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Dental Consulting | When Do We Begin Screening for Gum Disease?

By: admin

July 19, 2018

Dental Coach Oregon

Written by: Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS, CEO

One of the big controversies working with dental hygienists is “When do we begin screening for gum disease?

It is a common question and each office we work with has a different answer.

What is the correct answer to this question?

In 2011, the American Academy of Periodontology published the Comprehensive Periodontal Therapy Statement, which recommends that all adults receive an annual comprehensive evaluation of their periodontal health.

The periodontal exam begins for all adults.

Who is considered an adult?

As a former dental assistant and then clinical dental hygienist, I have learned from experience, over years seeing teens and watching them grow to be mature adults, that periodontal disease begins at a very young age.

The description of adult for a dental patient begins when the patient has all twenty-eight of their adult dentition. This is the best time to begin screening for gum disease.

The conversation about gum health should begin with a patient at a very young age. You may notice that during orthodontic treatment, young patients have gingivitis. This is a great time to begin treatment for gingivitis and this conversation about the benefits of oral health.

Start educating your patients about gum health at a young age.

As dental professionals, our goal needs to be not only optimal oral health but optimal health. We are in a great position to help our patients understand that a healthy mouth can lead to a longer and healthier life. This needs to be our overarching message as a dental healthcare provider.

What does a periodontal comprehensive exam include?

The American Academy of Periodontology has a checklist that you can download. You can download this checklist here.

Your periodontal exam will begin with an overview of the patients’ total health. This will include recent surgeries, medications; herbs are included with medications because some herbs will cause more bleeding.

Here is a list of medications and herbs that may cause more bleeding then expected during a hygiene appointment or dental procedure.

What do we say when the CPE is not a good report for the patient?

It is very helpful when the clinician providing the CPE explains what is happening before they lie the patient back in the chair.

Next week I will walk you through the process on exactly what you should say before you begin the screening.

If you can explain what you are about to do for example, “I am going to use this ruler to take some measurements and these numbers mean X, Y & Z. When I am finished calling out these numbers, I will ask you “What is the highest and what is the lowest number you hear me call?”

When you explain this to your patients before you begin your screening, you will notice that patients tell you they have disease before you ask them what numbers they heard called out.

Your message

In conclusion, our goal is to help our patients live a longer and heathier life. When your patient has gingivitis, periodontitis or any type of infection in their mouth, it is a chance to sit with your patient and talk about the mouth-body connection.

We are in the business of helping people live a longer and healthier life.

When this is your message, you will have patients who schedule and pay for treatment. When this is your message you will have a dental practice of patients who return for routine care. This message shows how much you really care!

For more information about treating the patient with gingivitis and/or periodontitis download our free resource with a Hygiene Patient Flow Chart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS is a dental consultant, coach, speaker and author. She is also CEO of Dental Practice Solutions. Debbie is a world-class leader in creating profitable hygiene departments. She is well-known as a former clinical assistant professor at USC in Los Angeles and a former hygiene department program director. Dentistry Today recognizes Debbie as a Leader in Dental Consulting. She can be reached at (888) 816-1511. Send an e-mail to info@dentalpracticesolutions.com or go to her website: https://dentalpracticesolutions.com

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Dental Consulting | Are You Setting the Right Goals?

By: admin

July 5, 2018

Oregon Dental Coach

No matter how effective you are at vision casting, dreams require hard work and strategic planning to become a reality. Highly successful business owners know the benefits of setting realistic and measurable goals. Rethink the way you are setting goals for your business. Your ambitious plans will be successful only if you have a road map to reach them. By mastering the art of setting incremental, measurable goals, you’ll be able to more effectively to reach them. For more tips on managing your practice, contact our firm today.

Plan out the steps, not just the big picture.

Start small by establishing smaller goals on a quarterly, monthly, or even daily basis. It can be easy to let ambition take over and lose track of the work required to reach your ultimate objective. Setting smaller, incremental goals provides the opportunity for you to celebrate the small victories along the journey and reassess early if something isn’t working.

Measure your success.

How will you know if you achieved your goal if you cannot measure it? Goals should have a measurable standard. Perhaps you want to see 5 more new patients each month or to increase the number of referrals by 50%. Set specific goals that are easy to track. This will help you to definitively know whether or not you’ve reached them and, if not, have a tangible metric of how much you still need to accomplish.

Make your goals visible.

The more visible your goals are, the greater pressure you’ll feel to meet them. Make sure everyone in your practice is aware of what you’re trying to achieve. This will not only ensure that they’re actively helping you reach your goals, but will also provide a source of accountability to hold you to your word. Putting up visual reminders can also be a simple way to accomplish a similar effect. The more you’re reminded of your goal, the more likely you are to work towards it.

