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Growing Practice in the "City of Fountains" Always Ahead of Its Time
NORTH KANSAS CITY DENTAL - KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI | WILLIAM BUSCH, DMD, MAGD When Dr. Bill Busch opened North Kansas City Dental in 1991, he had a clear vision of what he wanted the multispecialty practice to be: a completely high-tech, paperless office. In fact, while he was still in dental school and long before the technology was fully developed, he wondered how he could centralize everything, including patient X-rays, into an electronic format. Additionally, he felt it was essential that he spend time with his patients and develop lasting relationships with them so they truly felt their concerns were being addressed. Little did he know that his forward-thinking investments in technology would
Bold Design and Efficient Layout Launch a Start-Up Practice into Success
H2 DENTAL CENTER - SAN RAMON, CALIFORNIA |HEE SONG SEO, DDS Across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, tucked into the upscale community of San Ramon, H2 Dental Center is a new general dentistry practice with an ultra-contemporary interior. The space is clean, modern, and monochromatic bringing an incredible “wow” factor as well as advanced dentistry to the area. Dr. Hee Song Seo opened H2 Dental Center in July 2015 after working as an associate dentist in San Francisco for six years. Today, the 1,650-square-foot dental office welcomes an average of 20 new patients every month and is open two to three days per week. When the doctor decided to open his own practice, he first
Coastal Office Invests in Technology to Grow Services and Patients
MIRAMAR BEACH DENTAL & ORTHODONTICS - MIRAMAR BEACH, FLORIDA | JASON BAKER, DDS When a dental practice is so successful that waiting patients are sitting with the staff behind the check-in desk because there are no seats left in the reception area, that is a sign that the office has outgrown its space! That actually happened in Dr. Jason Baker’s previous dental practice in Miramar Beach, Florida, and while he can laugh about it now, it was not funny at the time. Over crowdedness was one of the primary factors that led to the construction of his new 5,300-square-foot office in June 2015. Expanding Services Demand Expanded Space Dr. Baker moved from
Modern Dental Office Offers a Glimpse of the Past
COLUMBIA SMILES - COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA | NICK POURNARAS, DDS On the top floor of a beautiful historic building in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. Nick Pournaras has created a state-of-the-art modern dental office that is a study in contrasts, bringing incredible advanced technology into a landmark filled with vintage 1920s architecture. Columbia Smiles, which opened in November 2015, is Dr. Pournaras’ second location; his original office is in nearby Cayce, SC. Opened in 1999, the Cayce office was always a great success for the doctor, and as it grew, it drew many patients from the downtown area. All of the practice’s technology is interconnected through Dentrix practice management software, so digital images are accessible
Making the Leap to Multiple Practices
Nearly every dentist knows at least one other who runs his/her own small group practice. Whether it is a friend from dental school, another doctor in the same town, or an acquaintance at the gym, most solo practitioners know another who made that leap. Have you wondered how they did it and how you could, too? Owning a small group practice allows you to maintain ultimate control over all clinical and business decisions while capitalizing on the economies of scale of centralized operations. It does not, however, come without some inherent risk. Dentists who target multi-practice ownership broadly follow four steps below that are taught during three-day sessions
ICD-10-CM and Its Impact on Dentistry
By Dr. Charles Blair WILL DENTISTS BE REQUIRED TO REPORT ICD-10-CM CODES? Now that ICD-10 has been implemented, all claims requiring a diagnosis code will require ICD-10 codes. If you do not currently report diagnoses codes on your claims, you may be minimally affected by ICD-10. It is important to note, however, that changes in health care and insurance may necessitate the use of diagnoses codes in the future. The potential changes include the following: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandated that effective October 1, 2015, all HIPAA- covered entities are required to implement the ICD-10 diagnosis code set. Medicaid is a HIPAA entity, as are medical
It All Starts With Imaging
By Michael Folck, DDS Recently, our dental practice in Virginia Beach, Virginia expanded, and change is always a part of the evolution of any practice. Our priority was to include technology that improves our treatment plans and our patient experience. We don’t want to be “just another dental office.” With our experience, expertise, and equipment in cosmetic, neuromuscular, and general dentistry, we want to be able to provide our patients with everything they need for a strong, healthy, and dazzling smile, from customized smile makeover treatment plans to restorative and therapeutic treatments to state-of-the-art cosmetic dentistry procedures. Imaging is the first step toward devising a comprehensive plan of care, and
Planmeca FIT Offers Minimally Invasive Crowns in Same-Day Dental Treatment
All-ceramic and adhesively retained restorations offer the possibility of limited to no removal of tooth structure. Because the restoration is adhesively retained, less structure needs to be removed to accomplish the restoration. Therefore, we can reduce the risk of tooth fracture by covering the cusps and bonding the restoration, all the while not compromising the prognosis of the tooth. Chairside CAD/CAM offers the possibility to provide this treatment in the same visit. The Planmeca FIT restoration system combines PlanScan, PlanCAD, and PlanMill 40 to offer this same-visit solution. It is important to remove as little of the original tooth as possible when creating restorations because of the biological consequences
Data Drives New Build for Doctor Creating Pediatric Smiles
WORLD PEDIATRIC DENTAL SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS Oshmi Dutta, DDS Dr. Oshmi Dutta’s approach to building his San Antonio, Texas practice, World Pediatric Dental, was inspired by something his father always says: “Making a decision without information is just a guess.” The doctor embraced that wise statement as he prepared to build a brand new pediatric dental practice in south Texas. Although he worked in general dentistry for a number of years, Dr. Dutta later realized he wanted to switch to pediatric dentistry. He left a general practice in California to return to school and became board certified in pediatric dentistry and a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. He
A Smile Restored, Starting With an i-CAT Scan
By Ronald Delmanto, DDS As one of the first dentists to use a CBCT scanner in my area, I recognize the vital role it has in the reconstruction process. The extremely comprehensive data gained from 3D scans help me plan decisive aspects of the implant process, such as precise spacing and parallelism. A 3D imaging system has helped me plan even the most challenging cases. The reconstruction process on one of my patients required creative planning, and an i-CAT 3D imaging system played a significant role. This patient was diagnosed with multiple ameloblastomas from an FMX. He had no symptoms at the time. An oral surgeon resected the portion
Should Dental Practices Attempt to Protect Patient Data on Their Own?
