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Cranham on Case Presentation & Patient Education

cranham — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:00:32 +0000

The primary patient education system that we have used and continue to utilize is GURU by Henry Schein. It’s interesting because it uses a combination of nice animations, with some video, but I like that it does not have a lot of audio. I retain the freedom to use the scrubber brush to go to certain parts of the animations and discuss it with the patient. With any patient education package, you have to retain the human touch. Not sure that the systems that you turn on and leave the patient to watch – I just don’t think they’re effective. I often use some photography in my discussion with a patient. At my office, we try to make the education unique to the patient.

We also use Bite FX, which is oriented more to TMD issues. It’s not quite as well known, but it is the best on the market for TMD patient education.

A consult is usually done at a second appointment. First we do the exam, then workup the case, then meet again for the case presentation and patient education. I recommend dentists consider the location for case presentation. We educate patients in a consult room with big monitors, so the patient can see and understand the issues they have. We show them pictures, X-rays, and videos at this time. But we also focus on chairside education when appropriate and beneficial.

Read Dr. Cranham’s profile here.

Dr. Cranham is a director with The Dawson Academy and runs a private dental practice in Virginia. He is well known for his clinical expertise, seminars, and teaching.

Dental Case Acceptance: Is Education and Inside Out Totally Upside Down?

Administrator — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:01:24 +0000

Will educating patients seal the deal? Dr. Paul Homoly, CSP, says maybe not. Dr. Homoly wrote "Don’t Let Raising Your Patient’s Dental IQ Interfere with Case Acceptance" for this month’s Dentaltown. His take on the education philosophy is that for dental work under $3500, educating the patient is important for case acceptance. However, for treatment plans over $3500, boosting dental IQ may not land the case. Why is that?

Every patient who can afford dentistry can also afford the finer, and funner, things in life – but they likely do not have unlimited resources. They want the best of both worlds. They want dentistry to comfortably fit within their life, without hampering their lifestyle.

Inside Out

Dr. Homoly explains that traditionally, dentists present cases from the inside out. They explain what the issues are in the mouth and suggest magnificent, miraculous treatment plans to optimize oral health and beauty. Many dentists rely on patient education for case acceptance at this point. After all, if people know the problems and future implications, and they are truly interested in good health, they will proceed as you planned. Right? Then the dentist learns about the outside factors – like budget, schedule, and other life factors. "For uncomplicated dentistry with a fee of $3500 or less, an inside-out approach works well. The fees and time in treatment are such that most patients can proceed without undue hardships or inconveniences," Homoly writes. More expensive cases may cramp their style, for any number of reasons.

Outside In

Now, consider working outside-in. First, you learn about the patient’s external concerns in regards to dentistry, then discuss a treatment plan that works in harmony with those factors. Dr. Homoly claims that you’ll save "incredible amounts of time" and won’t surprise your patients, which will make them more comfortable with you and your practice.

Fit Issues

Consider the "fit" issues. How will dentistry fit into your patient’s life? Will it be an inconvenience? Do the benefits outweigh the hurdles? Learn about the fit factors – which may include work, money, travel plans, health issues, etc. Then learn about more personal fit factors – like divorce, marriage, birth of a child, graduation, new job, etc. If your team gets in touch with the patient, learns about the fit factors, and asks for the patient’s permission to share the information with you so that you can help fit dentistry into the patient’s situation, your case acceptance will likely increase.

Dental IQ

So what’s the role of increasing dental IQ in case acceptance? It is supposed to be the golden gate to case acceptance! Dr. Homoly suggests that you don’t blame low dental IQ for low case acceptance. Instead, make it personal. Get to know your patients, outside and in, then custom-fit dentistry for their lives.

Read the Dentaltown article here.

Importance of Your Website and It’s Optimazation

Corine Leech — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 15:14:01 +0000

By now all dental offices should have and see the value of a web site. A really nice, flashy web site is terrific BUT if no one ever finds it what good is it to the bottom dollar of your practice. You have to know how to drive the general public to your site so they know you, your Team and the terrific dental services you offer. Just this past Friday, while I was in the office working, I received an email from a client I had seen as a new patient in February of 2005. On her visit we had taken digital photos so she could see her dental needs and problems as we see them. She then talked with me about what she wanted to change in her mouth. Together we formulated a treatment plan to help her accomplish her goals. Did she schedule, no, she did not have the money. I had not heard from her until Friday. Her email stated she had been able to obtain financing at last, and was ready to schedule her $22,000 case. The link to the web is, she was originally referred to our practice through a link we have with About Cosmetic Dentistry.com, that directed her to our web site. From our web site she called to schedule her original appointment. And now, 2 years later that same web optimization, linked her back to our site where she found the link to financing through Enhance Patient Finance and emailed me to schedule her appointment. The Internet and your web site truly are the key to an untapped public who is now better educated and researching the type of dentist they want.

