Long before the amalgam controversy, dentistry engaged the public and policymakers on whether fluoridating water was healthy, ethical, effective, and legal. Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first community to add fluoride to its public water supply in 1945. Since then, dentists, physicians, politicians, lawyers, and even some religious leaders have debated and legislated water fluoridation. Some even put forth various conspiracy theories on whether this mineral is nature’s cavity fighter or part of a plot to impose a communist regime on the world (Yes, that was one of the early conspiracy theories.). Seventy-five years later, the controversy continues, with recent studies fanning the flames of controversy.

One of the many advances made in modern dentistry is digital technology to take dental x-rays. The many advantages of digital x-rays include:

Dentistry, a profession with significant environmental impact, finds itself today on the cusp of a growing demand for a more sustainable world. However, dentistry has been slow to embrace this worldwide movement for several reasons, not the least of which is confusion over terminology. 

There are many things to take into consideration when hiring a new employee. From past experience and employer testimonials, to specialist skills and eagerness to learn, it’s likely you already know what to look for when recruiting a new RDH or RDA.

Are leaders born or made? Some people are born with a strong personality that compels them to lead. But that doesn’t mean everyone is doomed to a lifetime of following the leader.

As a dental practice owner, it’s likely you hire temporary dental staff through a temp agency or employ full-time staff the traditional way. By now you’ll know that both these options come with their downfalls, ones you’ve likely become so used to that you’ve almost grown blind to them.

“Be prepared.” Robert Baden-Powell, an English soldier, wrote these words in an article to young people just before World War I. These words became the motto for the Boy Scouts of America. OSHA might hope this is the motto for every dental office in America. “Be prepared for OSHA.”

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things" - Peter F. Drucker

Social media influencers are incredibly powerful people who can help boost your business and increase your revenue. For every $1 spent on influencer marketing campaigns, companies receive $6.5 in sales, and that figure is set to increase.

You have certainly heard of organizations articulating the famous principle “think globally, act locally.” Though in principle, this strategy seems reasonable, it is usually not practical for every situation. Not every business out there is a global concern. Small private dental practices that target only the local market or community don’t need to attract clients from regions or states they don’t serve.

Although we might not all want to openly admit it, everyone wants to be liked. Human beings are social creatures and being rejected by someone hurts. Not being liked by someone you have romantic or platonic feelings for is bad enough, but not getting on with your colleagues or boss who you see almost every day can be awful.

When you own a dental office, your salary appears like a no-brainer. Pay your staff, pay your taxes, pay your bills, and what is left goes into your pocket. If only it were that easy.

Running a dental practice is different from managing any other type of business. While you might know all about providing your patients with the best possible oral care, it’s so easy to get caught up dealing with day-to-day business tasks that you forget about the most important part of the job — providing every patient who walks into your practice with an excellent experience.

One thing we can all agree on about 2020 is that we’re happy to see it come to an end. While it was undoubtedly one of the most testing years for many of us, it proved how much we’re able to rise up to major challenges, adapt to new circumstances and overcome serious hurdles.

It’s highly likely that you have not held an end of year party as is the norm; thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, getting gifts for your dental staff this holiday season is something you should consider (if you have not already done so). Any employee would appreciate a gift coming from his/her boss.  But what useful, affordable, and memorable gifts can you think of? You wouldn’t want to buy gifts your employees will toss in the trash can the moment they get home, would you?

More than half a million people in the U.S. experience homelessness at any given time: a humanitarian crisis that demands everyone’s attention. Usually, these individuals stay in shelters, live on the streets or in cars, or hop between friends’ and relatives’ homes for an undefined amount of time.

Previously, research revealed that patients aged 50-65 spend more at the dental practice each year than any other group. With this information, you might be compelled to put a greater focus on this demographic to boost your revenue. But how exactly do you focus on a specific type of patient in dentistry?

By 2027, people in the US are anticipated to spend more than $203 billion per year on dental care. While this figure might sound promising, it’s not as lucrative as it first appears. The average annual growth rate for US healthcare spending is 5.5%, but this statistic drops down to 4.8% for spending on dental care.

The dentistry field is among the top recession-proof industries, with the sector experiencing growth even during the great recession when other businesses were struggling to remain afloat.

Dentistry is continuously advancing and the more researchers discover about our oral health and the impact it has on our overall well being, the more important it is that dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants stay up-to-date on the latest findings. Keeping up on major dental developments allows dental professionals to provide their patients with better care, resulting in a better reputation for the practice and higher patient numbers.

