A key tenant of Pankey philosophy is to know your patient before you treat them. It’s one of the most important lessons learned in our Essentials 1 course, Aesthetic & Functional Treatment Planning You begin to develop a self-awareness that you can cultivate throughout your professional life.

The concept of ‘knowing’ is worthy of much exploration, especially because what counts as knowing your patient is subjective to each individual. It’s about more than simply gathering data on their past dental history and current concerns in a pre-clinical interview.

To know your patient, you must be fully present with them. Then you must listen, truly listen. It’s difficult to remain quiet as your mind jumps from different solutions and possibilities to potential responses. That’s what makes listening a skill worth cultivating.

How to Listen More Effectively in a Pre-Clinical Interview

Start by taking stock of the moment before you even enter the room and acknowledge the patient. Pause. Evaluate your own mental space. Become curious about the unique individual who seeks your guidance and expertise.

Once you’ve transitioned to the interview, remind yourself that the patient should be doing 80% of the talking. It requires practice to stifle the urge to interrupt or re-direct, especially if you’re naturally talkative. On the other hand, during extremely busy days it can be a relief to settle back and focus on someone else’s thoughts.

Create a More Comfortable Environment for the Patient

One thing that helps you begin to know your patient is creating the right environment. Focus on them exclusively so that in the moment they genuinely feel like the most important person in the world. Hold eye contact, but also learn to take conversational cues from the patient. If they seem reticent, give them the space and freedom to be at ease.

During the interview process, ask open-ended questions capable of uncovering their values around health, fears or anxieties, and more. By providing them with answers to their questions and listening closely, you are already performing a service that is likely a rare experience in their daily life.

How do you cultivate understanding and trust in your pre-clinical interviews? Share your tips or advice with the Pankey community! 

Many dentist-patient interactions operate under the assumption of limited time on our part and limited ability to accurately explain on theirs. After engaging in hundreds of pre-clinical interviews and conversations during appointments, you will have naturally developed your own preferred style for questioning. But how well does it really serve you?

If you feel something is lacking in your patient care, yet your clinical skills and execution seem immaculate, the problem might be about language. When you communicate with your patients, do you get the sense that they feel limited, misunderstood, or unsatisfied? This could be a direct result of using language to discuss ‘disease’ rather than ‘health.’

Use the Language of Health to Connect With Your Patients

Getting out of the rut of a traditional hygiene appointment starts with how you communicate. Even minor shifts in your word choice can have a profound effect on the patient’s sense of comfort. Open up a discussion about their health to connect with their needs.

A great way to follow this path is to abandon the typical impersonal medical jargon. Instead of asking if there have been changes to the patient’s medical history, pose a question about how their health has been since you last saw them.

Right out of the gate, you are presenting yourself as empathetic rather than turning into the classic brusque medical professional. Ask about how they are feeling, whether they have been taking care of themselves, and what changes they have made in their lifestyle.

These types of questions capitalize on expressive language to make the most of your time. Having the patient rattle off changes in their medical history without knowing how they feel about those changes isn’t as useful. People will generally open up when they are given a safe, non-judgmental space to discuss their health. After all, it is often one of the central preoccupations of our interior lives.

What questions do you think are most productive during appointments? 

It’s time to forget your New Years resolutions for a night (or morning) at our top four favorite Miami dessert spots.

Dental continuing education should always come with a hefty serving of fun in addition to all of the personal and career development. What could be more fun than sugar, sugar, and more sugar?

Best Desserts in Miami (AKA Bring on the Cavities)

When you visit Pankey, it would be a shame not to leave Key Biscayne at least once to explore mainland Miami. Not only does the city boast a fascinating assortment of culture, it’s also known for world-class cuisine.