FYI there is a tremendous program being offered to help you better understand the Internet link for your practice. It is in Austin Texas at The Hyatt Lost Pines Resort on March 23 and 24th. It is being offered by ACE (The Academy of Comprehensive Esthetics).

Lecture & panel discussions will feature dental experts Dr. Tom Hedge, Dr. Marvin Berlin, Dr. Kent Smith, Dr. Peter Boulden, Dr. Curtis Westersund, Dr. Gerilyn Alfe, Dr. Anthony Vocaturo, Dr. Tim Hale & Dr. Peter Masci.

You’ll also have the opportunity to learn from industry experts Mr. Zach Hoffman of Dental SEO, Mr. Jim Higgins of Smile Reminder, Mr. Tim Kelley & Mr. Tim Healy of TNT Dental, Mr. Dan Scott of Roadside Multimedia, Mr. Howie Horrocks of New Patients, Inc., Dr. Bill Jackson of PlanetDDS, and Ms. Jennifer Poppers of ShopPR.

Do not miss this tremendous chance to get on board with the newest wave in attracting new clients to your practice and increasing your bottom dollar.

Great insight from Bob Marcario on amalgam’s

Administrator — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:36:07 +0000

New Patient Telephone Contact Sheet

Corine Leech — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 22:25:08 +0000

Here area few vital items that should be included in that Initial New Patient Telephone Contact:

Name
Referral Source
Practice Descriptive Statement
Reason For Appointment
Home Address
All Contact #’s for verification
Credit Card Number to Reserve Appointment Non Refundable if no show
Packet if Time
Web site Address to Fill Out Forms On Line
Info Must be at Office 48 Hrs in advance
Initial Feeling Regarding Client
Appointment Date & Time

This is valuable information to gather prior to scheduling a New Patient in your office. It will help you start to develop a relationship with them and help them see that you are different from the rest.

New Paging & Message Software

Corine Leech — Thu, 11 May 2006 03:19:49 +0000

Replace outdated light paging systems

Monitor patients in the office and where they are

communicate between Team members

Check this new system out looks pretty neat. We downloaded trial version and are playing with it. I have no vested interest in this just think it looks neat.

www.Patient-Tracker.com

Things Slow In Your Practice????

Corine Leech — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 01:11:14 +0000

It is time of the year when in some practices things slow down. I have never really figured out why; maybe because of tax time or maybe it is an after the Holiday lull. There have always been things you can do, chart audits, special discount offers, email reminders of unfinished treatment plans, etc. Well here is a new one. Every existing patient who is being seen in hygiene for re-care take a shade and talk about whitening. Explain to your existing patients on their re-care visit that the “standard of care” in dentistry is changing. That you are now taking a full series of digital photos on all new patients when they enter your office. Get them into an empty chair and get photos on them. These patients of record deserve to see their mouths the same way new patients are seeing their mouths. It opens their eyes to the need to get some the dentistry they having putting off for years done. Give them the opportunity to have their comprehensive exam brought up to “the new standard of care” in your office.

Client Thank You

Corine Leech — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 01:52:39 +0000

Recently on a dental forum a practice was asking about “thank you” gifts for their clients and reasons to give them. It made me stop and think how this little thing is such a great practice builder. Being able to show your appreciate to your clients/patients who have choose you to take care of their treatment. The reasons to give are many but I think some of the most important ones are after finishing a great case and after getting a great referral. Be creative in your choices. One of the nicest things you can do is to make the gift client/patient oriented, showing them you do pay attention to what they share in conversation with you about their personal lives. Some ideas:

A dozen long stem roses of various colors in a beautiful vase, to the client/patient who just got their smile make over. The note should be personally done. And have the gift delivered to their place of business.

Theater tickets & a gift certificate to dinner

We have done tickets and parking pass to The Cincinnati Bengals Games Or Cincinnati Reds, sports nuts love it

Movie passes (make great gifts for monthly recare card drawings)

Subscriptions to magazines you see them always pick up in the office

Gift certificates of all kinds always work well for families

Tiffany’s has a great gift catalog they will send to you

The Ritz Carlton also has a gift catalog

Something as simple as ordering cookies on line from one of the great gourmet cookie companies like www.christiecookies.com

It is the little things we do to show our appreciate that say we care. So in your busy practice assign someone the special job of the all important “Thank You” follow up.