Real growth doesn’t happen passively. In order to take your practice to the next level, you need to set goals to help you get there. Whether these goals are financial, patient-oriented, or focused on personal development, we’re here to help. Contact us today to learn more!

Dental Practice Solutions
(888) 816-1511

Caries Risk Assessment: Saving Dollars for Your Dental Patient Adds Profits to Your Dental Practice

By: admin

July 9, 2013

I get excited when a dental office contacts me to be their Dental Practice Management Consultant and recently I had a few offices contact me who were located outside of the United States.

Their reason to call was to have a US Dental Practice Management Consultant implement preventive services for their practice and bring preventive protocols to their practice.

One of the most overlooked areas in a dental practice today is the Caries Risk Assessment. (CAMBRA) It happens a lot that offices do not have a protocol in place to assess and prevent caries. CAMBRA is not new. The California Dental Journal produced two journals dedicated to this topic in October and November 2007 and again in October 2011.

It is very rewarding to be a part of the shift in other countries who have millions upon millions of their population without preventive care services! There are dentists in these countries looking to make a change in their country. Congratulations to these dentists for leading CHANGE!

Caries Risk assessment is one of the areas we can see a huge shift in the underserved populations. With the guidance of a Consultant you will have a turn-key value added system in place to prevent disease and create one more profit center.

(Read below and add your own numbers to see what this means for your practice and profitability.)

What is CAMBRA?

CAMBRA assists providers to systematically evaluate caries risk in an individualized manner; children as well as adults.
Tailors a specific preventive therapeutic management plan or “care path”;
Customizes a restorative plan in conjunction with preventive care; and
Supports the dental professional to plan a timely, specific, and appropriate periodicity schedule based on the patients’ caries risk.

To effectively prevent and management the disease of caries, care should begin early, ideally during at age 1 a comprehensive oral exam visit is completed.

Yes, assessment begins very early. Do you tell parents that a child’s first visit is at age 3? NO? Think again.

Here are steps to prevent caries risk:

A caries risk assessment is the first of these critical steps,
Give the provider more information to help them consider the risk and health status of each patient before beginning the exam.
Caries risk assessment provides information pertaining to three specific overarching domains: white spot lesions, decalcification enamel. defects or other obvious decay in the child.

The information obtained from a caries risk assessment allows the care provider to formulate a caries risk profile for the child, and also an adult. This is an essential first step to determining the prevention and treatment plan, as well as the periodicity of patient follow-up/continuing care visit. (one month, three months, six months, or one year).

The CAMBRA-based dental practice will increase the usage of current preventive products. (Another profit center for your dental hygien department) The dental practice needs to have these products available to the patient so they can easily improve self-efficacy and begin using these preventive care products immediately.

CAMBRA-based prevention and nonsurgical caries management should lead to a shift away from restorative procedures to procedures focused on prevention and early intervention; cost analysis and development of financial models should show the economic value change the psychology of the dental professional’s messaging style.

Include attractive literature for patients to read in your reception areas and take home with them to learn more about Caries Prevention.

The new CDT codes for CAMBRA will assist in reimbursement for the patient.

In January 2013 the CDT codes were revised and D 1204 and D1203 are no longer used. For the patient who receives a fluoride varnish the insurance billing code will be: D1206.

For adults and children who receive a fluoride other than a varnish the code for billing used will be: D1208.

What does this mean for the profits to your practice?

For patients who are assessed moderate to extremely high risk they will return every 1-3 months for a short appointment to assess biofilm, review home care and diet, provide a fluoride varnish and if the patient will always use a 1.1% Sodium Fluoride each night.

Here is a breakdown of what this may mean for your dental practice and the patient:

RISK ASSESSED Interval of Service Services CDT Code Fee

Mod – Extremely High 1- 3mos Biofilm eval, F2 Varnish, eval home-care, 1.1% NaF D1206, D09999 $ 65

Low 6 mos Prophy, F2 Varnish D1110, D1206 $135

Most offices will enroll at least 100 patients annually into CAMBRA. This above chart can be used to assess your profit potential. (Average practice is approximately 1500 patients)

CAMBRA strategies are implemented with a focus toward prevention and early intervention. Studies should also determine if there is significant practice growth and case acceptance once the patient oral health is improved.

CAMBRA represents best practices and should become the standard of care in disease prevention and treatment.

ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE, RDH, BS

Are you looking to improve profits in your dental hygiene department? Debbie has an innovative and successful way to consistently increase profits in your dental practice.

Many dentists today only need a 1 or 2 day workshop in-office to create the best solutions. Some offices find it valuable to participate in one of our online membership programs. This investment will be your highest ROI .

