No matter what generation you grew up in, marketing a dental practice with social media can be a deceptively simple endeavor. What we mean is that social media, when done right, is not challenging to actually carry out. It’s not rocket science, but it does follow some rules that are easy to overlook.

Do I Really Need Social Media for My Dental Practice?

Yes, you really do. It’s not that you need a social media presence run by ten professional marketers capable of soaking up dozens of hours and tons of money. It’s that the absence of adequate social media can damage the way potential patients view you when they look you up online or are referred by a friend.

Not having a social media is odd nowadays. It’s the measure by which we as a society determine the popularity and even the viability of a business or practice.

Simple Ways to Maximize Social Media Effectiveness

Personal and professional social media should not be carried out in exactly the same way. This is the most significant issue with many dental practice’s social media accounts.

In a personal profile, it doesn’t matter if: the pictures are posted randomly, the quality is low, the info isn’t particularly useful , and the grammar is poor. That’s basically expected.

Professional social media should be the opposite. It should be curated on a regular basis with high quality imagery and equally high quality writing. Once you’ve done that, you’re on your way to social media that effectively markets your practice. It should embody the same qualities and sensibility you want patients to associate with your particular dental brand.

Your profile provides a look inside your practice that personalizes/humanizes it and encourages communication with patients. This does not mean it is a place to break down professional barriers between practice and patient.

Finally, don’t feel obligated to use every social media platform that exists. You can safely assume that the trifecta of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter will cover the majority of your bases. There are pros and cons to all three. Younger generations are losing interest in Facebook, but older generations seem to love it. Instagram attracts a wide variety of ages that include millennials and younger audiences. Twitter’s shortcoming is that information circulates rapidly; one post a week isn’t enough to make much of a difference.

But like we mentioned before, you don’t necessarily have to invest heavily in social media, attempting to acquire new patients from this avenue. First and foremost, social media simply provides more easily accessible information about your practice to potential patients and should help them be more comfortable choosing you as their dentist.

What do you love or dislike about social media as a marketing tool? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments!

3 Ways to Help Patients Articulate Their Expectations for Successful Dental Treatment

Patient expectations are a tricky thing in dentistry. They vary from patient to patient both in the level to which expectations are considered and in the content of those expectations.

You can ensure good relationships with your patients if you define expectations before providing treatment. Exceeding expectations doesn’t require you to be perfect. It simply requires paying attention and showing an enthusiastic desire to fully meet their goals.

Before you can deliver on your promises, you first have to figure out what exactly the patient wants.

3 Ways to Figure Out Patient Expectations

Meeting and exceeding expectations is tricky because patients usually don’t know outright what will make them happy. They may not know how to articulate what they’re thinking.

Your guidance is most effective when offered during the comprehensive exam appointment. It’s important to gather views and opinions rather than solely data.

1. Ask About Their General Health

This can tell you what a patient’s aspirations are for their health. Interestingly, the clinician’s perspective on what a patient ‘needs’ may not match up with what they actually ‘want.’

Unless the treatment is detrimental to their health, why get in the way of what they value just because it doesn’t line up with what you would personally choose?

An example of this is a situation I encountered where a patient had asked about bleaching. The dentist felt her teeth were already white enough and discouraged her from bleaching. He later learned from one of his hygienists that she was the type of person who highly valued small differences in her aesthetics (i.e. she ran five to six miles every day for fitness).

He decided to reopen the bleaching discussion now that he better understood her values.

2. Ask If They Regularly See a Physician

This does more than give you the name of your patient’s physician. It starts a discussion about how the patient chose their physician and what they like or don’t like about the care they receive in that practice.

Pay attention to any comments that indicate a high or low level of trust for healthcare providers. You can also learn about their scheduling convenience and cost containment preferences, as well as how much they value a doctor’s willingness to take the time to listen to them. Ask them to tell you more about their answers and how they apply to expectations of your practice.

 3. Ask About Their Previous Dental Experiences

Similarly, this gives you more than just concrete data. It’s a chance to learn what their attitude is toward dentistry and how their past experiences have shaped what they expect of you.

For example, if the patient tells you they go to the dentist regularly but still get cavities, this might lead you to wonder why they think decay continues to occur. You can ask follow-up questions such as, “Would you like to change that pattern?” or “What part do you see me playing in preventing decay?”

Ultimately, clarity is the key to good relationships with patients. Endeavor to understand them on a deeper level and you will deliver care that exceeds expectations.

What questions do you ask patients to provide better care? Please let us know in the comments!

Click Here for When Ceramic Debonds: Part 1

A Methodical Process for Examining the Frustrating Reasons Behind Why

One of the most disheartening and emotionally upsetting situations is when a ceramic restoration debonds. Our ability to act constructively in the moment is key to our future case success.

