The Academy of Comprehensive Esthetics understands that dentists are sometimes hesitant about all the neuromuscular bruhaha. At their upcoming conference “ACE Bite Camp,” they’ll dispel common myths about neuromuscular dentistry, explain the theories and principles, and most importantly, show how you can market TMD treatment to your patients in an easy-to-understand fashion.

Conference goals include:

• Delivering a new set of clinical skills for the successful treatment of TMD
• Teaching a whole-office approach to treating TMD patients
• Providing successful methods for TMD case acceptance
• Showing dentists how to market and explain TMD to new patients

ACE Bite Camp will take place August 19^th & 20^th at the SuperMedia Center in Dallas, TX.

Click here to register and for more information.

Academy of Comprehensive Esthetics Tampa 2011 Conference on Social Media & Marketing for Dentistry

Slated for April 1st and 2nd, 2011, there are just a few weeks left to sign up. Can you afford to miss it?

If You Build It, They Will Come

Today’s marketing environment has changed dramatically. It’s gone viral, to say the least. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs are the hubs of social media and you can use them to leverage your practice, solidify your brand, and grow your patient base. If you’re not in the social media game, you’re simply not reaching your full potential.

A Social Platform

The benefits of social media marketing:

• Access is easy and inexpensive –anyone with the Internet can be a part of social media
• Increase communication that fosters brand awareness and better customer service
• Your patients become your mouthpiece by sharing information with their social networks
• Create content that attracts attention and generates buzz
• Centralize information and share new developments

For more information, or to sign up, visit ACE 2011 Conference on Social Media & Marketing for Dentistry.

Enter Dr. Mayer Levitt, President and owner of Jodena Consulting, a firm that provides vital support and solutions to dental practices nationwide. Dr. Levitt spent nearly 30 years managing his now 12 chair dental practices before becoming a consultant, and during his last seven years in private practice, he balanced both consulting and practice management. Dr. Levitt knows the business of being a dentist and has worked with over 525 practices on everything from creating profitable hygiene departments, to practice transitions and helping doctors optimize their efficiency and effectiveness.

Dr. Levitt graciously allowed us to pick his brain about practice management today, and to let us in on a few secrets:

DB: As a dentist, what was the hardest thing about managing your own practice?
Dr. Levitt: Unquestionably, finding and keeping a talented, caring, customer service oriented staff. It’s still the biggest problem for dental practices now.

DB: What are some of the worst mistakes a dentist can make when managing his or her practice?
Dr. Levitt: Micromanaging the staff and not allowing them to grow and learn from their mistakes is a big misstep. Also, failure to think outside of the box and stifling creativity is an issue. Sometimes you simply have to leave your comfort zone and remain open to a different approach. If you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to get what you’ve always gotten.

DB: What’s the latest piece of advice you’re giving to your clients?
Dr. Levitt: Get going with Internet marketing. It’s an absolute must if you want your practice to remain competitive. You have to have a great website as well as a social media presence. Google is king!

Dr. Levitt also let us in on another secret. Since he is no longer practicing dentistry, he doesn’t get the satisfaction of seeing patients relieved of pain and happy with their smiles. Now he gets his kicks seeing his clients become more successful as they grow their practices. For more great practice management advice, visit Dr. Levitt’s blog. Be sure to sign up for the Jodena blog RSS Feed to receive lots of consistent, practical advice delivered right to you email (you’ll receive a FeedBurner notice via email, so be sure to confirm after signing up). To learn more about Dr. Levitt and Jodena Consulting, visit his website at www.jodena.com.

You might remember when Dentalblogs.com blogged about the unpopular rule change back in June of 2009. Since then, many dentists have voiced their opposition, and the AGD gave its members the ability to share their concerns directly with the president of Align Technology, Inc. A total of 1500 phone calls were made, and let’s just say they weren’t congratulatory in nature.