Check our services section on the website to find one that meets your needs. Consider getting your team involved in our 12 week Case Acceptance Program. You won’t need to stop your day of work at the office or pay for a dental consultant to travel to your office. The program is at your fingertips 24/7 indefinitely.

Debbie writes for many of the major dental conferences in the world. She is recognized for the past 8 years as “One of Dentistry Today’s Top Consultants.”

Many of her clients span from not only the United States but Brazil, Australia, India and the UK, just to mention a few. She has unique and one-of-a-kind learning systems for offices all over the world to participate in as well as in-office workshops and dental hygiene consulting.

7 Tips to Survive and Thrive Today!

By: admin

June 18, 2013

You most likely chose to be a dentist because it is supposed to give you a chance to live a great life! It should be able to give you a lot of freedom.

Maybe your goal was to work three or four days a week. I imagine that you probably expected to have a bank account with many zeroes at the end of the balance by now.

“Why is this not happening?!”

Many dentists today are asking this question. If you are one of these dentists asking this question, I want to let you know that you are not alone!

I also know without a doubt – — – There is HOPE! I promise you that there is a silver lining to the story of “Today’s Economic Crisis” that many of you are feeling.

During the depression there were more millionaires created than ever before and I know this is happening again – as I am writing this – it is happening.

What is the best answer to this question?

The answer is not going to be something you may want to hear but the answer is this simple:

INVEST in YOURSELF

Years ago, you invested in your education and it didn’t stop there. Investing in yourself is something you need to continue over your lifetime – -and I don’t mean only investing in the DOW JONES or NASDAQ. I mean investing in your dental business and creating systems that consistently bring profits.

Dentistry is a very fast moving industry. Technology changes, internet and how people search for a dentist have changed. The systems and services that create consistent multiple income streams for your dental practice have changed in just the last 5 years. Patients used to come to a hygiene appointment to have their teeth cleaned. Now patients can come to their dental office for preventive services that support total health.

I feel your pain and I know that you don’t want to spend another dime.

The answer is that if you don’t invest in a solution to your own economic decline, you will never leave this challenging situation you are in today.

There needs to be a CHANGE.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein

For myself, I invest in coaches who support and guide me to stay in a position that will serve my clients at the highest level. This is how you will not only survive but THRIVE. This is what I know works best for those who want to be at the top of their game.

“INVEST IN ME” = Your Biggest ROI

2. Hire a dental practice management consultant who is an expert in their niche. This should not and will not drain your bank account if you choose the correct one for you. Find an expert whose expertise is solving you specific needs. Now you will have your biggest ROI. This is the best way to invest in you.

3. Do you know that your dental hygiene department is the one area that can create multiple streams of income? This is the one area of your dental practice where you need to have up-to-date systems and services. There are some simple questions that your hygienist can ask that will drive your profits by $100,000.00 in the next year, services that create optimal health and profits.

About 99% of our clients have at least $100,000.00 of unscheduled treatment sitting in their patient charts. Do you know what to say to a patient who did not want to schedule for necessary treatment? Do you know 1 simple question your hygienist can ask that will drive adjunctive and aesthetic services, that perhaps your patients never thought to ask you about?

4. There is a simple step-by-step strategy to bring them back to your office. Most recently we have an office report that 50 patients scheduled their hygiene appointment when they took step one of our Continuing C.A.R. E. System.

5. Implement an incentive program to inspire patients to come back to your office. Use this to bring in overdue patients and also create referrals for New Patients.

6. Implement a smile evaluation. Ask your patients what is one thing they would like to change about their smile. There are so many different ways to ask this simple question but the bottom line is to ASK.

7. ASK your patients who can’t commit to schedule treatment; “When is a good time to follow up with you?” Or better yet, they probably have unanswered questions and this is the really meaning behind their statement? ASK them to return for a short consultation and invite then to bring their spouse or the other decision maker with them.

ASK: Always Seek Knowledge.

Ask yourself “what can I do differently today to create a positive change?”
Ask your patients the various questions suggested above.

These are only a few suggestions so you can not only survive today’s economic decline but these are suggestions for you to THRIVE!

After all, that is why you do what you do – RIGHT?

Here is to your success!

ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE, RDH, BS

Are you looking to improve profits in your dental hygiene department? Debbie has an innovative and successful way to consistently increase profits in your dental practice.

Check our our services section on the website to find one that meets your needs. Consider getting your team involved in our 12 week Case Acceptance Program. You won’t need to stop your day of work at the office or pay for a dental consultant to travel to your office. The program is at your fingertips 24/7 indefinitely.

Debbie writes for many of the major dental conferences in the world. She is recognized for the past 8 years as “One of Dentistry Today’s Top Consultants.”