DMD Staff

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’s “Hashtags”

 segment has modernized late night television by allowing direct social media participation from the audience. This past April, #MyWeirdDentist made waves on the web, and we at DMD couldn’t help but revisit these hilarious Tweets. Here are a few of our favorites. 

1. We hope his hands didn't taste like Castrol.

3. There's that classic dentist's humor. 

4. Somehow, this doesn't seem great for driving patient traffic.  

5. This next patient should probably floss more. 

6. Keeping things interesting, one outfit at a time.

8. This dentist, who likes to be kept in the loop at the expense of patient privacy.

9. A dentist who makes himself laugh by making his patients cry. 

10. And last but certainly not least ... 

Discover more Dentist’s Money Digest® news here

Q&A with Dr. Edward Alvarez: How to Market Cosmetic Services, Part I

5 Ways to Make Your Orthodontic Practice Gen-Z Friendly

Practitioner Breaks New Ground with Outside-In, Inside-Out Approach

Articles

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon's Hashtags segment has modernized late night television by allowing direct social media participation from the audience. This past April, #MyWeirdDentist made waves on the web, and we at DMD couldn't help but revisit these hilarious Tweets. Here are a few of our favorites. 


In Case You Missed It: DMD's #MyWeirdDentist Favorites

Some patients may not be good candidates for bleaching due to clinical or psychological reasons. 

Social media’s amplification of visual aesthetics bodes well for dentists. With so many young people looking to perfect or simply improve their smiles, opportunities to attract new patients abound — but so does the competition.

Services like whitening are offered at almost any dental practice, so how can you make your practice stand out? Dr. Edward Alvarez, DDS, specializes in all things cosmetic dentistry. Keep reading for his marketing best practices.

DMD: When you're talking directly to patients, there's a very fine line between marketing your services and offending the patient. How can dentists go about avoiding those kinds of blunders?

I think the thing that they have to do, and what I tend to do with an initial patient visit or consultation, is the old adage that we have two ears and one mouth. If we listen to what patients say, they'll tell you what they want, and you have to use their own words to describe what they want. I think a lot of time people say, "I want a nicer smile." Let's dig further. What is it you don't like about your smile? Is it that it's not bright enough? And usually, patients will tell you themselves. I have yet to meet one patient that tells me, "No, I think my teeth are bright enough. I don't want them whiter." I think a lot of it is leading a patient to tell you what they really want. You clearly don't want to offend somebody, so never say, "You really need your teeth whitened." I'll say, "If you're looking have dental work done, maybe this is the time to think about bleaching." I don't present it as, "This is something you need to do," but as, "This is something for you to consider at this point because this is a good crossroads." Let them choose to do it as opposed to telling them they need to do it. 

DMD: How do you know who is and who isn't a good candidate for whitening services? 

Clinically, you have to look at patients who have a lot of existing dental work. If they're not looking to change all their crowns, existing crowns or restoration, then that's somebody I can still propose it and say, "If you wanted to change all your dental work, this is what you can do." But I by no means force them — you also risk alienating the patient because all of a sudden, that very easily can be taken as "This guy just wants to change all my dental work right now, and I have to do it if I want to get whiter teeth." That's a patient that I don't approach in that sense. Again, I say, "This is your choice right now if you want to do all that." If somebody's just changing or getting two veneers and one crown done, and they have nothing else, that's a perfect patient to say, "You should consider bleaching at this point because once we do this crown, or once we do this veneer, you're stuck with that color. Unless you're happy with where you are right now, it's something that you should really consider. Otherwise, you're going to have to do this all over again." And I think that's where people see it as a value, where they can spend the money once and they don't have to think about doing it later. 

One of the dangers we have anytime we talk about cosmetic dentistry or surgery is people who have Body Dysmorphic Disorder, people who are obsessed. You will get those patients who come in and their teeth are already whiter than your bleaching shade, and they say, "My teeth are dark. I want to go brighter." If I see somebody like that, I really try to dissuade them from doing it because that's probably somebody who isn't going to be satisfied. 