In response, Invisalign removed the 10 case quota from their requirements, leaving the 10 CE hours as a baseline for active accounts with Align Technology, Inc. Are you thinking that still wasn’t enough? You’re not alone; and finally, Align Technology, Inc. has seen the light.

Clearing the Air
In a recent press release, Align Technology, Inc. announced it’s no longer requiring 10 hours of continuing education courses as criteria for the Advantage Program or the Invisalign.com Find a Doctor feature. They will continue to offer elective courses and encourage dentists to hone their clinical skills through their CE programs. Citing the loyalty and trust of dentists as most important to them, the press release had this to say:

“While most clinicians believe that our training has been extremely valuable in helping to improve their clinical skills, doctors have told us that they want to make their own decisions on how much and what type of continuing education is right for them.  We know that the best way to meet this need is to continue to create excellent continuing education programs, when you want and where you want.

We will continue to improve our award-winning CE, and provide a wide variety of courses that offer CE hours, including 200+ hours of free online training and 100+ live courses each year.”

The National Children’s Oral Health Foundation (NCOHF) is dedicated to eliminating America’s number one chronic childhood illness: pediatric dental disease. Millions of children nationwide suffer from pain so severe they have trouble just being kids. Eating, sleeping, and even learning become difficult, and many suffer lifelong health complications as a result of untreated pediatric dental disease. The NCOHF provides vital financial, product, and technical support to a network of not-for-profit programs and volunteer dental professionals who deliver critical oral health services to underserved children.

The NCOHF has launched a new campaign called Trick or Treat for America’s Toothfairy, which encourages individuals, businesses, and dental professionals alike to change lives with change. Dressed as Toothfairies and, yes, Tooth Wizards, caring individuals will collect spare change to help the NCOHF provide at-risk children with the comprehensive dental care they deserve. Making Halloween about having fun and doing good in the community? That’s change we can get behind! For more information on how you can help the NCOHF this Halloween, visit www.ncofh.org.

DDSMac, LLC was born when a group of dentists who had a common goal –to grow their practices using the best technology available –met on the Internet Dental Forum. For them, Mac was the clear choice. However, they soon found there were extremely limited choices in the dental software department. Something had to be done! Work immediately began on a practice management software program for use on the Mac platform. Now MaxDent Pro is officially on the market.

The front desk, and the schedule, is the hub of any dental practice. A Mac-native solution, MaxDent Pro is built around the scheduler. Created by dentists, for dentists, MaxDent Pro boasts intuitive navigation with powerful tools. These are just a few of the features:

• Reports, reports, reports! Information is crucial, and MaxDent pro is loaded with reports, including A/R monthly statements, daily activity, insurance aging, and more.
• Prescription printing and a full drug database come standard.
• E-claims and digital document storage help move your office closer to your paperless goals.
• A “smile reminder” feature allows you to set up appointment reminders, birthday messages, and much more, via email, text, and other electronic services.
• Fully HIPAA compliant.

MaxDent Pro is offering a free, fully functional demo that’s downloadable to one machine and holds up to 75 patients. Go to www.maxdentpro.com to sign up for your free download copy and take it for a test drive.

If you haven’t been a part of the Halloween Candy Buy Back, it’s a great cause worth checking out. The Halloween Candy Buy Back enlists dentists across the United States to “buy back” all that extra Halloween candy that kids don’t need and parents don’t want. Dentists hold events to collect the candy in the days following Halloween and then donate it to Operation Gratitude as well as other military support groups. Operation Gratitude uses the candy to fill holiday care packages that will be sent off in December to our troops
overseas. This year, Operation Gratitude is set to deliver 60,000 care packages to service men and women who aren’t going to make it home for the Holidays.

Dentists are in a unique position to effect positive change in their patients’ oral health, and in their communities. Joining the Halloween Candy Buy Back as a participating dentist presents several opportunities for you and your practice. Not only will it give you a chance to further patient education on healthy habits and good oral health, there’s the opportunity to promote your practice though a candy collection event. Best of all, you’ll be helping to put smiles on the faces of our troops!