Feel Free to Ask! Dental Blogs is about sharing ideas without confrontation.

soileau — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 14:44:40 +0000

We have all been on other forums where anyone can post anything about anyone. This often leads to angry and self-ritious grandstanding. In other words, confrontation for the sake of protecting ones turf, as opposed to simply sharing ideas for the simple sake of helping others. All the authors of this forum have the obligation and responsibility to maintain an environment where anyone feels comfortable asking a question or sharing a view without being ridiculed or interrogated. There are too many forums where this mentailty exist. The end result is that only a few meaningful post are presented which are then attacked and no one else post anything. That will not happen here. If you have any question or want to share an idea in a thoughtful way, please do so. That is what this forum is about. We have the best and brightest here and they truly want to help others achieve the same success that they have. They willingly share their ideas and experiances without any form of compensation other than the warm feeling of knowing they made a difference. So I personally invite all of you to ask or share whatever you wish because I bet you will have more to teach me as I have to teach you.

Tony

Matthew Perry veneer picture

Administrator — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 17:13:21 +0000

The "famous" Matthew Perry smile with six veneers and yellow bicupids is attached and is avaliable for download. This is great to show patients who come in pre-sold on six veneers.

Great Two Day Seminar

Corine Leech — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 01:01:36 +0000

Continuing education to dental TEAM members is a gift that we would otherwise might not be able to afford. I had the opportunity to receive that gift again Friday and Saturday. It was such an eye opening two days spent listening to Dr. Bob Walker. I think the official title of the seminar was Chirodontics – A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Care , my title for it would be WOW! This man is amazing. My head is still spinning from all he shared with us. I found the nutrition information and how it related to our bodies very interesting. The over all information on how total body balance relates to healthy, happy bites was also intriguing. He is so full of knowledge and puts it in terms that even I could follow. Dr. Walker is so willing to share and to help us in the dental field see how there may be other contributing factors of our patients health that may be keeping us from accomplishing our goals with them. If you have an opportunity to see and hear Dr. Walker I would highly recommend it.

Digital Dentistry DVD

Administrator — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 16:52:44 +0000

I finally got around to converting an hour long digital dentistry lecture and a half hour clinical photography and studio portrait photography demonstration to DVD.

In the lecture I cover extraoral camera (Canon) versus intraoral video cameras, history of digital cameras in dentistry, case presentation, e mail newsletters, lab communication, monitor color, Power Point applications, resolution, how digital cameras work, compression, memory, white balance, depth of field, camera settings, portrait lighting, retractors, clinical tips, and my recommended series.

This would be a great refresher if you haven’t seen this material in awhile or a good introduction if you have never taken a digital photography course. It will even give seasoned pro’s a few useful tips.

The DVD is 195 dollars.

CAESY Enterprise 5.5 Released

Administrator — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:44:18 +0000

Vancouver, Wash. (Aug. 10, 2005) Patterson Dental Supply, Inc. announces the release of CAESY Enterprise 5.5, the newest update of its server-based software program that is dentistry’s number one choice for patient education.

The release features new and updated multimedia presentations and an elegant new look and feel for ShowCase, the case presentation software included with CAESY Enterprise.

ShowCase enables dentists and their staff to create case presentations, present them chairside or send them home with the patient to reinforce case acceptance. Enhancements to ShowCase include: the addition of viewer themes, which provide sleek new designs that allow the appearance of the viewer to change; and, the Patient Message feature, which lets the dentist write a short note to the patient and have it displayed on the screen.

In addition, the new release features updated videos in the New Technologies, Hygiene, Orthodontics, Restorations, and TMD sections of CAESY.

CAESY Education Systems has been dentistry’s premier developer of leading-edge patient education technology and content since 1993. The award-winning multimedia information on preventive, restorative and esthetic treatment options helps dental practices nationwide educate their patients and grow their practices. The CAESY content is distributed via video and computer networks or DVD players throughout the clinical and reception areas of the dental practice. The family of products includes CAESY DVD, Smile Channel DVD, CAESY Printables, CAESY Pediatrics, CAESY Online, and CAESY Enterprise, which includes CAESY, Smile Channel, ShowCase, and Image Master. For more information, visit www.caesy.com or call 1-800-691-1980.

# # #

Patterson Dental Supply, Inc is a value-added distributor of a complete range of dental products, equipment and services for dentists, dental laboratories, institutions and other healthcare providers throughout North America. Patterson Dental has the largest direct sales force in the industry, totaling more than 1,200 sales representatives and equipment and software specialists serving the United States and Canada.