But where to go and, most importantly, what restaurant(s) should you visit? Don’t worry, we’ll lead you on the path of dessert decadence:

1. A Simple Slice of Pie at The Dutch

Pie, you ask? Really? Oh yes. Choose the pie of your heart’s desire at this eclectic American-style bar, restaurant, and oyster room on Miami Beach. Salted lime, caramel apple, and banana cream pies are made fresh daily.

2. An Insane Milkshake at Bocas House

Whether you’re on Instagram or not, you will have to get a picture of your Bocas House milkshake to share with all close and not-so-close acquaintances. Their whimsical masterpieces like the Nutella and Golden Milkshakes are topped with everything from brownies to ice cream cones.

3. A Sophisticated Flourless Cake at Chef Sucre Cafe

This Coral Gables eatery is a foodie’s dream. Order the flourless chocolate cake (gluten free, for those wondering) and enjoy the lingonberry chutney prepared alongside chantilly cream. It’s an unforgettable dessert experience.

4. A Jaw-Dropping Deep Fried Oreo at Yardbird

Gone are the days when deep fried oreos were only considered festival fare. Yardbird turns the tables with this shocking dessert. It’s honestly a meal of its own, though you might find the other dessert offerings (mini nutella-filled beignets, bacon butterscotch cake, and more) difficult to pass up.

There are endless Miami desserts that could have made it onto this list, including our favorite Gelato right on Key Biscayne at Bertoni. If none of our choices suit your taste buds, go ahead and explore! The local fare is always full of surprises.

The end of 2017 is wrapping up a solid year of incredible dental blogs from our talented Pankey contributors. Our posts featured everything from techniques for occlusion and orthodontics to practice management and leadership.

There are tons of useful tips and plenty of information for dentists at every stage of their career on the Pankey Gram. Here, we’re compiling five pieces of sound advice from blogs in 2017 that are sure to get you excited for another year of practicing dentistry your way.

As Pankey dentists, we continue to strive for greater learning and growth in our professional and personal lives. Revitalize your hunger for education with these thought-provoking tips:

5 Clinical Tips From 2017 Pankey Blogs

1. Consider physiologic changes that occur over a lifetime when planning restorative dentistry.

In his blog on ‘Adult Growth of the Dental Arch,’ Dr. Roger Solow explored the slow craniofacial growth that can affect dentistry throughout a patient’s life.

2. Set splint therapy fees in such a way that you can actually make money off them.

In his blog, ‘How to Set Splint Therapy Fees,’ Dr. James Otten described how to individualize splint therapy fees and more accurately estimate therapeutic time.

3. Think like an orthodontist when advising patients on post-ortho care.

In her blog, ‘How Long Should Patients Wear Their Retainers Post-Ortho?’, Dr. Lee Ann Brady laid out important considerations for dealing with questions about retainers.

4. Recognize when patients are in denial and practice empathy toward them.

In her blog on communication, ‘From Denial to Acceptance and Action,’ Mary Osborne RDH enlightened with a description of patient denial in dentistry.

5. Improve you protocol for restorations by adding another dental assistant.

In his blog, ‘6-Handed Bonding,’ Dr. Mike Crete made his case for why an extra dental assistant can benefit dentists dealing with adhesive dentistry and tricky restorations.

And there you have it folks. Best wishes for 2018! 

Pankey just so happens to be located on a beautiful island off the coast of Miami: Key Biscayne. For many, the Key is an ideal tropical escape. It’s small enough to walk around on foot, but large enough to accommodate many cuisine and activity options.

There are gorgeous beaches, world-class restaurants, stunning mansions, and luxury resorts spread along a five mile stretch of palm-tree dotted land. Connected to mainland Miami by the Rickenbacker Causeway, you’ll feel yourself entering a different world as you leave congested city streets for the laid back island vibe.

We’ve already given you some ideas for the best Cuban food to sample while you’re attending a CE course at Pankey. Now, we’ve put together a simple guide you can take advantage of to get the most out of your trip.