By Chris Bowen, ClearDATA Breaches of “protected” health information (PHI) are on the rise, some shocking in the human error involved. In the first half of 2015, health care had more breaches than any other industry. Data breach reports find that in 60% of cases, attackers compromise a system in minutes. As scary as that sounds, the biggest challenge the dental industry faces is its inattention to physical security. A ClearDATA analysis of dental practice-related breaches for the past 12 months confirmed the majority of reported breaches were caused by physical theft. In the Ponemon Institute’s Fifth Annual Study on Medical Identity Theft, 29% of stolen PHI is used to
Location, Location, Location: How Visibility, Technology and Efficiency Led to Rapid Success
CORSON DENTISTRY Denver, Colorado From an Army hospital to a state-of-the-art cosmetic dentistry practice and finally, to his own private practice in his hometown of Denver, Dr. Mike Corson, Jr. has practiced dentistry in very different environments. Through those experiences, he has honed his skills in a wide range of dental specialties which helped him envision how his own practice would be. Today, anyone who drives down I-25 in downtown Denver cannot help but see the oversized sign that advertises Corson Dentistry: it sits atop his building and is seen by 420,000 cars driving by every day! THE LOCATION THAT ALMOST WASN’T Dr. Corson made the decision to move back to
New Practice Makes Beautiful First Impression
EAST COBB DENTAL, MARIETTA, GEORGIA Reyn Connelly, DDS Dr. Reyn Connelly of East Cobb Dental always wanted to build a new practice. With his lease set to expire in his previous building, it gave the Georgia native the opportunity he needed to move forward with the construction of a new office in Marietta. The results have been beautiful, laying the groundwork for the doctor to meet his long-term goals. At 3,000 square feet the new office is actually in a smaller footprint than his previous office. However, because it was designed from the ground up the layout is more efficient, fitting the way the doctor and his staff care
EMV Chip Cards Are Here. Are You Ready?
You have likely heard some buzz about EMV Cards (“Europay MasterCard and Visa Cards”), also known as chip cards. Card issuers have been busy replacing credit and debit cards that have magnetic strips with cards featuring chip technology in order to improve credit security. It takes new equipment to handle these more secure chip cards; specifically an “EMV-Compliant terminal.” Henry Schein is working hard to safeguard our customers’ business systems and patient information— and chip cards offer one of the most secure ways for us to do that. There have been many high-profile cases of data breaches and credit card fraud in the news in the last few
Why You Should Replace Windows XP Today
By Thomas Grover, Henry Schein TechCentral XP has been dead for a year but lives on in many dental practices. Microsoft cut off support and stopped providing security updates for Windows XP more than a year ago, yet many dental practices continue to run on the XP platform. Every day you stay on the same outdated, unsupported platform, you expose your data to risk, which has already proven to be a $100 million nightmare for retailers across the U.S. The 2014 hacks of major retailers that exposed millions of credit cards were linked to the outdated Windows XP operating system. Hackers are not restricting their efforts to large
Ever-evolving Tools for More Complete Implant Planning
By Justin Moody, DDS, DICOI, DABOI Much has been written about cone beam 3D imaging and its benefits to the placement of dental implants. The amount of data that can be gained from 3D scans has become an integral part of my diagnosing patients’ individual needs. Data and measurements for dental applications such as bone height, buccolingual dimensions, and angulation help me to define the best positioning, and scans also show detailed views of the maxillary sinus, inferior alveolar nerve, and nasal cavity, among other anatomical landmarks. While the 3D view offers this precise look at the anatomy, often the treatment planning software is the star of the show.