For more information on becoming a Halloween Candy Buy Back participating dentist, visit www.halloweencandybuyback.com. You can also learn more about Operation Gratitude at www.operationgratitude.com.

Dr. Clayton Chan and Dr. Joseph Andary have partnered with Triumphant Athletics Group to introduce the AgilityGuard products developed for elite athletes and sports enthusiasts. Dr. Chan is the former director of Neuromuscular Dentistry at the Las Vegas Institute from 1999-2006, the founder of Occlusion Connections, and developer of the Chan-Optimized Bite™,  a precise jaw position based on neuromuscular science shown to enhance athletic performance. Dr. Joseph Andary is a Las Vegas Institute trained neuromuscular dentist with extensive experience in the Chan-Optimized Bite™ and assisting world-class and Olympic athletes with performance mouthguards. Together, they have helped design a mouthguard to optimize performance through the bio-physiology of neuromuscular posture.

The AgilityGuard is the only sports mouthguard approved to use the Chan-Optimized Bite™. The family of products includes the Phi and Trophy lines and both contain a mouthguard specifically designed for non-contact and contact sports. Triumphant Athletics Group has already signed on three labs to create the AgilityGuard for your patients under Dr. Chan’s rigorous quality control. By becoming a Triumphant certified dentist, you can begin to offer a higher standard of care and performance to your patients. With the lab fee set at $250, you’re also free to align your fees with the appropriate level of expertise.

Your patients can join the likes of Apolo Ohno, Giddeon Massie, and Mark Fretta in the use of AgilityGuard, the most technologically advanced mouthguard, for maximum sports performance. There, now we’ve said it! For more information on Triumphant Athletics Group, Inc., their online training courses, and the AgiltiyGuard product line, visit the AgilityGuard website.

With much debate in dental circles on whether or not to Web 2.0, Dr. Dalin, a St. Louis dentist, said in his article that he strongly believed in walking the walk, not just talking the talk. And so, using his own website as a case study, Dr. Dalin dove right into a re-skin of his old, stagnant website, hiring TNT Dental to lead the SEO charge. He also gave the go ahead to optimize his new site into a mobile friendly format for display on smart phones, such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and Droid mobile devices.

Besides being more visually appealing, what is Dr. Dalin’s goal with the new website? According to his article, it’s to place higher in search engine rankings, drive new traffic to his site, generate leads that will become new patient conversions, as well as keep his existing patients consistently engaged. Dr. Dalin also plans a series of follow up articles to appear in DE magazine over the coming months chronicling his website’s success. We’re certainly eager to see the results!

View Dr. Dalin’s new website, read his article about embracing dental search engine optimization, and then tell us what you think.

Does this scenario sound like something that’s happened at your practice? You’re probably nodding your head, “Yes”. Anyone who has handled a dental emergency call knows that patients are not consistent in describing their symptoms, their pain, and can often be uncooperative wondering why they are being peppered with questions when they are in such acute discomfort. Dentists listening to an emergency patient’s symptoms chairside have the benefit of diagnostic tools, as well as years of clinical experience and education, to help determine the condition that’s causing the problem. However, your front office team, who has limited, or no clinical training, relies on asking the emergency call a set of pre-selected questions to determine when they should be scheduled into the day. No matter how well you have trained your team, it’s just not an accurate system.

Now there is a better way to repair the disconnect that so often arises between patient, team, dentist, and schedule during dental emergencies: a new dental software program called Crumb’s Cranium. Developed by New York Dentist, Dr. Donald Crumb, Crumb’s Cranium is a simple scheduling tool that “thinks” like a dentist. Easily downloaded and installed on any PC in less than 30 minutes, Crumb’s Cranium works alongside your existing dental software and helps your front office team by:

• Recognizing the most common reasons for dental patients to call your office with an emergency
• Providing simplified, logical sequencing of diagnostic information questions for effective triage and prioritizing of emergencies
• Providing scheduling recommendations, clinical impressions, and a printout system to prepare the dentist and clinical team for the emergency appointment

Crumb’s Cranium streamlines your dental emergency management, smoothes over the scheduling conflicts dental emergencies tend to create, reduces stress, and allows you to spend the time with your patients that they need and deserve. Best of all, it requires virtually no dental knowledge, minimal computer skills, and becomes a great training tool for the team members who handle dental emergency calls. To learn more about Crumb’s Cranium, how it can improve the day-to-day operations of your practice, and receive a free, 30-day trial, visit www.crumbscranium.com .