3 Things to Do in Key Biscayne

1. Go to the Beach

When we say go to the beach, there really are a hundred different ways you could do this on Key Biscayne alone. One of the best is to extend your stay at Pankey into a mini-vacation and book a room at the local Ritz-Carlton. They have a delightful beach to lounge on for a relaxing getaway.

2. Visit Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

This state park is gorgeous and fascinating, along with having a great beach. You can explore the historic lighthouse and learn more about the area’s thriving wildlife. You can also go kayaking, snorkel, hike, and much more.

3. Shop in the Sunshine

There are multiple locations on Key Biscayne to shop for upscale clothing or unique items. On top of that, stores tend to be nestled right next to incredible restaurants like Origins Asian Bistro. Key Colony Plaza is one example of the intimate, classy shopping centers scattered around the island.

What do you love about traveling for CE courses? Please leave your thoughts in the comments! 

Curious what dental materials the Pankey community is currently raving about? 

Sometimes, when you feel bored or uninspired at the practice, you could benefit from trying out new materials. This type of change can simultaneously up your clinical game and get you excited about work again.

Check out the suggestions from 5 Pankey dentists below for inspiration:

Materials Pankey Dentists Love

Dr. Mark Kleive

“My favorite new material is the air abrasion hand piece from Groman Dental – Etchmaster. It’s simple, no big equipment, still a bit of mess, but very precise.”

Dr. Mike Crete 

“My favorite new ‘tool’ in my toolbox is CBCT. In the last two years, I have had a major shift in my diagnostics and treatment planning by using 3D imaging. Although I do not have a scanner in my own office, the specialists that I have a great working relationship with do have them and it has become a great adjunct to our diagnostic and treatment planning process.

Dr. Lee Ann Brady

“My recent favorite is Cervitec Plus, Chlorhexidine varnish. It is an incredible antimicrobial adjunct for high caries risk patients. It reduces the bacterial count for 3-5 months and is applied at their hygiene visits. It is also great for around temporaries to create fabulous tissue health when seating restorations.”

Dr. Jennifer Davis

“My top two favorite materials lately:

(1) Not a new thing, but it still amazes me. Use of MicroPrime, a Gluma product,  after etching my composite preps. The amount of post-operative sensitivities and/or root canal procedures that come from my office now is amazingly low. Wish I had the foundation for a research study.

(2) I am loving using products to stain provisionals to custom match a tooth to the dentition. I use Protemp as my provisional material most times. They make such limited shades, though. Therefore, I stain with either Cosmodent tints, Creative Color, or Kerr-Kolor in white.”

Dr. Michelle M. Lee

“Not a material, but my mind has been blown with microscopes in the last month from the training I’ve been getting at Penn. It’s just been such a great experience and taken dentistry to the next level in terms of detail, finish, and marginal integrity. I have been loving learning more about this, as well as the integration of microscopes and dentistry with digital workflow! Fun stuff!”

What new or old favorite material are you excited about? We’d love to hear from you in the comments! 

Cost vs. Benefit of Building an Online Presence

Blogs are all the rage for company websites and an increasing number of dental practices are using them. You may have already dipped your toe in by starting one or wondered if it’s worth it.

The answer is: Sort of.

What’s a Blog and Why Do I Need It?

A blog is simply a short or long amount of written information added regularly to a specific page on a website (this is getting pretty meta, isn’t it?). It’s a place where people write public thoughts, opinions, etc. Usually, it’s more casual than most other website copy. In the dental practice world, you might use it to explain common questions patients have in more detail, relate patient success stories, or talk about your practice values/events.

Saying you need a blog though is like saying you need a new paint job in the office. Unless the place looks like a barnyard shack and paint is peeling down entire walls, it’s hard to determine exactly how much of an effect the improvement is having.

Understanding the Pros and Cons of a Dental Practice Blog

Blogs – in marketing a business – are used mainly to improve Google ranking. A higher Google ranking for keywords related to your practice like, ‘[insert state/city] dentist,’ means you’re one of the first links a potential patient sees. They aren’t likely to look past the first page.

