Category: Time Management & Patient Care Series

Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Patient Packets

Not long ago I went to a car dealership. Before leaving I picked up a beautiful full color, information clad brochure that looked expensive. Very nice and informative. Another day I took my dog to the veterinarian.  During the visit the technician entered information into the patient record and after the doctor finished I was … Continue reading Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Patient Packets

Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Automatic treatment planning!

Imagine that you want to fly to L.A.:  You open your smartphone and click “fly to L.A.”  The app notes your location, driving time to the airport, provides flight options, accesses your award mileage program, rents a car, reserves your favorite hotel and makes dinner reservations in L.A. The software knows your preferences for traveling times, price … Continue reading Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Automatic treatment planning!

Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Ultra Fast Periodontal Charting

Let’s just admit that periodontal charting is not the most fun thing to do. Here’s a short list of why: It soaks up valuable clinical time It is done as much for legal reasons as clinical reasons The clinical use of the data is limited Many clinicians only chart pocket depth (PD).  But, unless one notes both … Continue reading Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Ultra Fast Periodontal Charting

Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Patient Examination

We move now to step 2: The Examination (Chair Side Forms).  All dentists know how to complete an examination so it is not necessary to go into that, except to remind the reader that there are only two types of consultations for new patients according to the ADA’s CDT codes.  Keeping this in mind makes … Continue reading Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Patient Examination

Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Patient Intake

Observing the delivery of dental care is, for the dentist, a solitary clinical experience.  In fact we want our work to be imperceptible.  Because of this, patients do not even know to tell their friends about the marginal integrity of their restorations. They do not brag about how you prevented a pulp necrosis following an … Continue reading Dental Office Time Management and Patient Care Series: Patient Intake