Dental Tribune U.S. Edition

Publisher & Chairman Torsten Oemus t.oemus@dental-tribune.com Chief Operating Officer Eric Seid e.seid@dental-tribune.com Group Editor & Designer Robin Goodman r.goodman@dental-tribune.com Editor in Chief Dental Tribune Dr. David L. Hoexter d.hoexter@dental-tribune.com Managing Editor/Designer Implant, Endo & Lab Tribunes Sierra Rendon s.rendon@dental-tribune.com Managing Editor/Designer Ortho Tribune & Show Dailies Kristine Colker k.colker@dental-tribune.com Online Editor Fred Michmershuizen f.michmershuizen@dental-tribune.com Product & Account Manager Mark Eisen m.eisen@dental-tribune.com Marketing Manager Anna Wlodarczyk a.wlodarczyk@dental-tribune.com Sales & Marketing Assistant Lorrie Young l.young@dental-tribune.com C.E. Manager Julia E. Wehkamp j.wehkamp@dental-tribune.com C.E. International Sales Manager Christiane Ferret c.ferret@dtstudyclub.com Dental Tribune America, LLC 116 West 23rd Street, Suite 500 New York, NY 10011 Tel.: (212) 244-7181 Fax: (212) 244-7185 Published by Dental Tribune America © 2011 Dental Tribune America, LLC All rights reserved. Dental Tribune strives to maintain the utmost accuracy in its news and clini- cal reports. If you find a factual error or content that requires clarification, please contact Group Editor Robin Goodman at r.goodman@dental-tribune.com. Dental Tribune cannot assume respon- sibility for the validity of product claims or for typographical errors. The pub- lisher also does not assume responsibility for product names or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Dental Tribune America. Dr. Joel Berg Dr. L. Stephen Buchanan Dr. Arnaldo Castellucci Dr. Gorden Christensen Dr. Rella Christensen Dr. William Dickerson Hugh Doherty Dr. James Doundoulakis Dr. David Garber Dr. Fay Goldstep Dr. Howard Glazer Dr. Harold Heymann Dr. Karl Leinfelder Dr. Roger Levin Dr. Carl E. Misch Dr. Dan Nathanson Dr. Chester Redhead Dr. Irwin Smigel Dr. Jon Suzuki Dr. Dennis Tartakow Dr. Dan Ward Editorial Board DENTAL TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Newspaper · US Edition Interview DENTAL TRIBUNE | July 20112A Do you have general comments or criticism you would like to share? Is there a particular topic you would like to see more articles about? Let us know by e-mailing us at feedback@dental-tribune.com. If you would like to make any change to your subscription (name, address or to opt out) please send us an e-mail at database@dental-tribune.com and be sure to include which publication you are referring to. Also, please note that subscription changes can take up to 6 weeks to process. Tell us what you think! f DT page 1A that dental practices should do, inter- nal and external. Internal marketing includes posters, brochures, discus- sions, etc., delivered within the facility. External marketing includes websites, advertising, mailings, etc., that are done virally through e-mail or regular mail. Many dentists are not trained in marketing and find it inherently dif- ficult to embrace marketing to grow their business. Many do not know how; many just don’t think they need to. Many dentists do not take the time to educate their patients or understand the value of patient education. Many feel that patients will accept treatment on the sole basis that the dentist told them they need it. That may have been the way it was, but we now live in an information-based society, and if patients do not receive adequate information from their dentist, they will seek it elsewhere. Hopefully, that won’t be the competitor down the street! We did a survey of our My Dental Hub clients to determine how effective patient education was in their prac- tices. Our end users told us that they had experienced an increased case acceptance of 53 percent. This number indicates the importance of educating patients and the impact it has is appar- ent in any business, including the busi- ness of dentistry. The process of patient education needs to be woven into the daily activi- ties within a practice. This requires enhanced staff training and imple- mentation. Many dentists do not invest the time to integrate the process into their practice procedures. Acceptance of a practice philosophy mandates that training for implementation is as important as training in the procedure. In your opinion, how will digital tools change the dental practice and the way in which doctors communi- cate with their patients? The entire world is digital; it’s not “becoming” digital. Dentists must embrace this new means of doing business simply because it is now a component of everything, from paying a bill in a restaurant to travel, shop- ping and doing something as basic as reading. In terms of communication, digital tools enable a dental practice to com- municate quickly, easily and effective- ly with patients or referrals. No more printing, no more mailing, diminished expense and waste. Society is changing. People are more aware of their environment and doing their part to go “green.” With simple tools, a dental practice can deliver high-quality education directly and exemplify “environmental friend- liness” as well. Ten years ago, if you had told people you could e-mail ani- mations to patients to show them a dental procedure, no one would have believed it possible. Today, this is the way of the world and the way business is being done. I believe that with the incorporation of digital tools into a dental practice, “elegant simplicity and seamless con- nectivity” with patients and colleagues will become the standard. Those who embrace today’s technology will be tomorrow’s industry leaders. DT the ability to constantly upgrade and update our product offering and cus- tomize our solutions to the needs of our clients. As the dental industry starts moving toward cloud-based solutions, we are well positioned to offer solu- tions to meet the needs of the individu- al dental practice, as well as the collab- orative needs of dental organizations. Convincing patients to invest in den- tal treatment, e.g., an implant treat- ment, is a challenging task. How does My Dental Hub help? We believe that there are three pri- mary components to case acceptance. Patients will invest in dental treat- ment if they understand the problem and understand the treatment that is being offered, but more importantly, patients must understand the value of the treatment and how that treat- ment will improve the quality of their life — whether it is related to improv- ing function or esthetics. The con- tent in My Dental Hub has been spe- cifically developed to address these components of patient education in a language that patients will under- stand. The 3-D animations are used to visually explain the procedure and the benefits of the treatment, and the printable and “e-mailable” documents serve as reinforcement of the anima- tions and as a resource for patients to review at home. What are some of the additional fea- tures the software offers? One of the key features of the software is the ability to e-mail the animations and documents to patients. This allows the dental practice to extend its consul- tation from the office into the patient’s home, where patients can share and discuss the recommended treatment with those involved in the decision- making process. My Dental Hub has several modules within the program. We offer anima- tions, image documents, narrated slide shows, customizable text documents, a document creator, a patient and photo management section allowing the practice to upload and store patient images, as well as a presentation- creation module. Our newest mod- ule, Easy Consult, has been extremely popular and is currently our most- used module. Easy Consult allows the busy practice to do a consultation in three simple steps and then e-mail the entire consultation to their patients. It automates the consultation process. It’s very simple and highly effective! My Dental Hub also offers mobile applications, apps, available on iPad, iPhone and Android tablets, contain- ing all our animations and slide shows. The iPad app is extremely popular in dental practices as an easy way to explain treatment to patients. It pro- vides an exceptional presentation on oral-hygiene instruction, which invari- ably is a significant driver in any den- tal practice. In addition, we offer a product called Web Site Content that allows users to place any of our animations and slideshows on their websites or link to their website. High-quality ani- mations on a website allow patients to obtain information about the proce- dures offered by the practice and offer a powerful branding and marketing tool for a practice. In your opinion, what are the most common mistakes dentists make in patient education and/or market- ing their dental practice? There are two types of marketing AD