We know about Dental Economics, The Dental Advisor, Dentist Today and many of the other big dental publications for the dental industry. But are any of these publications available online? I’m not asking if the publication has a website or not. I’m asking if they offer information for free over the Internet, to allow dentists who do not subscribe to their magazines/publications to view their content online!

If any Dental Publications are out there and are reading this post I urge you to get with the times and offer your content for free on your website. You really do need to. Here are some reasons why:

• Will increase your overall content readership
• Increase branding, marketability, and credibility on the Internet
• Increase advertising ($) opportunities
• Increase writer to reader interaction through blogging
• Satisfy all Internet readers in the dental community who would rather read online than an actual physical publication

A perfect example of this is ESPN.com. If you are at all a sports fan like me than you know exactly what i’m talking about. ESPN has not only it’s TV channels, but also a very popular and widely subscribed magazine called ESPN the Magazine. But that does not stop them from offering up-to-minute news on all sports professional and collegiate. Doing this through ESPN.com has increased their readership to their actual magazine.

So as a summary, the first publication in the dental industry that decides to allow it’s content to be free on it’s website will gain a substantial advantage over it’s peers. But offering free content online, you increase your readership due to the search engines. Your content becomes “searchable” online for all to find. Also, for monetary purposes you can place ads of other companies who are willing to pay you for those ads not only in your publication, but also now on your website. Giving you two streams of advertising income for your company. And finally, by having blogs on your publication website you increase writer to reader communication helping the reader feel more connected to your writings and your publication.

In case you are reading this and you are a part of a dental publication contact us today and we can help you in setting up such a website.

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Online dental patient registration forms make life easier for office managers when patients can fill them out from home, before they come in for their scheduled appointments! Part of an office manager’s responsibility is to ensure that the forms are filled out correctly, and that all information is legible in order to be recorded properly. Not to mention ensuring that the patient (or new patient) brings in all the required documents pertaining to the visit. When the forms are filled out at the patient’s home, online in digital format, all of those potential issues are addressed. This frees up the office manager to focus on other concerns that can occur in the office on a daily basis.

It’s TIME to put the WEB to WORK for YOUR PRACTICE!!!!

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In the recent July edition of Dental Economics Magazine, a helpful article was written by Mickey Bernstein, DDS titled AACD Accreditation: The key to successful Internet Marketing. It highlighted many important things about the importance of having a strong online presence for the dental office. A couple of the notes I highlighted are quoted below:

“Individual Web sites provide an opportunity for patients to preview the skill and artistry of the cosmetic dentist they are considering. On the provider’s site, patients often can view before-and-after images, patient testimonials, and a list of services offered.

Some sites have the ability to complete registration forms and make exam and recall appointments.”

Pretty interesting information. The writer, who is also a doctor himself claims that “eighty percent” of his new patients now come via the Internet. That is a tremendous statistic if it is accurate. Even 50% is a very high number of new patients from the web. This example shows the importance of a website for the dental practice and how effective it really can potentially be.

I have been writing often about the internet and how it benefits the dental practice for some time now. I decided this go around that I wanted to get a dental professionals point of view rather than my own. I must tell you that I came across a goldmine of information on the ada.org website. It is a podcast interview with Dr. Keith Rossein who has been a dentist for over 25 years himself and now dedicates his time helping other dentists use the internet for their practice. The podcast can be found by clicking here. I recommend you download it and listen to it yourself to hear the great things he has to say.

I took some notes on some things he was talking about. I was fascinated on how similar his point of view is to ours. He specifically mentioned the importance of having forms online for the patient to fill out before he/she comes into the office. He also mentioned the importance of email ’s to keep in communication with patients because it’s much cheaper than any other form of communication. He mentioned enewsletters and how important they are in keeping good communication with the patient. And lastly, he mentioned patient education articles as an important internet tool for all dentists. I find it interesting how similar his recommendations are to the services we provide at patientdocs.com. Almost exactly the same. For more information about PatientDocs.com services click here to go to the services page.

Dental Internet Marketing is beginning to carry a name for itself. It is beginning to become it’s own subject and carry on quite the conversation. Dentists everywhere are starting to grasp the power the Internet has on their respective communities. And they are at the same time beginning to understand how they can use the internet for their Dental practice. It’s been a long time in the making. But it is happening slowly but surely.

The fact is that the Internet will be a profitable and beneficial tool for the Dental Practices that choose to use it and use it wisely. Those who do not will be left in the dust. The common patients these days are beginning to look for Dentists in their area by doing “Google Searches” or by searching online directories such as Dex Online. It’s important that Dentists everywhere understand the minds of their new generation potential customer/patient. These people are talking about their dentists on blogs and on MySpace. They are reading reviews and ratings on websites about their local dentists. The internet is turning into one big word of mouth for the Dental Industry. And the Dentist who decides to take the internet “by the horns” will benefit from this internet tool the most!