DMD: Let's talk about packages a little bit. Do you offer them, and are they beneficial? 

I do order some packages. Like I mentioned, if someone is going to aligner therapy, I'll usually offer them free whitening. I like using Opalescence Go, the disposable bleaching kits — they work really well. I'll offer them that for no charge or I'll offer in-office laser whitening at half off. I give people four options in terms of whitening: Number one is the disposable bleaching trays. Option two is custom trays. Option three is an LED in-office blue light, and option four is the true laser whitening with the EPIC laser from Biolase, which works great. I will structure my fees according to which option they want. If someone is doing veneers or on the fence about doing veneers, I might entice them by offering bleaching at half-off, or I'll give them a whitening kit at no charge. Patients tend to be very happy with that because it will help me market the veneer and it will help that patient make that choice. The other thing that I'll do is that from time to time, if you're a new patient and want to come to the practice, we'll give you a bleaching kit or something like that. That's typically what I do in terms of packaging. 

DMD: When it comes to your patients, how is whitening more than just a cosmetic service? Does it help them emotionally?

Absolutely. Whitening is one of the fastest ways to change your smile. In society now, there are a lot of different things we saw after the economy collapsed in 2008, a lot of people went back out into the workforce. People in their 50s had to compete with younger people. Whitening made them a) appear younger and b) it made them feel better about themselves. So we saw a greater impact than we initially thought in terms of whitening. I've had patients who whitened their teeth and all of a sudden, someone who never smiled in pictures is smiling. Somebody who would say hello and never crack a smile because they were ashamed of the color is now able to grin. It opens up a lot of doors for them. Even if you can't afford a smile makeover, whitening is a tremendous benefit psychologically for any patient, and for me, it's the same thing. It's great to see somebody smile. 

Social media's amplification of visual aesthetics bodes well for dentists. With so many young people looking to perfect or simply improve their smiles, opportunities to attract new patients abound but so does the competition. Whitening is a service offered at almost any dental practice, so how can you make your practice stand out? Dr. Edward Alvarez, DDS, specializes in all things cosmetic dentistry. Keep reading for his advice on marketing your whitening services.

Q&A with Dr. Edward Alvarez: How to Market Cosmetic Services, Part II

Generation Z, the demographic that is currently in their adolescence, is defined by an extensive use of technology and social media. 

Generation Z, the demographic that is currently in their adolescence, is defined by an extensive use of technology and social media. A big part of your business relies on keeping them content in your practice. Maria Bailey, author of “Millennial Moms” and founder of  

, knows exactly how to get this done. Continue below to watch or read a segment of her interview with DMD.

Interview Transcript (Modified for Readability)

"There are many ways to appeal to your Gen Z patients and make your practice Gen-Z friendly. They're the young people who are probably in your office most frequently today. Number one, 90 percent of Gen-Zers don't watch television, so it may be time to take that old cable subscription you have in the waiting room and throw it to the side and replace it with a Smart TV. They're actually watching Netflix and Hulu much more than traditional TV.

Also, a lot of after-school appointments take place in the orthodontist's office, and a large percentage of students today are on iPads only. Of course, homework is something that typically happens in an orthodontist’s office — I know as a mom myself that we spent a lot of hours sitting there doing math equations in the waiting room. So, you may want to consider plug-in stations in your waiting rooms so that they can recharge all those wireless devices that they’re bringing into your office.

As a great marketing tool, you might want to create a Snapchat filter, one that your Gen-Z clients can use while they're in the office. And don't forget to invite them to follow you on social media. Look around your office right now: Do you have your Facebook, your Snapchat, your Instagram, your Pinterest accounts listed anywhere your young clients would know they can follow? You have to establish that digital conversation with the Gen-Zers.

When you're thinking about [creating] content, think about the content that they consume. How about a video on makeup tips that make your smile pop, even when you have braces on? Or something that allows your Gen-Z clients to create a playlist that allows them to select the music they want to hear over your stereo system in your office. Think about music, fashion — these are the things that excite a Gen-Zer—and think about how you might incorporate their likes into your office environment." 

