Dental Aggregate

The Southwest Dental Conference in Dallas Texas is scheduled for January 22-24, 2009 at the Dallas Convention Center, located at 650 S Griffin St. Dallas, TX 75202.

Features of the Southwest Dental Convention Include:

• More than 70 clinicians

• 3 days of non-stop CE courses for the entire dental profession

• Earn up to 22 credit hours

• Most courses are free - no additional charge above registration fee

• 375+ exhibit booths

Deadline Information:

Pre-registration Deadline…………………………..December 12, 2008
Hotel Reservation Deadline………………………..December 18, 2008
Cancellation/Refund Deadline…………………….December 29, 2008

On-Site Registration Hours:

Wednesday, January 21 ……………………………12:00 p.m-5:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 22 ………………………………..7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Friday, January 23 ……………………………………7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 24 ………………………………..8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Exhibit Hours:

Thursday and Friday……………………..10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Saturday………………………………………10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

The Southwest Dental Conference downloadable brochure is available in pdf format for easy reading and printing.

Special Events:

Plan on attending the convention’s special event party, where The Argyles will be featured at The Adolphus on Thursday, January 22nd from 8 p.m. to Midnight. The Argyles are one of Texas’ premier event bands. They have headlined the stage for national organizations, and have opened shows for such performers as The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Producers, and Lee Greenwood. The event is FREE for all convention attendees, just be sure to bring along your SWDC badge for admission to the party.

Convention attendees should not delay in getting their hotel reservations taken care of well in advance, in order to not miss out on the best hotel prices while attending the conference. Hotel rooms in local Dallas hotels fill up months in advance of the convention, making it difficult for attendees to get the best hotel rates at hotels closest to the convention center.

More information about the Southwest Dental Conference can be found at http://www.swdentalconf.org/index.htm

Tags: Basic Dental Care, Continuing Ed, Dental Assisting, Dental Insurance, Dental Practice Management, Implants, Office Manager, Productivity, endodontics by D.A.
No Comments »

Geez, it’s been two long weeks since I’ve been able to write any posts here, but I should be back to writing more regularly very soon.

I’ve been tending to the Ganglion Cyst and have an appointment with my doctor to have it drained finally, but now I’m dealing with a pain in my elbow that is very annoying. Yep, it’s the same arm as I have the ganglion cyst. Lucky me, eh?

When it rains it pours. I just wasn’t expecting HAIL too! It’s uncomfortable, although not excruciating to carry much of anything with any real weight to it, and it makes my elbow ache whenever I have to carry our dental supply “tubs” into the treatment room prior to working on patients.

I will survive and this problem will rectify itself in due time. I’ll just have to take a short break from posting, since the cause of the ganglion cyst is “overuse”, and I’m positive the doctor will tell me the same exact thing about what caused the sore elbow problem.

I’m too young to feel this damn old!

Tags: Basic Dental Care, Dental Assisting, Office Manager, Personal by D.A.
No Comments »

A couple of weeks ago I began noticing a small bump on the top of my right hand near my wrist. At first I didn’t think anything of it, but I soon began noticing that the area began to bother me, feeling somewhat tender to the touch and more noticeable whenever I’d pick up something a bit heavy. I actually began to wonder if I had somehow broken a bone in my hand, since the bump/cyst would move each time I moved or bent the middle finger on my right hand. I thought, that’s weird!

In our office we use some square, plastic containers to hold our crown/bridge supplies, as well as two other containers for our composite and amalgam supplies. Whenever either was needed, I would often take down the needed container one-handed, not giving much thought that it might be a bit too heavy for just one hand.

Well, now I know better. I went to see the doctor and was diagnosed with a Ganglion Cyst. My furled brow made it obvious that I had never heard of such a cyst, so I was given the detailed explanation of exactly what a ganglion cyst is and what its cause and treatment is. Oh fun.