About Dr. Crumb: Since 1976, Dr. Crumb has practiced quality dentistry for patients in and around Syracuse, New York. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1971, achieved his DDS at New York University College of Dentistry in 1975, and completed a post-doctoral residency at Northwestern University in 1976. He believes strongly in giving back to his community for all that it has given him and has been an attending dentist on the clinical staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center since 1977.

About McCormack Dental Imaging / C?Dental X?Ray :
C?Dental X?Ray is located in Northern California with seven locations in the Bay area. McCormack Dental
Imaging is located in Southern California with five locations in San Diego County. Both are a group of
unique facilities dedicated solely to high quality digital dental imaging. For additional corporate
information please visit the company’s corporate web site at www.cdental.com.

About AFP Imaging / NewTom:
AFP Imaging, a leading state?of?the?art diagnostic imaging supplier, is a market leader with products
distributed worldwide to dental, medical and veterinary professionals. For over 30 years, the Company
has produced branded products that are installed in over 100,000 dental and medical facilities worldwide,
including its latest digital imaging systems where it is a market leader in Cone Beam 3D X?ray
imaging. For additional corporate information please visit the company’s corporate web site at
www.afpimaging.com.
The remarks contained in this press release and presented elsewhere by management from time to time contain forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding the Company’s plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. The Company’s actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed in this press release or in other forward-looking statements presented by management. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the Company’s expectation or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which such statement is based.

Google Local (Google Maps or Google Places)
This little tool will get your business on the map. The Google Map.

If you don’t claim your listing, someone else may. And there’s nothing you can do about it! Google takes precautions to prevent this, but your best bet is to claim your listing now. It just takes a minute.

Go to http://local.google.com. In the left sidebar, you’ll see a hyperlink that says “Put your business on Google Maps.” Click it! If you don’t have a Google account, go ahead and set one up. If you do have an account, simply choose Google Places from your main Google Accounts page. Then just follow the instructions to get your business listed. Be sure to fill out ALL of the keywords, etc. Stand by your phone because the verification process involves a phone call. Have a pen handy to write down the verification number. Verify, and you’re golden.

You’re going to see ads about paid listings. You don’t need those right now.

Google Alerts
Find out when your business is mentioned online, and keep your finger on the pulse of topics close to your heart. Google Alerts will send you email notifications when keywords that you specify show up on Google that day.

From your main Google Accounts page, choose Alerts, and click Manage. Type in search terms that you want to be notified about: your business name, your competitor’s business name, your name, your city (for local news), and any other topic of interest (ie: cosmetic dentistry, LVI, sleep apnea dentistry). Complete the questionnaire, and you’ll begin receiving Google Alert emails the same day.

These tips were provided by TNT Dental, a leader in custom dental website design and hosting. Call TNT Dental today to discuss your Internet marketing strategy: 877-868-4932.

Samsung and InnoDen have partnered to bring Dentist nationwide the latest in Dental Unit technology and design. Sky Dental “M” has combined all the design and technology features you could ask for with the best quality materials available. All components create a unit that is aesthetically appealing, functional and above all built to last. Together they are changing the way you view dental equipment today.

Seattle, WA (FPRC) June, 1 2010 – Samsung and InnoDen are set to bring the latest in technology and design to the Dental Equipment Industry nationwide. “Sky Dental’s “M” Chair Unit incorporates American design and functionality that is seen from your leaders in the industry today” said Justin Taylor, Marketing Manager of InnoDen.  The “M” unit offers the same modern color schemes Sky Dental is known for which it’s more advanced counterpart unit “W” offers as well.  From the standard over patient light and Touch Panel, it is apparent that they are creating new unit standards in the industry.