You’ve been through college, completed your mandatory in-person training and have passed the exam for your license: congratulations, you’re now a fully qualified dental professional! But just because you’ve earned your doctoral degree to become a dentist or acquired your registered license to practice as an RDH or RDA doesn’t mean you can put your books away and forget about them.

Are you interested in selling your dental practice?  There is more to consider other than simply finding a buyer.  Your initial considerations may range from, “When is the right time to sell my practice?” “Who will guide me through the transition?” and, of course, “What is my dental practice’s worth?”

When we “hit the ground running” in the morning going to work, our thought is to get there in one piece and deal with the job stuff as it happens. All of us have more to do on our daily agenda than we want and just the thought of how and when all these tasks and activities are to happen can and does create chaos and sometimes failure. Many people don’t make action lists because they believe that they don’t have to be directed by anything except their initiative, and others will not operate without a daily menu. Whatever choice you make to track it, we all have to choose what is most important to do that day. When we want one action over another, we are prioritizing that event.

According to the Journal of American Dental Association, practice ownership is steadily declining amongst dentists of all ages, with the largest drop seen in dentists aged 35 and under. This is most likely due to the freedom enjoyed by dental employees who don’t have the burden of running a business and all the responsibilities that come with it to deal with.

Did you know that the average dental practice loses 15-20% of its patients each year? That means to maintain basic patient load and office growth, practice owners need to acquire at least 20 new patients every month. On top of keeping up with the latest health regulations and collecting outstanding debts, maintaining a healthy patient base can feel like too much to handle.

When you’re a dentist, you never stop learning. New scientific discoveries and advancements in technology mean researchers are always coming up with ways to improve dentistry. As a dentist, it’s your job to stay on top of the latest developments so that your staff, patients and practice can benefit from them.

We’re all so focused on the risks of dental professionals contracting COVID-19 in the practice, that we’ve completely forgotten about the other occupational hazards staff come into contact with every day. From frequent radiation exposure to using dangerous chemicals, dentists, hygienists and assistants meet potential imperilment every single day.

It’s never been more clear that the future of dentistry is digital. While practices will always be reliant on the manual skills of dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants to some extent, modern tools are making the move toward a digital dental experience more realistic. Electronic patient records, diagnostic imaging and teledentistry all help to improve care for patients and simplify routine procedures for dental professionals.

Deciding to sell your dental practice is a big thing. But making sure you get the best deal that makes all the time, skill, money and effort you invested into your practice worth it is even more important. This is why it’s important to prepare yourself both mentally and financially, so you can reap the biggest possible rewards from what is likely to be your entire retirement nest egg or at least a significant part of it. 

Improve your practice’s productivity with checklists that will rock your world.

Whether it’s posted on the kitchen fridge at home, on a counter in a surgical room, or on a workstation as part of an aeronautical preparation for takeoff, a checklist is one of the most essential tools that you can use to ensure everything runs smoothly. After all, you’re only human and there’s only so much information you can keep in your brain.

No one likes long work commutes. They’re a waste of time: there’s so much more important stuff you could be getting on with. They’re expensive:  you can’t earn any money while you’re commuting yet it’s still part of the job. And they’re boring: there are only so many mornings you can spend reading, listening to music or playing on your phone before the monotony grinds you down.

A dental office is only as successful as the owner, employees, and its practice management software or program. With software playing such a vital role in your practice’s success, picking the right software then is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. In fact, this is something you should take time to reflect on, just as you would if you were purchasing a home. You must ask the right questions, check the advantages and disadvantages of all the software solutions available, and enlist the help of others.

For many dentists, running a successful practice is quite an overwhelming task. Between handling dentures, fillings, bridges, and extractions, you are also busy billing, overseeing inventory, and marketing your services to the world. But do not let the “everyday” routine hold you back from discovering fresh ideas and ways of running your operations.

If you're sometimes doubting if you're doing the best you can, you're not alone: every dentist wants to be revered as an expert clinician and a caring, considerate human being. The very nature of the work is to improve people’s lives from a total wellbeing standpoint to include an esthetic, artistic vantage.   

Dentistry has always been a stressful occupation, with most dental professionals considering their jobs being significantly more stressful than any other career. The stress didn't get any less with COVID-19. And while a small amount of stress is fairly common in almost every job, it’s when you let things build up for too long that serious problems start to arise for your staff, your patients and yourself.

