OnTarget Highlight: PPE Adherence in the Dental Practice

Dental hygienist in face mask and protective eyewear.

A recent global health pandemic has brought personal protective equipment (PPE) to the public’s attention, but dental professionals have long been familiar with the concept of PPE. Despite this, many workers fail to adhere to PPE requirements because they find equipment cumbersome, uncomfortable or disruptive to performing tasks and communicating with patients and personnel. To remove these barriers, dental offices must supply PPE that maximizes ease of use, comfort and performance.

Failure to replace: Who pays the ultimate price?

When to replace dental handpieces

The current recommendation for when to replace a scaler is when 20% of the instrument blade width or length is reduced or no longer the original design. But how long it takes for each instrument to reach this threshold is dependent on several factors. Deb (Hume) Brown, RDH, shares some of these factors and how a failure to replace instruments can affect the clinician and the patient.

Boost Patient Confidence with Sterilization Solutions from A-dec

As dental practices continue to examine infection control guidelines to meet the demands of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it’s important to consider how patients will feel as they walk into your office. A-dec has many solutions to not only improve the safety of your office, but also to visually show patients you’re keeping their health at the forefront.

How One Dental Practice Found Success with Teledentistry Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

Michael Cruz and Dee Dee Meevasin, DMD, were running critical business operations at full sprint when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Las Vegas, threatening to stop them in their tracks. The technology-forward dental practice found ways to remain operational when faced with taking emergency appointments only. Teledentistry from OperaDDS allowed for virtual consults, triaging and as a general screening and communication tool.

Is Your Practice Ready for Teledentistry? Use RevenueWell’s Readiness Scale to Find Out

As states have relaxed stay-at-home orders and dental practices have started seeing patients for routine care again, teledentistry may still be top of mind for dental practices looking to give patients more ways to connect between visits. If you’ve been considering implementing teledentistry at your practice, how do you know if you’re ready? How do you know if teledentistry is right for your practice? How can you gauge its true impact on your business?

A Quality Assurance Approach of Infection Prevention from OSAP

As dental practices continue to evaluate office policies and procedures during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, infection control will continue to be an important area of focus. To that end, the current issue of Infection Control in Practice by OSAP dives into creating an effective infection prevention and control program for your practice.

3 Steps to Create a Positive Patient Experience in the “New Normal”

Keeping patients updated with paperwork, reminders for their appointments and a list of what to expect when they get to the office will help ensure they keep their appointment. Here are three steps to create a positive patient experience and help make sure your schedule stays full and breaking appointments is a rarity.

Patient Messaging During COVID-19: Digital Communication Tools from Solutionreach

As part of its webinar series on supporting a new digital patient journey, Solutionreach recently shared some of the key areas of focus when communicating with patients during COVID-19. As patients look for a variety of up-to-date information, their healthcare provider could likely be their best source of trusted information.

Wiz Guys Support Customers During COVID-19 and Beyond

Todd Wizner and Ben Wizner, also known as the “Wiz Dental Guys,” are a father-son duo of Patterson reps with knowledge spanning almost 35 years. Their unwavering commitment to their customers has especially shone through as the COVID-19 crisis has hit the nation. They knew this was going to have a big impact not only on their personal day-to-day jobs, but also on their core customers’ businesses.

Solea Laser: Reduce Aerosols, Increase Appointments, Improve Patient Experience

As states lift stay-at-home orders and dental offices welcome back patients, it is essential to keep patient comfort and safety at the forefront while maximizing appointment efficiencies. The Solea laser is one way your practice can introduce an anesthesia-free appointment that reduces aerosols and allows you to get more work done with each appointment.

Keeping Staff and Patients Safe: Personal Protective Equipment and Donning and Doffing Advice

Nothing is more important than protecting the lives of your patients and staff. Yet new circumstances you and other dental professionals are now facing require the use of more personal protective equipment (PPE) and the proper procedures for ensuring you and your team are securely covered – from head to toe.