Videos

Generation Z, the demographic that is currently in their adolescence, is defined by an extensive use of technology and social media. A big part of your business relies on keeping them content in your practice. Maria Bailey, author of Millennial Moms and founder of MomTV.com, knows exactly how to get this done. Continue below to watch or read a segment of her interview with DMD.

Employment law in dental practices, new hires, and dental contracts: These stories are among the most popular on our website this week. Catch up on what you missed while you were filling cavities.

 The people you hire can make or break the success of your practice. No one knows this better than Dr. Anne Marie Gorczyca, whose book "Beyond the Morning Huddle- HR Management for a Successful Dental Practice" outlines a hiring process to optimize your results. Continue below for more of Gorczyca's hiring advice.

Employment Law: Dentists Can't Afford to Ignore It

 With everything loaded onto a dentist's plate, it's easy to neglect your regulatory responsibilities. While you may not face any immediate consequences, financial and legal consequences could be right around the corner. Continue below to see what attorney Ali Oromchian advises regarding employment law.

Social media’s amplification of visual aesthetic bodes well for dentists. With so many young people looking to perfect or simply improve their smiles, opportunities to attract new patients abound — but so does the competition. Whitening is a service offered at almost any dental practice, so how can you make your practice stand out? Dr. Edward Alvarez, DDS, specializes in all things cosmetic dentistry. Keep reading for his advice on marketing your whitening services.

Dental Contracts Can Make or Break an Associate's Dream

 Just because finances prohibit you from opening your own practice fresh out of dental school, that doesn’t mean you have to give up on your dream. This second of a two-part series examines the dental associate contract from the perspective of the incoming associate. What’s in the contract, and just as importantly what’s not, can make the difference in achieving your dream.

AGD Survey Shows Americans Unclear about Wellness Checkup Benefits

 According to a new Academy of General Dentistry survey, many Americans are unaware that oral health is part of their overall health. Out of a sample of more than a thousand adults, a shocking 50 percent of participants reported that they don't view dentist as prevention experts, and more than 20 percent do not have a general dentist. For more figures from the AGD survey, continue below.

Employment law in dental practices, new hires, and dental contracts: These stories are among the most popular on our website this week. Catch up on what you missed while you were filling cavities.


The DMD Top 5 for the Week Ending September 8, 2017

Instagram is your best social media marketing tool because of its visual element. 

Social media’s amplification of visual aesthetic bodes well for dentists. With so many young people looking to perfect or simply improve their smiles, opportunities to attract new patients abound — but so does the competition.

What's the outlook on cosmetic dentistry, and why should GPs consider looking into it?

 I really think cosmetic dentistry is just going to continue to grow. There's such an explosion of things, such as tooth whitening on social media, and it's just getting bigger and bigger. I think there was this little initial bump with at-home systems, kind of like the blue LED lights and stuff like that, but patients, from what I see, are truly seeking out whitening. Whether it's laser or a more expensive alternative, people are paying much more attention to the appearance of their smiles.

I think social media is a huge driver, and I see it more in younger people rather than baby boomers. Baby boomers want to have better teeth and whatnot, and that's going to be your largest pool you'll draw from in terms of finances. But I think younger consumers are spending the money to look better. Besides from a practice management point of view, a lot of the services aren't covered by insurance, so you will continue to get growth without having to worry about insurance. 

DMD: How do you implement social media in your own practice? How popular are your posts, what platforms do you use?

 I'm big on Instagram — I think that's the one where I see the most value in terms of a business point of view and visibility. Facebook is good as well. Twitter is not that great. The number of people that seek me out or interact with me on Twitter is small.

Instagram, because more people are on there and looking for that visual cue. A lot of it has to do with hashtags and how you tag your photos — that will make a big difference in terms of who sees it. I tend to post some before-and-afters, I'm not a fan of profiles that have picture after picture of before-and-afters. It doesn't say much other than, "Teeth!" And I think that's that very boring. I think some people, some practices and practitioners, go to the opposite extreme where they show every single aspect of their lives. Or they're out celebrating, popping bottles.