Almost all dental practices in states across the country can now open for elective treatment. And while the statistics were very promising to begin with, recent reports are suggesting that the initial surge of interest from patients is dwindling and is shortly expected to reach a plateau.

In an interview with my Social Practice, one dentist by the name Dr Craig Spodak said, “I do believe that the ultimate purpose of a business is to provide compassion, trust, love… We’re not in business just to make money; money is the effect of doing something with love. Everything we do is born from wanting to create a sense of community, whether that community is within our office or the community that we serve.”

The healthcare industry lost 1.4 million jobs in April, according to a report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Dental offices, however, took the biggest wallop of jobs lost.  Employment in the dental industry declined from 959, 300 to 456, 000, according to this report. That’s a loss of about 503, 300 jobs — an unusual drop of 52%.  

The number of people visiting dental clinics is rising as more and more families begin to understand the importance of proper dental hygiene. According to ADA, 58% of people surveyed in 2017 visit the dentist at least once every year. This is a sizable increase compared to the 33% of adults who visited the dentist annually in the mid-1950s. 

There’s no doubt that working with temporary dental staff can save you a lot of money. Only paying for dental professionals when you need their services frees up a lot of budget you can spend more wisely on other parts of your business. But did you know you could save even more money by ditching the dental assistant temp agency and switching to Cloud Dentistry?

The face of dentistry in the post-coronavirus world is very different to that before the pandemic. With so many changes and no guarantee of when a COVID-19 vaccine will be made publicly available, it’s likely you’re re-thinking many aspects of your business, including your pricing.

Almost every business has felt the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, but perhaps none more than dental practices. In fact, a few days ago, the American Dental Association (ADA) initiated a campaign to urge Congress to address dentistry, in the coming round of COVID-19 relief legislation. 

The spread of COVID-19 is having an earth-shattering impact on most businesses, and dental practices have not been lucky either. Many are restricting their practice to emergency and urgent cases only, while others are opting to remain closed for several weeks until normalcy returns. Some states have closed dental practices entirely. According to California’s Dental Association president, Dr. Richard Nagy, such regulations and decisions are meant to ensure that dentists and their staff, as well as their patients, are safe from Coronavirus disease. 

One question patients have, even in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, is whether dental care can ever be affordable or accessible to everyone? Their uncertainty towards this issue is supported by the fact that a majority of dental practices have followed the market trends and hiked their prices.

Not having access to affordable dental treatment impacts many people’s lives in ways that stretch far beyond having the perfect Hollywood smile. From an increase in developing serious diseases and worsening already-present health conditions to being socially-stigmatized and less likely to find work, the lack of economical dentistry in the United States further widens the gap between rich and poor in our society. 

One of the best ways to stop the spread of the coronavirus and protect your dental practice is to determine whether patients are possibly carrying the virus before you treat them. Until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, the most effective method of reducing your risk of developing the disease is to avoid coming into contact with anyone already infected.

Businesses, dental businesses included, love nothing more than stability. Well, they do enjoy profits; however, those come when markets are predictable and consistent, and where business owners can accurately plan for a future that is plainly laid out before them.  

With the coronavirus spreading so rapidly, it’s only a matter of time before your area is affected. When it is, have you thought about how your dental practice is going to deal with it? Are you better off continuing to run your business and treat patients? Or is it best to close your doors and wait until the outbreak is under control?

With coronavirus cases and deaths rising by the hour, it’s only natural that patients will be extremely concerned about having dental work done at this time. While we recommend delaying non-urgent treatments, some patients might consider postponing treatment they really need until the pandemic is under control. This could result in your patients suffering intense pain and ultimately creating bigger problems for themselves in the future.

COVID-19 is spreading rapidly throughout the world. According to the World Health Organization, the mortality rate for the coronavirus is currently 3.4%. The disease has already killed more than 6,100 people and if it continues to escalate, the consequences could be devastating for everyone. 

Even though the markets partially recovered right before the weekend, more extreme fluctuations are expected due the COVID-19. Hundreds of American workers have already lost jobs over the past week, as the coronavirus epidemic starts to take a more profound toll on the global economy, and brings more organizations to a standstill. With that in mind, do you think your dental job is secure?  

Regardless of how long you have been in the dental industry, the tax season will be no way considered as “easy.” Wadding the bulk of the year’s tax work into a few days defies all chances of normalcy at the office. The combination of long days, sleepless nights, and stacks of work take a toll on even the most composed dental practice owner.