Your initial instinct might be to post randomly generated nonsense using ideal keywords. Unfortunately, Google is too smart to let people game the system that easily (not to mention it looks crazy next to the rest of your gorgeous website and people will actually try to read it).

Blog content has to be readable and it has to be mostly real/unique. Effective blog posts are Frankenstein monsters of actual relevant content and arbitrary computer info that helps Google do its thing (i.e. keywords interspersed a maximum and minimum % throughout, meta descriptions, titles of a certain length and structure, headings, overall blog length, and so on). There are WordPress plugins that will help you manage the latter.

Here’s the clincher. Your ranking won’t be boosted to any useful degree by posting an ideal blog once a month or once a year. For the system to work, you have to post regularly. The exact amount of times a week or month is unclear, but at least once a week is preferred.

If you don’t have the resources, time, or desire to make decent content and post it often (or have someone else do it), there isn’t much point to doing it occasionally. It’s going to be off-putting to potential and current patients browsing your website if the latest post on your blog is many months to multiple years old. It looks unprofessional and makes it seem like your practice went off the radar for a long period of time.

Basically, if you can’t hire someone for the amount of time it takes to completely paint the wall and/or don’t have the ability to finish it yourself …. well, why even start in the first place?

What has your experience been of incorporating a blog into your practice website? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Having dental work done when you’re a dentist is a strange experience. It can be enlightening, frustrating, relaxing, or a combination of all three.

The phenomenon of dentists treating dentists is one fraught with more than a few commonalities…

4 Things That Happen When Dentists Get Dental Work

1. We Empathize More With Patients

When we’re the one in the chair, we experience dental work from the opposite perspective. We’re bound to think things like, ‘Geez, this grinding really does shake my head.’ What seems like no big deal as a dentist seems much more dramatic as a patient.

2. We Notice the Overlooked Details

Lying back gives us the chance to see the operatory from a whole new angle. We notice all the water spots on the light cover from the disinfrectant and the quality of the safety glasses. We’re sure to have these details checked in our own office as soon as we get return from the appointment.

3. We Get Super Controlling or Super Relaxed

For many dentists it is hard to just be the patient; we understand every little thing that is happening, but can’t keep track of the details when we are being worked on. With nothing else to do, our minds race as we review the procedure, how we do it, and how it is being done right now. We’ll wonder, ‘did they let the etch sit for exactly 25 seconds?’ or ‘did they scrub with the dentin adhesive for 15 seconds twice?’ We can’t help but hold our chosen clinician’s hand throughout the prep, despite vetting and trusting them beforehand.

Other dentists take the opposite approach. You don’t even want to think about what’s going on. For once, you don’t have to make the critical decisions.

4. We Experience Some Miscommunication Issues

Many of us squeeze our dental work in at lunch or other free time during the work day. We end up having to go back and talk to our patients numb. Often times, this creates the best conversations, as patient realize dentists have dentistry too!

What would you add to this list? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

We value Pankey logo items not because of the physical object itself, but because of what they represent. Our clothing, accessories, and lifestyle ‘Pankey’ gear allow us to show off our pride for what it means to be a Pankey dentist.  Of all the “swag” and logo items over the years, there is one that means more to our alumni then any other.

In this post, four alumni tell us what their Pankey cross pins mean to them.

‘Pankey Bling’ Perspectives on the Cross Pin

Dr. Michael J. Crete

“I must say, my favorite Pankey bling is my pin! I have worn it with pride since I first received it from Bill Davis, my C1 lead faculty member and the author of The Pankey Philosophy book. I have had fellow Pankey alumni who I have never met come up to me at meetings, in airports, etc. We always have an immediate bond. I have also had strangers ask me what the pin is for. It always gives me a chance to tell my professional and Pankey story.”