At least with mine, I try to keep it on that line of being professional and informative of services that I provide, answer any questions that patients may pose, and also give them a little insight into my life. Here and there, I'll post a picture of my puppies or of my girlfriend and myself at a special event — I want to humanize who I am so people can relate to me, while at the same time remaining professional. I think social media is great. I'm looking to acquire practices right now, and so many of the older dentists have absolutely no social media footprint. I look at them, they have these practices that are doing well, and I think about how much more they could be doing if they actually had Facebook, Twitter or Instagram out there to market themselves. 

DMD: You're talking a lot about dentists should do on social media. What should practitioners and dental professionals avoid?

 I think common sense comes into play here. I look at colleagues and other dentists, and I don't know that I want to see you, my dentist, in a bikini. I don't want to see you flexing your muscles and showing me your chest hair. I think it's a bit much. Keeping things professional is what should be done. Avoid anything that's going to kind of offend somebody, try to keep politics completely out of it. Don't talk about politics or religion. Be mindful that whatever you put out there is always going to be out there, and If you decide that you want to post your drunken adventure, your patients will always look at you as the dentist who got drunk. They may think, “What if they have to work on me the next day?” Younger doctors still kind of just don't know how to tow that line between being a professional and having a social life. We all like to have a nice glass of wine or whatever, but some doctors really take it to the extreme. 

DMD: How else do you advertise your whitening services? When you post things online, what gets the most attention? 

 Sometimes I do email blasts within my own practice. I will post on Facebook or on Instagram something like, a new patient comes in and we'll bleach her teeth for free. Or, “If you do Invisalign or Clear Correct, then we'll bleach your teeth for free.” People who are looking at clear aligner therapy are already very aesthetic conscious, so if you're giving them the benefit of whitening their teeth, I find that's very positive for marketing whitening services. But that's more of a driver of patient traffic as opposed to driving your bleaching. When I'm doing marketing to increase the amount of people that do bleaching, I also do lips and Botox and whatnot, so I'll kind of package things with services like that.

Anytime I do veneers, I tell people, even though you're getting veneering done, you might still want to whiten underneath. In terms of getting the most response, before-and-after pictures. However, the thing that I sometimes get worried about is that sometimes people will doctor pictures. There are so many filters out there that you can put on your pictures, and you see people get results that you know really don't happen, and I think one of the worries that I get is making sure that patients have realistic expectations. I don’t want them to leave thinking, “Well, this person got whitened that much using this system, why didn't I get that?” That's something I look at when I post and I tag. 

Hashtagging is the most important part of social media, particularly Instagram, because people will really look at something like tooth whitening and it may have a couple million views. "Bleaching" is not going to have the same audience. The importance of tagging must not be lost in the whole process. 

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Social media's amplification of visual aesthetic bodes well for dentists. With so many young people looking to perfect or simply improve their smiles, opportunities to attract new patients abound but so does the competition. Whitening is a service offered at almost any dental practice, so how can you make your practice stand out? Dr. Edward Alvarez, DDS, specializes in all things cosmetic dentistry. Keep reading for his advice on marketing your whitening services. 


A police officer in Charlotte, NC was arrested on fraud after illegally obtaining opioids from a dental office. That tops this week’s news so far in the world of dentistry. Also making the list: How tech is changing dentistry, disruption in primary care and dental practices contributing to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

CMPD cop arrested, accused of illegally getting drugs from dentist’s office, police say

. A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer was arrested Tuesday after police said she obtained prescription drugs through fraud. Police opened an investigation into officer Jennifer Wolfe, 37, on Aug. 14 after they were contacted by an employee from a dentist’s office in Matthews, officials said. The investigation showed Wolfe obtained fraudulent prescriptions for pain killers from an employee, police said. Wolfe, who was hired by CMPD in April 2011, faces five counts of obtaining a schedule II controlled substance by fraud. She has a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday, records show.