Taking appropriate action to protect yourself against infections in the dental practice is essential. Especially during a global outbreak. One of the most effective ways to stop the spread of COVID-19 is to wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). This includes gloves, impermeable smock, protective eyewear and medical/surgical mask. But what do you do when you can’t get the supplies you need to protect yourself?

There are many ways to control the spread of infection, but one of the most effective is immunization. According to WHO, vaccines prevent 2-3 million deaths every year from potentially deadly diseases such as diphtheria, measles and influenza. As of March 3rd 2020, COVID-19 has a mortality rate of 3.4%. This figure could be seriously reduced by the introduction of a globally-available vaccine, making the coronavirus much less dangerous.

As healthcare workers constantly in close contact with the oral and nasal cavities of patients, dental professionals are at the front line of recognizing symptoms and helping to stop the spread of the latest coronavirus. Regardless of whether your dental practice is located within an area affected by the disease or not, it’s crucial your office follows the recommended CDC guidelines to protect the health of your patients, your employees and yourself. 

From your team of staff and your equipment to the treatments you offer and your interior design, there are many parts of your dental practice that are fairly simple to change, but location isn’t one of them. To help you avoid the horror of realizing you’ve made a terrible mistake and then the staggeringly high cost of fixing the error, it’s important you do your research when it comes to choosing the location for your dental practice and get it right first time round.

Running your own dental practice can be very rewarding and fruitful on a personal level. But there are many hidden costs and overheads that can often detract from the value of the work. Because of this, one thing almost all dental practices have in common is the desire to reduce expenses.

Whether you work in a dedicated pediatric dental practice that exclusively treats children or you work at a family dental office which only has a few child patients, it’s impossible to avoid working with children when you’re a dentist, dental hygienist or dental assistant. If you don’t welcome children into your practice, not only will you lose your youngest patients, but you’ll also likely lose their parents and other family members, too. If your dental practice is going to be successful, it’s important you learn how to manage children and their parents in the dental practice from the beginning. 

Infection control in dentistry has particular standards. Learn how to protect yourself, your patients, and the reputation of your practice.

Everyone who works in healthcare is at risk of infection, especially dentists and dental hygienists who spend most of their day in very close proximity to the oral and nasal cavities of multiple patients. To prevent the transmission of diseases between dental healthcare workers and their patients, it’s vital everyone in your practice takes the proper precautions and follows adequate infection control procedures. 

When a treatment results in severe oral pain, some dentists prescribe opioids for pain relief. However, this seemingly innocent act of medical care can lead to opioid abuse, a growing problem throughout our nation which poses a significant risk to the economy and public health. 

Improving your patients’ quality of life by helping them create and maintain bright healthy smiles makes a huge difference to your local community. But in addition to your daily work as a dentist, dental hygienist or dental assistant, there are plenty of other ways you can enhance the lives of others in your area. If you’re ready to summon your energy, resources, compassion and skills you really can make a difference outside your dental practice as well as inside it. 

When the time comes for you to expand your dental office, the experience can be both exciting and terrifying. You’ve followed all the steps to build a successful dental practice, but turning your modest office into something bigger, better and more profitable is a major next step with lots of important things to consider along the way.

With the new respiratory virus outbreak rapidly working its way across the world, it’s wise to take preventative measures to protect yourself as a dental professional. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 2,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported globally, with 56 of those cases resulting in death. While there are only two confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US to date, so little is known about this advancing infection that it’s likely many more people across the globe are infected. 

Regardless of how far modern technology and equipment has come, 70% of dentists still report suffering from back pain. Suffering physical pain on a daily basis can quickly escalate into the inability to perform certain tasks, followed by the unavoidable need to take time off work to recover. If things get really bad, you or your dental staff could even have to undergo surgery to fix severe posture issues.

When people have a question, the first place many look for an answer is Google. Whether they’re searching for a top rated French restaurant nearby or they’re wondering which day of the week Christmas falls on next year, Google is sure to have the answer. Unfortunately, diagnosing health issues isn’t as simple as finding a restaurant or scanning a calendar.

Times are a bit tough for dental practices and dentists. We are in an economy that still, in some way, feels and looks as if it’s suffering a recession. People are holding on to their money or savings and only spending it on key necessities. Notably for some, spending their hard-earned money on dental health has ceased to be a priority.  

Whether you’re getting ready to open your dental practice for the very first time or you’ve been in business for years but you know your office could be doing better, having a solid dental marketing strategy is key to growing your business. It’s all well and good knowing you should market your dental office, but knowing how to market it is a totally different story.