We recently gave a telephone seminar through the American Dental Association concerning the topic of Internet Services and the Dental Office. We had 20 dentists from the southern California area listen in as we lectured on the subject. We had a wonderful response and were glad to hear compliments regarding our presentation and the information we provided. I want to give you a summary of that presentation here in this post.

We provided information regarding the Internet as a solution to specific problems that many Dentists’ office experience. We interviewed 5 different Dentists’ from 5 totally different locations to find out what problems Dentists’ are experiencing in the area of Practice Management.

Problem 1: Educating Patients

We found that all 5 Dentists’ had trouble finding enough time to fully educate their patients as much as they wanted to. We solved that issue by showing them how a Dentist office could have a Patient Education Portal on their website, full of articles and links to helpful information.

Problem 2: Waiting Rooms

The time consuming effort of the patients filling out forms when they come into the office was shared by all 5 Dentists’. We instructed the Dentists’ by showing them how they can put their forms online and have their patients fill them out and submit them to the office before they even come to the office.

Problem 3: Communication with Patients

All Dentists’ agreed that their level of communication with their patients were not fully optimal. They also agreed that sending out information to patients via mail became quite expensive over time. We showed them how automatic email reminders of appointments and other types would help solve this problem.

Problem 4: Cost-Efficient Advertising

We taught the Dentists’ regarding websites and how they are a wonderful form of cost-efficient and effective advertising. All agreed that they were for more than what they were getting in return with advertising such as Yellow Pages.

If you want to learn more about these Internet Solutions to Dental Practice Problems, Click Here to go to PatientDocs.com and learn more about what we offer. The goal of PatientDocs.com is to provide Internet Solutions for Dental Practices worldwide.

Collections are critical to any business model. They are just as critical to a dental practice. Chances are that if you have a hard time in collecting from your patients, you are probably having to either get out of business soon or borrow some money from a financial institution of some sort to make it another day. Roger levin, D.D.S., in his whitepaper on jada.ada.org titled “Collections and Financial Controls“, has given some interesting counsel in this particularly difficult area of our dental practices. He challenges dental practices to “collect at the time of service”, claiming that you basically have a better chance of receiving your dues at that time. It’s simple advice that could you save you thousands (or make you, depending on how you look at it) of dollars each year. The critical component to this however, is the service you provide. You must understand and feel that you are giving the best service possible as a Dentistry. In doing so, it’s easy to justify with yourself your demands for collecting “at the time of service”. Click Here to learn how PatientDocs.com can help you increase your levels of customer service to your patients without increasing office staff hours.

Roger Levin, D.D.S. states in his article that “Current studies indicate that approximately 60 percent of money overdue to a practice by more than 120 days will never be collected.” Do not let this happen to you. You should have such a good relationship with each and every patient that they want to pay you immediately. No more waiting 120 days for a payment. No more not receiving payments at all! Keep in constant communication with your patients when they are not in your office. Send birthday email reminders! Send smile reminders! Send appointment reminders! How about send a weekly or monthly newsletter to your patients, educating them on how to better take care of their teeth. Feel free to send a postcard now and then. Make it easier for them to setup another appointment with you by allowing them to fill out a form online rather than having to call you. All of these things will help your practice achieve better customer service and better collection results at the same time. PatientDocs.com can help you with all of those. Click Here to learn more about their services.

I recently read a wonderful article from The American Dental Association. It was entitled “Dental Business Management” written by Roger Levin, D.D.S. The purpose of the article was to provide helpful information to practicing dentists all over the United States on how to better run their practice as a “business”. He states that a “business is as much a science as is dentistry”. I could not agree with him more. The troubling fact that many dentists nationwide are dealing with is that their practices are a business.

The article gives several tips on increasing productivity and revenue in a dental practice. I wanted to highlight a few. In the Goals and Objectives portion of Roger Levin’s whitepaper, he challenges dentists to “Meet the needs of patients while producing $800,000 annually”, “achieve an 80 percent case-acceptance rate for all basic services”, “collect 98.5 percent of all monies owed to the practice within 60 days or less”, and “ensure that 25 percent of all practice production is performed by the hygiene department”. Very good and helpful information if you ask me.

In evaluating Roger Levin’s whitepaper, I couldn’t help but notice how helpful PatientDocs.com would be in accomplishing all 4 of the before mentioned goals and objectives. The Med eMails service would help in collecting 98.5 percent of all monies within 60 days or less because you are keeping in constant contact with your patients. Med eForms would help in producing an $800,000 annual income and being able to work less, due to the nature of more and more new clients coming to you from the web.

And last of all, you need to be able to educate your patients if you want to achieve an 80 percent case-acceptance rate for all basic services. What better way to educate your patients by having a well designed website with helpful resources and articles of information to educate them. PatientDocs.com creates a section of your website called the “Patient Education” section directly targeted to achieve this goal and objective. Click Here to learn more about PatientDocs.com and what they can do to help you with your dental practice!