introduced to the dental market with very slow and sustained growth for 5–10 years before they became more popular. As with many businesses, dental practices are slow to adapt to change, and dentists want to be assured that investments they make in new technology will show a positive return on that investment. Although some new technologies have dubious value, there are currently four that were introduced over the past few years that I feel will be of great benefit to dental offices in the near future.

Magnification
Dentists are working in a very small and confined area inside the mouth; the systems that have been popular for many years are loupes—magnifying glasses that attach to regular glasses to enhance what we are able to see. The problems that some dentists have found with loupes include a limited field of vision and poor posture related to that. The modern alternative is a high-tech system that includes a microscope and an LCD monitor, allowing images from the scope to be displayed on the screen in real time. It allows the dentist to sit comfortably by the chair with proper posture. Many of them have a slim design so that they can fit into most dental operatories. The mounting options for these systems are also varied, allowing the monitor to be attached to a light pole, wall or ceiling. Of course, they can integrate with current imaging software already in use in the practice. A few companies that produce these systems, such as Camsight and MagnaVu, sell them for anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000.

Taking the magnification concept one step further, one of the most interesting systems is the DentiMag3D. While utilizing the same design as the previously mentioned systems, they use a special 3-D monitor and comfortable 3-D glasses that can easily fit over your existing eyewear. This is ideal for sharing the image with multiple users, students or the patient, so everyone has depth perception! The DentiMag3D does not attach to your current optical microscope, but rather provides a complete and comprehensive replacement for it, upgrading your surgical suite to a fully digital environment.

Shade Matching
We try to pick a proper shade for a new crown for a patient, perhaps even take a good quality digital camera image that we then forward on to the lab. Yet, when we get the crown back, the shade doesn’t even come close to what we need it to be. It’s not the lab’s fault; the problem is in trying to relay accurate information to them. The best known of the shade-matching software programs is one called ClearMatch. ClearMatch is a shade analysis and communication tool for dentists and dental laboratories. It is a software-only system that allows the user to select the digital camera and use an existing PC to perform highly accurate analysis of shade, value and anatomical features of teeth. It is a software system that is able to normalize digital images. This system costs around $1,700, although there are other payment options such as a per-case basis.

Cone Beam
Cone Beam or 3-D imaging is the new frontier for digital radiography. These systems go by many different names, so the best way to describe them is as a cross between a digital pan/ceph and a CAT scan machine. The most popular model right now in the United States is the i-Cat by Imaging Sciences. I could describe the system in detail, but this excerpt from an i-Cat user does the best job of explaining why they are becoming so popular:

“Compared to medical scanners, Cone Beam Scanning is ten times more accurate while reducing a patient’s exposure to radiation by more than 95%. Pre-surgical implant treatment planning, preparing to remove impacted third molars, determining how sinus grafts and ridge augmentations have healed and determining the ideal position for a single-tooth replacements are just some of the benefits of Cone Beam scanning technology. Since Cone Beam scanning permits multiple slices through the axial, sagittal and coronal views,the guesswork is removed when it is critical to determine the width of edentulous ridges, whether or not cancellous bone exists between cortical plates, the position of supernumerary and developing tooth buds, if sockets have filled with bones, if irregularities exist to the condyles, and where the mandibular nerve is relative to an impacted tooth and implant sites; or to visualize the borders of a cyst or tumor. Cone Beam scanning has an added benefit in that it can take the maxilla and mandible in a single scan.”

Probably the biggest drawback to these systems is the initial cost: they average around $170,000–$200,000 each, although newer units from Gendex and Kodak are coming in under $120,000.

Impressions
Who would have thought in 2007 that the age-old system of taking impressions would become passé? New systems—one from Cadent called the iTero, and the Lava by 3M—aim to do just that. According to Cadent, the iTero is designed to replace the uncomfortable and imprecise method of conventional impression taking. Powered by proprietary imaging technology, it enables the dentist to take a digital scan of the patient’s teeth and bite, make any necessary adjustments in real time and then transmit the file via a wireless Internet connection to a Cadent-partnering laboratory for further processing. From there the digital file is transmitted to Cadent where a model is milled. The physical model is then sent to the laboratory where a highly precise physical restoration is created.