The Sky Dental “W” offers a thin back American design that caters to the Doctor and Patient with complete comfort and style.  The “M” unit is an affordable option for any dentist and is equipped with all the bells and whistles used today, without having to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on options and accessories.

“Samsung and InnoDen chose to represent the Sky Dental brand because, they are leading the way in technology and design and we are confident that it will change the dental equipment industry we know today” Said Dr. Park, CEO of InnoDen.  InnoDen’s product knowledge and sales support combined with Samsung’s extensive infrastructure and global reach ensure that Sky Dental will be a brand that is here to stay. Call your local dealer’s today and get a Sky Dental “M” and change the way your practice is viewed and remembered.

About Sky Dental:

Sky Dental has manufactured chairs and delivery systems for over 27 years. Sky Dental is currently distributed in 30 countries across the world and sells over 3,000 units annually. Samsung and InnoDen are convinced that their chair is the best quality and best product on the market today.  All units come with standard manufacturer 5 year warranties.

Contact:

Justin Taylor, Marketing Manager
InnoDen, LLC
206-832-1818
http://www.innoden.com

Behind every successful practice is an office manager who displays innovative thinking, business acumen and leadership qualities, within their practice and their community. Each year, the AADOM recognizes these exceptional individuals and highlights their accomplishments at their annual conference. “I’ve been in dentistry for over 20 years.  When you’ve been around that long, you know what it takes to get results.  It takes a great team, great clinical skills and delivering a great patient experience,” said Kay Valentine, 2009 AADOM Office Manager of the Year.

The 2010 AADOM Office Manager of the Year will be featured on the front cover of The Observer, AADOM’s publication for dental office managers, receives free registration in 2011 to the Annual Dental Office Managers Conference and a check for $1,000, courtesy of CareCredit, AADOM Founding Sponsor. “We’re delighted to support the AADOM in recognizing the valuable contribution these professionals have made and support their professional and personal growth,” stated Cindy Hearn, Sr. VP of Marketing, CareCredit.  For nomination details, visit www.dentalmanagers.com.

About the AADOM: the American Association of Dental Office Managers (AADOM) is the country’s largest professional organization for office managers, practice administrators and other practice management staff.  The AADOM is committed to creating and maintaining a network of dental professionals to share resources and information, helping all members achieve the highest level of professional and personal development. The Annual Dental Office Managers Conference will be held this October in Las Vegas.

About CareCredit: for more than 20 years, CareCredit has been making it easy for patients to get the dentistry they need and want. Today, CareCredit is at work in more than 130,000 practices and has been used by over 20 million patients.  CareCredit is exclusively selected for their members by most state and national dental associations, including the AADOM, ADA Business Resources^SM*, AGD, AAOMS, and AAP, and is also recommended by leading practice management consultants. For more information on CareCredit, call 1-800-300-3046 ext. 4519 or visit www.carecredit.com.

##

*ADA is a registered trademark of the American Dental Association. ADA Business Resources is a service mark of the American Dental Association. ADA Business Resources is a program brought to you by ADA Business Enterprises, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Dental Association.

Source: http://www.case.edu/think/breakingnews/prostatediseaselink.html

We can talk about whether Facebook and Twitter are good for dental marketing all day long, and everyone has an opinion…

“I believe social media is one of the most important marketing tools to emerge since the creation of the World Wide Web.”

~ Fred Joyal’s Blog

“No online social networking personally or professionally anymore. Most of it is a waste of time. I’d rather spend the valuable time with my wife and kids who have also decided not to do any of the online social networking anymore.”

~ The Wealthy Dentist Blog

Ohio Prosthodontist

“With social media growing at an unprecedented rate and a large percentage of our patients participating on these popular channels daily, the decision to establish our own space on these social networks was easy. Now our practice can easily distribute office news, dental information and practice promotions to our entire network of patients with the click of a mouse. Not to mention that our patients can always join in on the conversation by providing feedback.”