Budget and employee satisfaction are interconnected; one always affects the other. 

There’s a lot more to running a successful dental practice than first meets the eye. From an outsider’s perspective, it might seem that all you need to do is supervise the dental staff to ensure they’re doing a good job and follow up with patients to make sure they’re happy with the treatment they receive. But even if you’ve only been a dental office manager for one day, you’ll already know this isn’t the case at all. 

The dental industry has never been more demanding and burdensome than it is currently, and so much of this burden or weight falls on the shoulders of the dental practice owners. For instance, dental practices are in never-ending competition for patients, experience challenges in their schedules, and go through bouts of low productivity.

Running a successful dental practice can be incredibly challenging for anyone new to practice management. There are many different facts you need to take into consideration, from employing experienced dedicated professionals and prioritizing patient satisfaction to ongoing dental training and maintaining a realistic pricing structure. 

Inbound marketing is the equivalent of building a lobster trap and employing the right bait. This will attract the target audience you are looking for and persuade them to stay.

First-class customer service is vital in the dental industry. Making your clients feel valued and respected helps your practice stand out in today’s competitive marketplace and builds a genuine loyalty that will not only result in many repeated visits, but great recommendations, too. If your customers get a happy, warm feeling when they visit you instead of a dreaded pit in their stomach, you bet they’ll be at their next appointment on time and will tell their friends and family about your practice.

Use your leadership skills in dentistry to keep your patients, your employees and yourself happy—all within your budget.

Consultants: a word that strikes dread in the hearts of most dentists and dental practice owners. Why is that so when consultants usually do so much good for dental clinics?

By nature, dentists are scientists and healthcare providers, not business tycoons or investment strategists. They want a fulfilling life following their dreams of creating a successful dental practice. It is a good day when their work is appreciated by their patients. Dentists assume that the money will follow along automatically. 

Many dentists struggle with understanding where the money goes when they look at a dismal financial statement presented to them by their CPA. They are busy doing dentistry, but busy does not equal profitability in the world of business. Counting money coming in and money going out is for number crunchers, and most dentists would instead be crunching out crown preps or motivating patients to have implants instead of dentures. Whether a private practice or a dental clinic with more than one provider and often specialists under one roof, the principles of management are the same when laying the foundation for success.

For any modern dental practice, their goal is to improve productivity and efficiency while still maintaining patient satisfaction and a high level of care. But that can be easier said than done.

Efficiency is a big word with an even more significant meaning to your practice.  It is one of those words that seems elusive in the daily world of trying to balance workload and personal time.  If a lack of efficiency in several dental systems is keeping you in the office one to two hours or more past closing time, you can relate to this issue. Efficiency to some is doing it all yourself and trying to get it done in a timely fashion and getting it right the first time. Energy should be maximizing your time with the tasks that build the practice and increase profits within a typical working day.

The sharing economy has steadfastly been adopted in the “employment phrasebook.” But what does this extra-flexible way of working mean for dental practices?

The craze around the sharing economy or “gig economy” as some would love to call it, has been getting louder lately, to the extent of one time making it into a speech by Hillary Clinton – where she presented her fears over what this popular hiring approach could mean for workers.   

If your hobby is dentistry and you have another profession that brings in money don’t read this article.

When the dental practice is humming along as you move from treatment room to treatment room, you don’t give much thought to productivity because you are amid it.  It is when there is a cancellation, and you walk back to your private space and contemplate whether the patient was confirmed or not that you start to worry about production. Let's just say that the patient was confirmed but for some reason, the patient didn’t show up.  

You only have time to do one of the following, which one is it?

How do you ensure the happiness levels of your dental team remains high even when your budget is limited? It’s obvious, not all dental practices can afford extravagant remuneration packages and keep up with the latest HR trends. As a dental office owner, you need not to worry anymore. Read to find out why…

The first conference regarding artificial intelligence took place in 1956. Around that time, John McCarthy, the man many believe to be the father of AI, coined the term “artificial intelligence.” Now, over fifty years later, it seems the terms “AI” and “machine learning” are everywhere. There’s a good reason for that. The technology has become a part of our everyday lives. We can get everything from fashion advice to stock tips from computers. They can even beat us at games like go, chess and Jeopardy.

They grew up in the 1990s and the 2000s, and sometimes they get a bad rap. But now that the United States’ millennials are adults, the working world is welcoming them with open arms. Businesses everywhere are seeing the benefits of working with—and getting to know—the newest generation of US workers.