It’s impossible to predict which technologies will take off in dentistry for the future. However, the four I’ve listed here are already generating some great press and have the right concepts and design to become an integral part of dental practices in the next few years.

Lorne Lavine, DMD is the Founder and President of Dental Technology Consultants. Dr. Lavine holds two prestigious certifications, the A+ Certified Technician designation and the Network+ Certified Professional. These designations demonstrate proficiency in computer repair, operating systems, network design and installation. Dental Technology Consultants provide dentists a full range of services relating to the implementation of technology.

Dr. Lavine can be reached directly at 1.866.204.339 or drlavine@thedentistsnetwork.net.

Louis Malcmacher
DDS MAGD
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Clinical Myths in Dentistry

As I travel around the country and speak to thousands of dental professionals every year, there are certain myths that keep coming up again and again that I would like to take the time to debunk. The general dental attitude I find is that if dental clinicians or academics have not or do not work with a certain clinical technology or technique, then they somehow are comfortable in saying that it does not work. This does such a disservice to our profession, especially to our patients. There are many good new technologies and materials that, when you learn to use them properly, work quite well, offer superior benefits and provide a great service to our patients. Let me share with you a few of these common myths:

Lasers don’t work. How and why this myth is still around is amazing to me. This myth is totally based on ignorance. Let me proudly proclaim that hard and soft tissue lasers are here to stay and they work extremely well. I’ve had a Waterlase MD Dental Laser now for close to two years and I can say unequivocally that they work well in preparing teeth, work just as fast as a high-speed handpiece when you learn to use it properly and performs just about all soft tissue applications faster and easier. In fact, most of these procedures and applications can be done without injected anesthesia. Patients love the concept and the practicality of the dental hard and soft tissue laser. At this point, in my opinion, it is not if you, the general dentist, will get a laser, but when you will get a laser for your dental office. If I were you, I would probably make it sooner than later. It will change your life and it will change your patients’ perception of your dental office.

Veneers require aggressive preparations. There are tens of thousands of dentists in the United States proving this myth wrong every single day. The concept of a no/minimal prep veneer restricted to the enamel has been around for 30 years. With the right materials and techniques (like Lumineers by Cerinate), dentists around the country are able to provide their patients with beautiful veneers with no painful reduction of tooth structure. Lumineers with Cerinate porcelain have a long history of success. It is the way veneers were meant to be. I treat a number of dentists each year, and when they want veneers, they come to my office for Lumineers. If dentists don’t want their own teeth cut down, why do they think their patients would want aggressive preparation? Lumineers has caused a revolution in the esthetic dental world and it’s refreshing to finally see a reversal of the overly aggressive preparations that are often done on virgin teeth in the name of esthetics.

One-hour whitening doesn’t work. One-hour whitening is here to stay whether you like it or not. I will tell you that because of the popularity and ease of use of Crest Whitestrips by Proctor and Gamble, making bleaching trays for patients will probably become a thing of the past. Learn how to do one-hour whitening properly with the Sapphire Supreme light and you will eliminate the sensitivity associated with it and get good, long-lasting results for your patients.

Gold is dead. Gold is probably the finest dental material that we have ever been able to work with. It is very biocompatible with the gingival tissues and has enabled some of the longest-lasting restorations we have ever done. Captek Crowns by Trident Dental Laboratories have changed the way I practice because my patients no longer come in with the complaint of a gray gingival margin after I place porcelain fused to metal crown. Gold is not dead and really is the king of all dental materials. It’s time to start using gold again in our porcelain to metal crowns and bridges.

Start opening your mind and learn to embrace new and proven techniques and technology instead of going through your dental career with blinders on. I hope this has been helpful; I am sure it will create some discussion in your offices. Next month I hope to debunk some of the most common practice management myths, so stay tuned!

Dr. Louis Malcmacher is a practicing general dentist in Bay Village, Ohio and an internationally known lecturer, dental consultant and author, and consultant to the Council on Dental Practice of the ADA. Interested in knowing more about how to truly enjoy dentistry? Click here.

Interested in having Dr. Malcmacher speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

To reach Dr. Malcmacher, email him at DrMalcmacher@thedentistsnetwork.net or call 1.800.952.0521.