CAD/CAM Transforms Practices By Delivering What Patients Want
The open-architecture Planmeca FIT™ system for chairside CAD/CAM is a digital workflow solution that integrates intraoral scanning, 3D designing and chairside milling into a streamlined process. It provides doctors with tools to create and place precision, high-quality restorations in a single-patient visit, and same-day dentistry is something that is a win-win for both patients and practices. Dr. Gary Kaye of Kaye Dentistry in New York City, a Planmeca user, has experienced dramatic growth since adopting the system and said it attracts new patients to his practice. “Patients ask about same-day restorations,” noted Dr. Kaye. ”They want them. Chairside CAD/CAM alone has added 18% to our bottom line in the
Practice Maximizes Efficiency in New Space to Achieve Major Growth
LYNCHBURG DENTAL CENTER - LYNCHBURG, VA Carrington Crawford, DDS, Karen Kenny, DDS, and Brad Lentz, DMD When you have more patients that want to see you than you have time for in a day, that is a difficult situation...but difficult in a good way. It provided an opportunity that could only be seized in one way, expansion. That is the situation Dr. Carrington Crawford, of Lynchburg Dental Center in Lynchburg, Virginia, found himself facing. After graduating from dental school, he spent four years working in a large dental practice, but eventually he decided to open his own general dentistry office. He bought an existing practice from a retiring doctor
Suburban Office Draws Patients With Convenient, Time-Saving Technology
COMPLETE COSMETIC CARE DENTISTRY–GLENPOOL, OKLAHOMA Parnam Mohanna, DDS, FICOI, DICOI & Dalia Georgy, DDS When building an office from scratch, it’s common for doctors to wade into technology purchases gradually but Dr. Parnam Mohanna and Dr. Dalia Georgy, actually did the opposite. Coming from a busy and vibrant corporate dentistry environment before they decided to build their own practice, the husband and wife owners of Complete Cosmetic Care Dentistry (CCCD) were able to formulate their ideas on how they would design their own practice when the time came. Their plan was to equip a new office with advanced technology right away so they could offer to their patients many
Cloudy Versus Clear Skies
By Chris Riedel, DDS The benefits of digital radiography over film have been widely recognized — digital eliminates the chemicals needed for film and lowers radiation exposure to patients. Since implementing another brand of digital system and then switching to DEXIS™ Platinum, I have realized something more — that it is not just digital, but DEXIS that has brought me the most benefits. I found DEXIS to be superior to my previous system in a number of categories. First, and perhaps most important, the image quality is vastly clearer, allowing for greater accuracy and confidence in diagnostics. In addition, the ClearVu™ image enhancement tool is fantastic; I use it
New Office Build Leads to Expansion and Success in Anchorage
ALASKA DENTAL CARE, ANCHORAGE, ALASKA Brett Gardiner, DDS, Stephen Howard, DDS, And Kevin Parks, DDS Every year, more than a million people travel from all over the world to take in the amazing scenery Dr. Brett Gardiner and his team are able to enjoy every day, right outside. Located in Anchorage, Alaska, along the Cook Inlet, the doctor’s 3,600-square-foot general dentistry practice, Alaska Dental Care, is set amid the rugged beauty of the Chugach Mountains. Outside, the view is stunning. Inside, the office’s warm and inviting décor welcomes and impresses patients who come from both Anchorage and Eagle River for dental care. This beautiful practice was completed in January
Transforming a Dental Practice, One Step at a Time–Sullivan Dental Center
SULLIVAN DENTAL CENTER - ST. FRANCISVILLE, LA Drs. Frank & Candice Sullivan & Dr. Clay Couvillon The doctors at Sullivan Dental Center in St. Francisville, Louisiana, about 25 miles north of Baton Rouge, have been interested in cutting- edge technology since they graduated from dental school. As Dr. Candice Sullivan confirms, “If there is technology that we think will benefit the patient or our practice, we are buying it.” That willingness to integrate technology, from intraoral cameras to digital impressions and cone beam imaging, has helped Sullivan Dental Center, a family dentistry and pediatrics practice, draw patients from hundreds of miles away. It has also propelled the growth of the
Best Practices In Building and Maintaining a Dental Office
Building a new office is both exciting and overwhelming. Every doctor wants his or her practice to be perfect. Choosing a location and selecting equipment and the floor plan are just some of the decisions that have to be made. Henry Schein experts have helped thousands of doctors build and renovate successful offices, and four of them share recommendations for building and maintaining a new office. Stephen Raley is an Equipment & Technology Specialist in South Carolina, and during his 17-year career with Henry Schein, he has been involved in the build outs of 600–700 dental practices. Ryan Lingenfelter is an Equipment Sales Specialist in Nebraska and South Dakota,
Creative Design of Practice Attracts New Associates and Families to Pediatric Office
If you ask Dr. Ketan Sukkawala what he likes best about the new pediatric dental practice he built in October 2013, he will list improved patient flow, digital imaging and the modern, creative theme and bold architecture that stands out in the small town of College Station, Texas. If you ask the children who come to him for care, however, they will describe the cool tower room, the solar system mobile that floats above their heads, and of course, the astronaut in the game room. The fact that patients and the doctor are so satisfied with completely different aspects of the practice demonstrates how well it has