Dr. Christine Shigaki

“I love my Pankey Cross pin! My Pankey mentor Mike Higashi gave it to me after I took C1.”

Dr. Michelle M. Lee

“For me, the Pankey pin symbolizes my commitment to dental excellence, being part of the Pankey family, embarking on my own journey in life and practice, and creating a better life for myself and better dentistry for my patients. It makes me feel like I am part of a supportive community of givers. It’s also a practice and life philosophy that you can carry with you throughout your entire professional and personal career. Pankey has changed my life and not a day goes by that I don’t think of the Pankey Institute and how much it has impacted me!”

Dr. Richard Hunt

“I see my two favorite Pankey bling in my dresser drawer every day. Like most men, I have a variety of lapel pins that represent an emotional attachment to the professional organizations, institutions, and charitable causes that I have been associated with. While proud of every one, my Pankey cross is at the top of my list. I wear it often and am amazed at the number of conversations it engenders about the Institute and what a wonderful influence it has been on so many lives. My other favorite “bling” is a wooden round ‘TUIT’ that was a gift from my C5 instructor, Dr. David Hildebrand. It reminds me of a special person and the gift of his message at an impactful time in my life.”

What Pankey bling do you hold dear? We’d love to hear from you in the comments! 

New to the Key? Interested in expanding your culinary oeuvre? If you’re attending a Pankey course, you should add Cuban to your list of must-try Key Biscayne cuisine. 

Luckily, just across the street from the Pankey Institute is a small (but recently renovated & expanded) walk-up restaurant called ‘Oasis Cafe.’ Ordering at this local’s favorite can seem intimidating at first to those unfamiliar with Cuban cuisine, but it is actually a great experience.

The cafe is such a local institution it doesn’t have a sign, so we created a map to help you find it!

The food isn’t fancy, but it is real cuban food! You probably can’t go wrong with any selection, so it’s worthwhile to simply see what’s cooking today or ask for recommendations from the Oasis staff.

On the other hand, you could try out some of our favorites:

Pankey Favorites – Cuban Food at The Oasis Cafe

1. The Cuban Sandwich

This sandwich is not like other sandwiches. You either love it or your hate it. Cuban sandwiches are legendary for their salty-savory expansion on the traditional ‘ham and cheese.’ Trust us, they are on a whole new level.

Cuban sandwiches are filled with three different types of meat: ham, roasted pork, and salami. Pickles, mustard, and Swiss cheese add depth to the flavor profile. Everything is then squeezed between flaky, soft Cuban bread (a delight in its own right).

2. Cafe Con Leche or a Cortadito

Coffee with milk? It sounds simple, but a true cafe con leche from a Cuban establishment is a very specific type of drink made with strong cuban espresso. Despite not actually being food or ‘cuisine,’ cafe con leche is an essential part of a Cuban-inspired meal. If you like your coffee stronger, ask for a Cortadito.  Think of it as a smaller, more intense cappuccino. Get it the way the locals like it: “con azucar” (with sugar).

3. Empanadas

Empanadas are a savory pastry usually made with beef. They are universally adored for their reasonably doughy, deliciously fried exterior and flavorful insides. You won’t be able to stop at just one, we promise. They are filling, moist, and perfect for an on-the-go lunch.

4. Guava & Cheese Pastelitos

Think of fruity cheesecake filling in a warm, flaky, fresh-baked pastry. Its a delicious, authentic cuban pastry with a unique, islands flavor.  There are other flavors and even savory versions with meat, but we recommend you just ask for a “Guava & Cheese”.

5. Sweet Fried Plantains

“Maduros” as they are called are a delicious treat, often included with a meal as a side dish. Plaintains look like large bananas, but have a different flavor and texture.  Even if you don’t like bananas, you may like Maduros, which are fried (but not breaded). The sugars in the fruit are caramelized, and many like them slightly burnt.

How important is a satisfying local food scene to you when taking CE? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!