I was shown pictures of these cysts in varying sizes and locations that made me cringe, and I was worried that my wrist was going to look like those pictures, but my doctor assured me that all will be fine. At the moment the doctor doesn’t feel there is a need to drain it (okay, that sounds really gross), since it’s still quite small.

The doctor wrapped my wrist with a bandage and prescribed some anti-inflammatory medications to help get rid of this thing. I’m supposed to wear the bandage for the next several weeks throughout each day, which will make working on patients with sterile gloves on quite interesting to say the least.

Once I got home from the doctor’s office I immediately searched online for further information about ganglion cysts, as if I hadn’t already learned more than I would have liked to know. It seems that ganglion cysts are also referred to as a Bible Bump, which I couldn’t help but laugh at because it sounded so odd. A “Bible Bump”? This I had to know more about.

According to Wikipedia, it seems that one method of how to treat ganglion cysts was to “strike the lump with a large, heavy book, causing the cyst to rupture and drain into the surrounding tissues. Since even the poorest households often possessed a bible, this was commonly used, which led to the nicknaming of ganglion cysts as “Bible Bumps” or “Gideon’s Disease”. This treatment may be effective, but is no longer recommended, as patients risk damaging the surrounding area. As this may make the cyst worse, other treatment options are preferable.” Umm, no thanks.

So for now, I’m going to have to deal with having this cyst and hope it goes away, and I definitely hope I won’t end up having to go back to see the doctor and having the cyst….drained. Eeeuuuwww.

Tags: Dental Assisting, Office Manager, Personal by D.A.
1 Comment »

Being in close proximity with female patients seeking treatment, dental office professionals have a unique and important role in identifying cases of domestic violence, as well as offering assistance or intervention for abused women.

It is important to note that almost a third of all women are or have been abused by their boyfriend or husband, possibly including the women you have working for you in your dental office. Anastasia L. Turchetta, RDH, and Teresa Duncan, MS have published “Domestic Violence” in the RDH Magazine that is well worth your time to review and print for further evaluation. If you are a Dentist, and you have more than three women working for you, the odds are that at least one of those women has been a victim of domestic violence at some point in her life.

“Domestic Violence: Proactive Role for Dentistry” provides important intervention strategies for dental practitioners; clears up myths surrounding domestic violence; and explains the signs and symptoms of domestic abuse that Dentists and Office Staff need to look out for:

Dentists can, and should, be proactive in recognizing abuse and reaching out to help the victims. The first step in helping these women is to consciously empathize with them and their needs. Women do not stay in violent relationships because they enjoy it or are able to tolerate it. Survivors talk about their horror, helplessness, and terror as they tried to endure the violence. Fear of losing their children, fear of being killed, financial instability, and rejection by their friends and family are examples of the realities that prevent victims from leaving an abusive partner. The most dangerous time for a woman is when she actually decides to leave an abusive relationship.

“Tackling Domestic Violence: the role of health professionals” is available in a 15-page PDF file at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/dpr32.pdf, so Dentists and dental office staff can carefully examine the ways in which they can work together as a team and provide needed help and awareness to victims of domestic abuse.

Having been in an abusive relationship myself (at the hands of my ex-husband), I am very passionate about bringing greater awareness to women who are being abused, and there have been several occasions in our office where it has been necessary to use a variety of assertive techniques to assist these women in getting the help they needed.

Signs and symptoms of abusive relationships:

• Physical abuse or battering- involving shoving, pushing, kicking, hitting, grabbing, pulling hair and threatening bodily harm.

• Emotional or psychological abuse- including controlling a woman’s freedom to come and go as she pleases, brainwashing, spying or stalking her at work or with friends, monitoring phone calls.

• Sexual abuse or rape- physically forcing or coercing sexual favors against her will or with threat of violence if she does not comply, sexual acts following physical violence with or without harmful and painful devices without her consent.

• Damaging property- involving breaking household items, damaging walls, throwing objects at his victim or near enough to cause great fear of physical harm while in a rage.