Shirer Family Dentistry taking donations to deliver to Texas

. Those wanting to donate to victims of Hurricane Harvey can do so by taking items to Shirer Family Dentistry through Sept. 14. Kensli Yarborough, office manager at Shirer Family Dentistry, 420 Hitchcock Parkway, said they have coordinated with Carter Trucking Company in Ninety Six to take items to a church in Texas. 

How Technology is Changing the Face of Dentistry

. Technology is the buzz-word of the day, and new applications are cropping up everywhere, even in the dental field. In an industry that has traditionally been dominated by slow moving 

; recent years have seen an explosion in new tech applications for dentistry.

 Tooth enamel is the strongest substance in the human body. It’s harder than steel. Which helps explain why the three words “root canal treatment” often strike such terror into patients sitting in the dental chair. It starts by boring a hole through enamel as effortlessly as if it were rice paper. Ninety-nine percent of the time, that gaping hole is filled and sealed immediately after treatment. A few months ago, I met a patient I’ll call Janet, to protect her privacy. She was one of the 1 percent.

A police officer in Charlotte, NC was arrested on fraud after illegally obtaining opioids from a dental office. That tops this week's news so far in the world of dentistry. Also making the list: How tech is changing dentistry, disruption in primary care and dental practices contributing to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.


The DMD Checkup: Charlotte Officer Arrested for Fraudulent RX from Dental Employee

Investing lessons, making your job fun again and selling stocks the smart way: These stories are among the most popular on our website this week. Catch up on what you missed while you were filling cavities.

Lessons for Investing: The Uniform Gift to Minors Act

 In some U.S. states, the Uniform Gift to Minors Act allows adults to transfer assets to their children or grandchildren. Dr. Shirley Mueller and her husband utilized the UGMA to give a monetary gift to their granddaughter tax-free up to a certain age. To learn more about Mueller's experience, continue below.

Finding Inspiration: Treat Your Practice More Like a Hobby

 While it’s impossible to eliminate all tension from any job, no one should be dealing with extreme stress on a daily basis. Dentistry is consistently ranked as one of the best jobs in the country, yet during the last 10 years, there has been tremendous upheaval in the profession. If you're one of the 29 percent of dentists struggling with high levels of stress, read the following tips to change your outlook and make your job more enjoyable.

 Investing and purchasing stocks are highly influenced by emotions. But how can one know when it's time to sell? These simple tips can help you cut through your personal bias and see reason. Continue below to find out more.

A Guide to Accommodating HIV-Positive Patients in Your Practice

. Dentists are doctors and pillars of their communities, providing care to those who need their services. Certain patients can challenge a dentist personally and professionally. If you’re unsure of how to accommodate HIV-positive individuals who come to you seeking help, continue below to find out what you should know.

The Best and Worst Places to Purchase Real-Estate

 Here at DMD, we love to help our audience build their wealth, and more importantly, avoid pitfalls. Whether you're thinking of purchasing property for business or personal use, "location, location, location" rings true. Continue reading for WalletHub's 2017 analysis of the best cities for real-estate value.

Investing lessons, making your job fun again and selling stocks the smart way: These stories are among the most popular on our website this week. Catch up on what you missed while you were filling cavities.


The DMD Top 5 for the Week Ending September 1, 2017

Long-term home value is determined by more than just size and style.

Purchasing real-estate is an exciting milestone, be it for business purposes or to establish your estate. But it’s easy to get caught up in the aesthetics of a house and ignore all the other factors that could mean a poor investment.

, a personal finance website, knows how important it is to look beyond what you love about a property to ensure growth and profit in the long-run. For instance, while you may be focused on a house’s stylish features or size, patterns in market trends and the neighborhood around that house most likely bear far more significance on future value.

Using indicators like median home-price appreciation and the economic health of the 300 cities analyzed, WalletHub created a definitive ranking of the best real estate markets across the U.S. Keep reading to find out what they uncovered in the process.

·Residents in Albany, NY, Erie, PA, New York City, Miami Beach and Newark can expect the highest average number of days until a house is sold.