FROM CAESY Education Systems, A Patterson Company
1201 SE Tech Center Drive
Suite 110
Vancouver, WA 98683

Dentistrytogo Podcast with Dr. Gerilyn Alfe – The start up practice

Administrator — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 01:05:36 +0000

Dr. Tom Hedge interviews Dr. Gerilyn Alfe on her adventure of starting up a new "from scratch" practice in a new city. Gerilyn moved from Maine to Chicago and has developed a new practice eactly the way she wanted.

chicagosmilespa.com

Download The Podcast Interview

New Patient Follow Up

Corine Leech — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 02:42:20 +0000

A very effective thing I am now faithfully doing is writing thank notes to each new patient I do a consultation with. I include some points from there consultation, and remind them that if they have any further questions regarding their treatment plan options to please feel free to call me. I congratulate them on their treatment decisions and express my excitement regarding their case. A simple note, just let them know I care and truly appreciate them choosing our practice for their dental care. I include a my business card. For those who did not schedule it reminds them I am thinking about them and that at The Dental Health Center we really do care about them and want them to take care of their dental health. Simple… but effective… give it a try.

Who Presents Your Teatment Plans???

Corine Leech — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 01:17:52 +0000

There is a whole new approach, which I must say truly works, take yourself (Dr.) out of the case presentation and get your Team to training to do these for you. You case acceptance will be greater and so will the total dollar amounts on your treatment plans. Get your Team trained to handle the consultations. Team members bond easily with patients and become their friends. Patients find it easier to talk with them about dental concerns because they see us as not judgemental and have nothing financially to gain from the patient accepting or not accepting treatment. Give the Team the digital photos they need to help your patients see what their dental health is really like. It is not about selling dentistry, it is about helping patients truly see inside their own mouths and take ownership of the dental conditions. When they see, for instance, how tooth number 30 has the entire back cracked off and the white gunk that is on the inside of their lower teeth they will want to ask for help to get those things taken care of. Trust me on this, do your research, get some training for your Team and you are on your way to better case presentation and acceptance. Remember, case presentation starts with the very first phone call to your office; be sure all the right people are in the right places.

Considering Insurance Changes In Your Office????

Corine Leech — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 01:24:54 +0000

For those of you who are looking to starting to make the break from insurance, I have a series of articles on www.corineleech.com that may help. I ALWAYS advise offices to personally speak with your patients regarding these type of changes. In the mail today I recieved a sample of two “new” brochures, from “Office Magic” (Pat & Lorraine), to supplement your office during the changes. you can check them out at www.officemagic.com , look on the left hand side of the page. I have no personal affiliation with “Office Magic”, just feel their products are terrific.

Dentistrytogo Podcast with Dr. Steve Marcus

Administrator — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 15:42:39 +0000

Dr. Tom Hedge interviews Dr. Steve Marcus, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Steve has evolved his practice and professional life by getting involved with internet forums and advanced continuing education courses. He tells us his story over 35 minutes of great tips and suggestions of how to be a better dentist.

Download the Podcast Interview

The Importance Of Your Office Website

Corine Leech — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 02:55:42 +0000

To all of you who still do not have a web site; here is another reason to get one NOW!!! Communication with you patients, new and current. This weekend I received two phone calls from “new” patients who are interested in getting dentistry done that they have put off. They both stated that they had found the office through our web site. So, how did they contact me by phone, on the weekend. Well, on the web site it has the office telephone number, they called and listened to our message which stated the office was closed and would reopen on Monday, it has a message that list my personal cell phone in case of emergencies. They both called because getting in the beginning of the week to get a complimentary consultation is an emergency to them. I was able to spend a few minutes on the phone with both of them and a sured them we will get them in the schedule ASAP. Through a simple screening process I was able to establish that they are the kind of patients we are looking for and feel sure that their search ended for someone to do their dentistry with our phone conversation. New patients like to know they can reach you; get a web site let them know you are out there and how great your practice is. It works. WWW.tntdental.com is a good place to start!

Fifth Dentistrytogo Podcast with Corine Leech

Administrator — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 06:09:20 +0000

Dr. Tom Hedge interviews Corine Leech, extraordinary office manager. In this 30 minute interview, Corine talks about transitioning from a general practice to a purely cosmetic practic. She talks about dropping insurance assignment, getting patients to pay the day of service, and case presentation without doctor onvolvement. This could motivate you to make some MAJOR changes in your practice.

Download the Podcast Interview