In order to break free from their abusive partners, women need to identify and recognize the early warning signs of abusive behaviors, and take active steps to leave the relationship with their boyfriend or get a divorce from their husband.

Leaving an abusive relationship is typically a highly volatile time in a woman’s life, as angry and controlling men tend to react with increased levels of abuse, sometimes even killing their wives or girlfriends. Dentists and dental team members need to be proactive with female patients who show signs of having been abused, offering compassionate and empathetic attention, tactfully quizzing female patients regarding possible abuse, and provide helpful information and resources of how and where to seek immediate help.

More often than not, abused women do not have free access to money in order to quickly leave their abusive husbands, and they need to learn how to hide money from an abusive husband so they can begin making secret plans to escape the abuse and move on with their lives.

In your dental office, have you had occasions where you suspected or believed a female patient was being abused by her husband? What actions have you taken in order to provide her assistance and help? What suggestions can you offer women that need to know how to hide money from an abusive husband? Please leave any experiences, suggestions or ideas in the comment section below.

Tags: Basic Dental Care, Communication, Continuing Ed, Dental Assisting, Dental Practice Management, Office Manager by D.A.
No Comments »

There are times in everyone’s life where we must interact with people that are difficult to get along with, whether in personal relationships or in our professional lives. Dealing with difficult people in a way that not only displays self-confidence and respect for our own needs and personal boundaries, but also respects the wishes and rights of others is what assertiveness is all about.

Examples of Aggressive and Assertive Communication Styles

There are occasions in our office where a patient (usually a brand new patient), is rather gruff and rude in how they attempt to communicate with me at the front desk, not realizing or caring that I am the Office Manager in charge of the efficient running of the office, as well as the doctor‘s chair-side assistant.

Sometimes they will complain to me about the extensive health history forms they must fill out as a new patient, rudely asking if I “want their blood type and serial number too?“, along with complaints about the HIPAA consent forms that we must keep in each patients chart. Some patients call to respectfully ask about things to consider when choosing dental insurance, while others go so far as to call with demands that I find affordable dental insurance FOR them!

On other occasions, some patients will actually blame me for their missing an appointment, claiming that I did not call and remind them the day prior to their appointment. Being assertive, I respectfully request the patient go back and check their voice-mail messages where, low and behold….there is my reminder message.

Using assertive techniques, I explain to the patient that appointment reminder calls are provided as a courtesy for our patients (and are not a requirement), and that it is up to each patient to do whatever is necessary to remember and show up for their scheduled appointments, and on time. More often than not, these patients immediately begin to “back peddle” in their tone of voice, but rarely take the time to apologize for being so aggressive towards me.

It often amazes me just how rude some people are, aggressively demanding an appointment where there is no open time slot, and are none too happy when I kindly suggest another day and time. Other times patients will call asking to speak with the doctor about a question or problem they are having, and don’t appreciate my saying “the doctor is with a patient right now, perhaps I can help you?”, sometimes being so rude as to hang up the phone without saying another word.

How To Be Assertive Without Being Aggressive

Fortunately, the doctor does not take kindly to patients speaking and acting with rude and aggressive behavior towards him or his staff. Each and every time a patient behaves this way towards him or any member of his staff, we immediately take assertive action to rectify the situation in a manner that shows respect for the rights and self esteem of the patient, but also upholds our own personal right to be treated equally and with respect.

Sometimes he personally handles these situations, directly speaking with patients who are rude and abusive towards his staff, but more often than not I am entrusted with this responsibility as his Office Manager. On most occasions, using a variety of assertive techniques learned over the years has proven to be very effective in completely eliminating these problems.

On rare occasions, the doctor or I have found it necessary to dismiss a patient from the dental practice entirely, due to their continued abusive and rude behaviors, providing them a copy of their patient chart and x-rays while they try to find a dentist to care for their dental needs.

Have you experienced the difficulties that go with dealing with difficult people? Do you sometimes find it difficult to be assertive in your personal and professional roles? What steps have you taken in your office to ensure everyone is treated equally and with respect?