·Four California cities — Richmond, Vallejo, Sunnyvale and Hayward —boast the highest median home-price appreciation, along with Pittsburgh, PA.

·Ann Arbor, MI, Sunnyvale, VA, New York City, Bellevue, WA, and Boulder, CO offer the lowest foreclosure rates.

·For the lowest home prices as percent of income, go to Fayetteville, NC, Detroit, MI, Flint, MI, Akron, OH, or Springfield, IL.

·Banks own the most unsold homes in Detroit, MI, Rockford, IL, Miramar, FL, Miami Gardens, FL, and Sunrise, FL.

For the full rank of best and worst real-estate markets, visit 

Here at DMD, we love to help our audience build their wealth, and more importantly, avoid pitfalls. Whether you're thinking of purchasing property for business or personal use, "location, location, location" rings true. Continue reading for WalletHub's 2017 analysis of the best cities for real-estate value. 

Dry mouth is one of the most common oral abnormalities associated with HIV.

After years of crisis, tragedy and panic, HIV diagnoses have reached a place of relative stability in the U.S., and those who contract it are no longer doomed to an agonizing death.

To be certain, this is good news, but the emotional toll diagnosis takes on an individual does not make their lives with HIV much less daunting. That’s why it’s crucial for dentists to be prepared for HIV-positive individuals and meet them with sensitivity, understanding, and all the resources a practice needs to make these patients comfortable. What’s more, dentists may want to consider encouraging their existing patients to find out their status by offering testing.

More than 1.1 million Americans are HIV positive, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Millions more have reason to believe they are at risk of contracting HIV. Due to these statistics, some argue that with improved oral detection, HIV testing should be a routine service offered by dental practices.

Dr. Catrise Austin, a New York City-based general and cosmetic dentist, is one such example of how dentists can successfully integrate HIV testing into their practices.

“When I learned that OraSure HIV Rapid testing involved just swabbing the mouth and putting the swab into a developing solution and you get the results in 20 minutes, I thought that it only made sense that dentists start offering this service,” Austin told POZ magazine.

There are a few things dentists must be aware of before they consider following in Austin’s footsteps, according to POZ. To meet the proper ethical and legal standards, dentists must secure the proper HIV test training, which can be viewed on 

According to Austin, getting certified was as simple as contacting her state’s department of health and undergoing month-long certification and training course.

Stigma and diagnosis-related depression and anxiety can make seeking any kind of health care difficult for HIV-positive patients, particularly the newly diagnosed. Treating these patients with respect and empathy is your ethical responsibility as a dental care provider.

The Dental Alliance for AIDS/HIV Care (DAAC) provides six basic principles for health care ethics and professional behaviors to which practices should adhere.

·All dental health care professionals have an ethical obligation to treat HIV-positive patients.

·All patients and dental health care professionals benefit when the dental care provider. collaborates with all other members of the patient’s primary health care team.

·Dental health care professionals must emphasize provider-patient confidentiality to patients.

·There are pros and cons to treating HIV-infected patients.

·A dentist’s relationship to the HIV-positive patient should be guided by trust and communication.

·The dentist should do what is necessary to help the patient make informed decisions.

Assessing your patient’s ability to make wise care-related decisions is part of this process. Ask yourself, does the patient comprehend the information the dentist presents to them? Does the patient seem alert and understanding of their situation? Some AIDS-related illnesses can compromise a patient’s cognitive process, according to DAAC, so it Is imperative that dentists evaluate the patient appropriately.

In addition to providing a welcoming, judgement-free atmosphere for HIV-positive patients, dental practices must take precautions when working with blood and bodily fluids to keep employees and HIV-negative patients safe.

 recommends avoiding exposure to blood and bodily fluids by wearing barrier precautions and removing the protective equipment before leaving the work area.

“Though the occupational source of greatest risk of HIV transmission is percutaneous injuries, it is good to understand that after a needlestick exposure to HIV-infected blood, the average risk of HIV transmission is approximately 0.3%,” the ADA reports.