~Latest Breaking News

Dr. Mary Sue Stonisch

The reality is, you have to ask yourself if social networking:

• Will meet your dental practice’s marketing goals
• Will work for your dental patients
• Will complement your dental practice’s marketing strategy
• Will be something you (or your team) can keep up with

Your Goals

Social networking is not going to bring you a ton of new patients. If that’s your main goal, don’t waste your time. However, if you want to keep in contact with your current patients and foster a friendly, personal relationship, Facebook can help. Twitter can give current patients an update on what’s going on in your office.

Your Patients

Do your patients use Facebook and Twitter? Do they use the computer? How often? Studies show that Facebook is most widely used with a very young population. And, of course, patients in a high income area will be more likely to use social networking. How many of your patients have smart phones? Do they even want to hear from you on Facebook? You can always ask! Survey your patients before they leave the office.

Your Marketing Strategy

Do you blog? Is your website optimized? Are you really on top of your game with Internet marketing, or do you just have a website because you don’t think the phone book has any future? If you’re serious about online marketing and fostering a community in your practice where patients and team members feel like they know one another, social networking may suit your strategy. If you and your staff don’t like the computer, there’s no reason to try to force a Facebook peg into a traditional marketing hole.

Your Busy Life

Keeping up with Facebook and Twitter takes time. If you don’t check your FB account every day now, what makes you think you’ll do it for the office? You may have a front office person who could maintain a Facebook Fan Page, with a little training. Or maybe social networking just isn’t where it’s at for your dental practice.

Advice from Experts

If you’d like a personal consultation about social networking, call TNT Dental and speak with one of our web experts. These savvy folks can answer all of your questions and guide you through the process of setting up and learning about effective social networking. Call today: 877-868-4932, or visit TNT Dental online here.

BING Innovations, LLC, the Illinois-based provider of DentalVibe™, launched the new site in June to better educate the dental community about the benefits and uses of the product and to simplify the ordering process. Visitors to the site can view newly produced video segments depicting DentalVibe applications as well as the real-time reactions of patients who experience DentalVibe injections. In addition, the DentalVibe system and accessories can be conveniently purchased with a credit card through a secure e-commerce portal.

To produce the videos, develop the new website and introduce the breakthrough product to dentistry, BING Innovations enlisted Walter F. Cameron Advertising, an established dental products marketing agency based in New York. An educational communications campaign is being launched concurrently.

“You can’t really understand the ‘wow’ factor of DentalVibe until you see it in action with real patients,” said DentalVibe Co-developer Steven G. Goldberg, DDS, who demonstrates the product on the new videos. “On our website, you can see the expression of both surprise and delight on patients’ faces when they receive a dental injection without any pain whatsoever.”

DentalVibe takes unique advantage of cutting-edge research on the Gate Control Theory of Pain to enable the delivery of anesthetic injections without discomfort. Patented, microprocessor-controlled VibraPulse™ technology delivers a pulsed, percussive vibration to the mucosa ­– the ideal counter-stimulation to block the painful stimuli of injections.

Offices now have the ability to conduct a low dosage scan that shows the full patient dentition. Doctors can use this view to see if a patient has his/her wisdom teeth or could require corrective practices, like braces, while using a fraction of the radiation. This scan has a faster rotation, and uses less x-ray dose, for an overall drop in radiation.The Strato Digital introduces its Frontal Dentition examination. This view allows a doctor see the frontal dentition only. This, combined with the ability to take half-pans, means one can see the right half, left half, or frontal view of any panoramic x-ray, without exposing unnecessary regions. The Strato Digital now comes standard with over 13 applications, including Digital Linear Tomography. The Cesium Iodide CCD sensor provides the highest quality images in any examination type. For more information visit www.ImageWorksCorporation.com/dental or call 914-592-6100.