Tags: Business Relationships, Communication, Dental Assisting, Dental Insurance, Dental Practice Management, Office Manager, Productivity by D.A.
3 Comments »

When I received The Patterson eXperience magazine in our office mail for the very first time last week, my attention was immediately drawn to the feature article “Which Hats Do You Wear?” Even before opening to the page where the article began, I just knew it would discuss the many “hats” I wear as the Office Manager and Dental Assistant, and would be a very interesting read.

What I didn’t realize, at least not until after I had completed the entire interview with Certified Dental Practice Administrator Linda Zdanowicz, was that I would immediately have profound respect and admiration towards Linda, and become an instant fan and subscriber to her blog, as well as a new subscriber to The Patterson eXperience.

I searched online to try and find a website for The Patterson eXperience, but couldn’t find one. I was hoping to find an easy and effective way of ensuring I subscribed right away in order to make sure I didn’t miss any in coming months. I was not aware of the existence of any dental magazines for office managers, and am thrilled to have received this one. I will also be sure to check on the availability of previous editions, as I’m sure I would enjoy reading those as well.

I have already devoured read the entire magazine from cover to cover, and am now reading it again for the second time. The article “Crack the Dental Dress Code” is one I am especially interested in reading again. The statement “appearances matter”, in relation to the importance of presenting patients with a well-groomed dental staff, cannot be overemphasized. I will be discussing the topic of dental office dress codes in upcoming posts, so please stay tuned.

In the meantime, ask yourself if the dress code exhibited in your office displays the highest standard of professionalism possible, or is there still room for improvement?

Tags: Business Relationships, Continuing Ed, Dental Practice Management, Office Manager, Productivity by D.A.
No Comments »

Many patients are afraid to go to the dentist and have treatment done due to fear of local anesthetics and getting numbed up, often foregoing needed dental treatment for many years until dental caries or severely broken teeth become virtually non-restorable.

Nearly every new patient coming to our dental office expresses fear and anxiety over getting numbed up, but once they have completed necessary treatment, they no longer are afraid. One of my favorite things as Office Manager and Dental Assistant is being able to help relax patients prior to treatment, helping them understand the need for a particular dental procedure, but also to find ways to help patients accept treatment with affordable options. I’ve also enjoyed being able to honestly tell patients that they will likely not even feel the injection due to the topical gel we now use, and other patients have commented on how well this numbing gel works.

Topical Anesthetic Gel-

Many dental offices apply some kind of topical anesthetic gel to the gums prior to giving the injection of local anesthetic, but after many years of searching for the best numbing gel on the market, we finally found one that works better than any other dental gel. Since we began using this topical anesthetic on patients, even new patients are no longer reluctant to have dental treatment completed.

The topical anesthetic gel we are now using in our office contains 100mg Lidocaine, 100mg Prilocaine and 40mg Tetracaine which comes already mixed by a Pharmacist and ready for use in a 30gm tube. Placing a small dab on the tip of a cotton swab applicator, and applying the numbing gel to the gum area for just a couple brief minutes, numbs the injection site so much that the patient often does not feel the injection at all.

It makes me incredibly happy to see patients who used to be very nervous and apprehensive prior to dental appointments, come in for treatment no longer fearing getting numbed up. When we first received the topical anesthetic gel in our office, both the doctor and I tested to see how well it worked on ourselves, and we were both shocked and amazed at how quickly the gel works to numb the gums. We of course had a little fun teasing each other while we talked about this gel, since it was obvious to both of us that it works so well and so fast, that it took awhile to wear off and we began speaking normally again.

I’m not even sure where the doctor heard about this numbing gel, but we have found it beats all the other anesthetic gel products on the market, and wouldn’t even consider using anything else. If your dental office is searching for the best topical gel available, please contact me for further information.

Tags: Anesthesia, Basic Dental Care, Communication, Dental Assisting, Dental Practice Management, Office Manager by D.A.
2 Comments »