Reducing the risk of percutaneous injuries involves following standard precautions, having engineering controls and workplace controls for all sharps, and following safe injection practices. In the case of suspected exposure to HIV-infected material, the incident should be reported and the exposed individual should consult with a physician immediately.

Dentists preparing themselves to treat HIV-infected patients should be aware of the oral abnormalities associated with the illness. Xerostomia affects up to 40 percent of HIV-positive patients, making them more susceptible to the infections candidiasis, bartonellosis, cryptococcosis, cryptosporidiosis and histoplasmosis. As such, the combination of increased risk of periodontal disease and dry mouth leave these patients more vulnerable to caries.

For more information on developing treatment plans for HIV-positive patients, 

Dentists are doctors and pillars of their communities, providing care to those who need their services. Certain patients can challenge a dentist personally and professionally. If you're unsure of how to accommodate HIV-positive individuals who come to you seeking help, continue below to find out what you should know. 


Providing convenience and accomodating your patients is important no matter the time of year.

From July to September, dental practices are met with a downturn in appointments, save for a flooded schedule right before children return to the classroom.

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If your practice is experiencing this seasonal influx, or you want to attract more families to your practice during this off-season, Mike Abernathy, DDS and founder of Summit Management and Summit Practice Solutions, has a few ideas for coping and making the most of your summer.

“Generally, you see a huge dip in the summer time,” Abernathy said. “Practices are looking to put people in chairs.”

One crucial piece of information to keep in mind, according to Abernathy, is that your pediatric patients will rarely have cavities or need any major procedures done. If your schedule is dominated by these kinds of appointments, there is less opportunity for the money-making procedures that keep your practice running. Dentists will still need to free up the peak demand hours for patients who need more extensive care.

How, then, can practices accommodate their pediatric patients while still giving priority to more lucrative appointments? The first step is to avoid the big scheduling mistakes to which many practices fall prey.

“Don’t schedule the whole family at once,” Abernathy warns. “The no-show rate for an appointment is anywhere between 20 and 40 percent. So, if you have a family of four under one appointment, and they cancel last minute, you’re not just losing one patient.”

The remaining work to be done when managing an influx of pediatric patients operates under one simple principle: A dental practice is no different from any other small business.

As such, knowing your customer base and appealing to them is critical. Understand that regardless of the time of year, women will predominately be the ones calling in to schedule appointments for their children.

“Any front desk person will tell you, 92 percent of appointments are made by females who want to come in early and late,” Abernathy said. “Problem is, we need to guard those times for new patients.”

Abernathy recommends setting aside a few Saturdays solely for pediatric patients. Even better, make a day out of it complete with kid-friendly fun. Your hygiene team is more than capable of handling these one-and-done pediatric appointments, giving you time to network with prospective patients and be the ambassador for your practice.

“I wouldn’t do much dental work on those days. I dressed in slacks and a polo shirt, and I would go around and glad hand all the nice people,” he said. “We had face painting, I had coloring books with the name of my practice on it. Just fun stuff like that worked really, really well to free up the peak demand hours we needed.”

Peak demand times, before and after most adults’ working hours, limit a practice’s ability to accommodate every patient. This can pose a huge problem during the back-to-school rush. In his own practice, Abernathy would expand his hygiene staff and see up to 300 pediatric patients on a Saturday to free up the 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. weekday window, when adults typically want to come in.

The next variable in the equation requires some pre-planning. Like any business anticipating a seasonal up or downturn, start marketing for the back-to-school period at least six weeks in advance.

“Most doctors aren’t about educating their patients about coming in,” Abernathy said. “Always anticipate the increased need. Send out post cards about two weeks in advance, digital messages one week in advance and then call four days in advance to make sure the patient is going to be there.”

Overall, Abernathy says, be proactive about your systems and protocols and anticipate these blockages so they don’t become a hindrance to your productivity.

It's that time of year again: The summer is coming to a close, and mothers everywhere are clamoring to get their children through the door before the start of the school year. If you're like most dentists, this time is sandwiched in between a marked in appointments. Fortunately, there are ways to plan ahead to get the most out of your summer. 