In Part 1 of this series, I explained why it’s important to acknowledge your frustration without letting it control you. I also outlined the beginning of a methodical thought process that will help you figure out why ceramic debonds.

The following steps assume you’ve already looked at the resin and determined if the ceramic was prepared, cleaned, or conditioned properly.

Completing Your Investigative Process When Ceramic Debonds

You have a different set of explanations for what happened if all of the resin cement is on the ceramic and the tooth is clean.

Clean the tooth thoroughly to remove all trace of the temporary cement. The issue may have occurred when the enamel and dentin were etched, regardless of whether you used a total etch or a self etch technique.

Next, ask yourself about the amount of enamel you have versus the amount of dentin. This involves taking a second look at the prep, because secondary dentin can be quite problematic when bonding.

Another area you may need to reconsider is your technique for dentin adhesive. Did you accurately follow the steps? Could poor isolation have led to a contaminated tooth during the process?

Lastly, sometimes there is some resin on the tooth and some on the ceramic. In this case when resin is in both places, you can benefit from rethinking the occlusal forces on the tooth and the functional design. Your patient may have higher functional risk or you might have lacked complete precision while adjusting the final occlusion. A good clue that you’ll find resin on the tooth and the ceramic is if it fails under load.

You can better target your problem solving and decrease the risk of the same technical issue recurring in the future by identifying where the resin is located. Follow the thought process in this series and you’re well on your way to smoother cases.

How do you respond when ceramic debonds? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Methodical Process for Examining the Frustrating Causes

Dentistry is not solely a clinical, emotionless skillset that uses techniques to achieve outcomes. It’s also emotional, fraught with the normal human frustrations of mistakes and complications. One of the situations where I see this most frequently is when a ceramic restoration debonds.

Acknowledging and Embracing Our Emotions When Ceramic Debonds

On an average day at the dental practice, we experience the full range of human emotions: happiness, curiosity, boredom, excitement, frustration, etc. But sometimes, this is interrupted by a situation that becomes far more dramatic.

Ceramic that debonds creates a highly disconcerting scenario. It makes us feel powerless and consequently we find it difficult to resolve the issue with the full spectrum of our scientific learning.

Before we can return to ourselves and work toward a resolution, we have to acknowledge that it’s okay to be human! You cannot outrun trouble and messiness. When ceramic debonds, you’re upset and the patient is upset. The confluence of these factors leads to the struggle of regaining control over your brain’s analytic functions.

Having a plan for these types of situations, a methodical set of steps to take and questions to answer amidst the blinders of upset can help you carry out the task at hand.

Questions to Ask During a Methodical Ceramic Process

There are two initial queries in our method for sleuthing out the cause when ceramic debonds. First, we ask why the ceramic restoration came off and how we can minimize or eliminate the possibility of it occurring again.

We must also then ask: Where is the resin cement?

The process for discovering this involves examining the tooth and the internal surfaces of the ceramic through the lenses of our dental loupes. Attempting to visualize the resin is ineffective compared to scratching the surface using an explorer.

If we’ve completed this test, finding that all of the resin is attached to the tooth and a clean ceramic interface, we proceed to the next step. We must consider the process of bonding to the ceramic and whether or not the ceramic was adequately prepared.

Dental ceramics can have many different preparation requirements depending on the type. They can have different etching times, distinctive percentages of hydrofluoric acid, or can require preparation with air abrasion. Oil secreted from hands, in addition to blood, saliva, die stone, or try in paste, could have contaminated the ceramic. If it wasn’t cleaned properly, the result was marred. One step where problems are more likely is when ceramic is conditioned with silane or Monobond Plus…

You can learn about other causes in the upcoming second installment of Dr. Brady’s ‘Why Ceramic Debonds’ series. How do you feel when you face this problem? Please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Successful restorative dentistry now hinges on an understanding that physiological changes occur over a lifetime. It’s detrimental to treat the dynamic relationship between dental occlusion and adjacent craniofacial structures as static.

We are all generally familiar with the fact that there is a significant change in facial profile (convex to straight) between adolescence and adulthood. Jaw growth usually ends between 17 and 20-ish years old, but 3-dimensional craniofacial skeletal growth and remodeling does not cease after adolescence.

It’s lifelong growth even though it’s slow. As a result, we can’t consider adult patients morphologically stable. This is actually a relatively new concept that we’ve become aware of because of implant dentistry.

So what does this mean for restorations? First, we need more information.