How to Know Your Instruments Are Sterile and Compliant

Cleaning and sterilizing dental instruments for re-use can be tedious and dull, but the task is a crucial component to ensuring the safety of staff and patients. Further, ensuring that instruments are free of potentially infectious material and debris is critical to the quality care that dental health professionals pledge to provide. Gain a better understanding of this importance and see how to set up an easy-to-maintain compliance program in this guest post from Hu-Friedy.

The Road to Reopening: One Dental Practice’s Path to Safely Getting Back to Business

When Melissa Brown, DDS, founded Murray Hill Family Dental, she worked hard to prepare for many different business situations. But needing to close and reopen her practices due to a global pandemic isn’t one she could have imagined. Along with her husband, Troy Walton, director of business operations, they have built a loyal customer following and are an active and important part of their community.

On-Demand Webinar: Respiratory Precautions and Aerosol Management Solutions

Managing respiratory risk is critical as dental practices begin resuming regular care amid COVID-19. In this on-demand webinar, OSAP and Patterson Dental discuss current respiratory precautions and aerosol management solutions from an equipment and technology standpoint for dental practices.

Virtual Visits: Teledentistry to Serve Patients Remotely

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of RevenueWell’s customers were mandated to temporarily halt elective treatments and have cut back their schedules to only accept emergency appointments. To meet this demand, RevenueWell recently announced its newest feature, Virtual Visits. Learn about this new teledentistry solution.

3 Key Dimensions to Successfully Rebound from a Crisis

Some companies have been able to not only accelerate growth but also increase profitability while facing economic headwinds. As dental offices begin to reopen and rebound from the COVID-19 crisis, practice owners should focus on three key dimensions to navigate the economic downturn and come out the other side stronger.

8 Expert Business Tips for Reopening Your Dental Office Amid a Pandemic

Whether you’re handling emergencies only, entirely shut down, or taking initial steps to reopen, you’re no doubt focused on the near-term future of your practice. Kathy Brodal, a Patterson Dental business educator, offers eight ways to plan, prepare and pull off a strategy for propelling your business forward effectively.

Dental Practice Reopening Webinar Series: Target, Communicate, Market to Your Patients

As practices reopen and prepare for the next stage, planning, patient communication and marketing will be more critical than ever. In a new four-part webinar series, we will share insights, best practices and action steps to support you on your reopen and restore journey.

Patients, Team and Office – What to Think About as You Look to Reopen Your Dental Practice

After being closed for a few weeks, reopening your dental practice can be a stressful task that may not be well rehearsed among your staff. Creating a task list, communicating with your staff and patients, and ensuring a safe office space will help assure a smooth reopening transition.

Social Distancing in Dentistry: HIPAA Compliance and Teledentistry Partners

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many dentists have turned to teledentistry to stay connected with patients while practicing social distancing; providing consultation, evaluation and next step actions. But as with any new technology, teledentistry brings about new questions. Healthcare risk management and compliance expert, Linda Harvey, RDH, shares her expertise in assuring the teledentistry technology you choose for your practice is compliant with HIPAA rules and keeps the privacy and security of your patients intact.

3 Ways to Assure Your Dental Practice Comes Back Stronger than Ever

With most dental practices in the U.S. open for emergency care only, it can be easy to stress about the future of your practice. Amid the uncertainty, it’s important to remain optimistic and think of ways to turn the negatives into a positive. Imtiaz Manji, the co-founder and chairman of Spear Education, recently shared his ideas on how to navigate the coronavirus crisis and how dental practices can use this tough situation to improve their business and come back stronger.

Preventing the Spread of COVID-19: Infection Control in Dental Practices

Although every patient who enters a dental office should be treated as if they could have an infectious disease; times like these help us pause, take a step back and make sure we’re compliant with current guidelines set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Here are some ways to make sure your dental office is OSHA compliant.