Physiological Changes and Restorative Dentistry: A Quick Overview

These adult growth changes can be seen in both a decrease and increase in the dimensions of the craniofacial skeleton. There is an increase in maxillary and mandibular anterior dentoalveolar heights.

We should also pay attention to vertical growth of the maxilla, which continues after transverse and sagittal growth end. It has been suggested that reductions seen in arch width, depth, and perimeter may be due to interstitial wear and mesial drift. The latter occurs because of an occlusal force stemming from root angulation, mesial eruption force and the direction of occlusal contact during chewing. It’s integral to consider tooth movement because it compensates for wear while maintaining interproximal contacts.

There are different patterns of growth in short-faced and long-faced people. Short-faced individuals have greater transverse maxillary growth. As they mature, their anterior teeth tip forward and enable mesial drift. This process occurs more vertically in long-faced people. Short-faced individuals experience upward buccal movement of the teeth, while long-faced individuals experience lingual movement and continual tooth eruption that supports a normal interarch relationship.

What we now know from recent research is that eruption after the tooth has reached occlusal contact is a compensatory response to occlusal wear. Eruption creates vertical growth if there is no occlusal wear.

A comprehensive understanding of the complex interplay between all of these changes in the dental arch is essential to restorative dentistry.

How do you keep up to date on the latest dental research? We’d love to hear your tips in the comments! 

Click here for Paving The Way Part One

Not too long ago, it was far less common to see or be a woman in dentistry. Modernizing norms and improvements to social equity have changed the game for women in a variety of careers. Not only are women choosing male-dominated professions, they’re also staying in them over a lifetime.

In the 80s and 90s, it was a different story.

Dr. Glenda Owen graduated from dental school in the early 80s. In her last blog, she related the challenges she faced while receiving an education. Below, she details the drastic change in percentage of women dentists and how women have influenced the model of a dental career …

Being a Woman in Dentistry: Then and Now

The percentage of women dentists has also changed dramatically. When I graduated in 1981, 3% of practicing dentists were women. Today, that percentage has swelled to 30%. Nationwide, 50% of dental school classes are female.

My class, which was actually pretty progressive, had 20% women. Admittedly, not all of them are still practicing 36 years later, but neither are the men. Among those who are still in practice, many, like me, are practice owners.

There are a multitude of ways women have influenced the model of a dental practice and the definition of success. It is not enough to be technically excellent or to earn a comfortable income.

Many of us want to find satisfaction in our relationships with patients and our teams. We want to go home at the end of the day feeling that we have made a difference in someone’s life. We want to leave the office with enough energy to enjoy our families, friends, hobbies, and volunteer activities. Burnout is deadly and usually avoidable.

To be continued …

How do you create an ideal practice environment that supports your desired lifestyle? Please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Splint therapy can be one of the best services we offer our patients, but plan poorly and your headaches will greatly increase as you decrease your patient’s.

We all want to provide our best stuff for our patients, yet sometimes we can find ourselves in a quagmire of complexity and not getting reimbursed for our efforts.

Through the years I’ve seen this scenario play out in my own practice and many others because we lack structure around our fees for splint therapy. If ever there was an example of the failure of unit fees to provide appropriate care and reimbursement, the one size (fee) fits all approach in splint therapy will leave you clenching and grinding.

How to Individualize Splint Therapy Fees

To be equitable for patient and practice, fees for splint therapy must be individualized. To do this, you’ll need to have a good idea of what your production per hour goals are and utilize that as a basis for your fee.

For example, if I have an anterior deprogrammer that requires very little follow up to simply protect the dentition and calm muscle, the fee would consist of a lab fee (I charge this fee even if I make it in house), the time for insert, and the amount of time for follow up, usually one or two short appointments.

For more complex TMD therapy I like to look at it this way: take the same basic fee structure illustrated above and add time for insertion (allow yourself enough time, knowing mandibular/condylar position is likely to change as you adjust), then add for follow up appointments based on your diagnosis and complexity.

Estimating Therapeutic Time

Here are some of the factors I consider when estimating the “therapeutic time.” I’ll routinely add time and/or appointments based on whether it involves:

1) an occluso-muscle disorder

2) an intracapsular disorder

3) the amount of degenerative change in the condyle disc assembly

4) the chronic or acute nature of the problem (acute problems I feel are generally harder to manage)

5) the presence of pain, both quantitative and qualitative

6) the duration of pain and complexity of pain pattern (pain emanating from multiple sources)

7) the behavioral and psychological dynamics involved with the patient

In closing, I’d remember to under-promise and over-deliver in direct proportion to the complexity of the problem. Evaluate, diagnose, and treat wisely and you’ll achieve pain reduction and stability for both you and your patient!

How do you structure fees for splint therapy in your practice? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!