Month: April 2013

It might be more politically correct for me to ask if are you sharing saliva, rather than swapping spit, but either way, the answer would be the same. Yes! Most of us, in one way or another, are transmitting pathogens through our saliva.

It’s very interesting, although not surprising, that when testing the saliva of spouses, their pathogen profiles are very similar, sometimes even identical (example charts). This makes sense since we are cohabitating with our spouse on an intimate level.

When it comes to pets, allowing them to drink from our cup or glass, or sharing food, like an ice cream cone, puts us at risks for the sharing of bugs. When it comes to our kids, the same is true. If mom or dad has symptoms of periodontal disease (or tooth decay), those pathogens get transferred to offspring at a very early age. As soon as teeth erupt (6-8 months), pathogens can be harbored. We see the real world application of this scenario when entire families are patients and they all have periodontal disease activity (or tooth decay).

Having a discussion about this topic with your patients and family members will have a big emotional impact. Making some awareness modifications in behavior on the other hand could make a big difference in their health and wellness. For example:

• Avoid sharing:
  • cups, glasses or straws
  • forks or spoons
  • ice cream cones
• Don’t ‘bite off a piece’ when someone has gone before you
• Don’t allow your dog to lick you or your baby on the face or hands

Are we swapping spit? Absolutely! The good news is, with today’s technology we can know exactly which bugs, in what concentrations are causing the problem.

Inspired Hygiene offers a wide-array of coaching services, including implementation of salivary diagnostics/pathogen testing. If you are interested in taking it to the next level, please contact us for more information at info@inspiredhygiene.com or 877.237.7230.

Stay Inspired,
Kim

Some teams just know how to have FUN! And the team of Drs. Harris and Reynolds in Little Rock is one of them. I had the distinct pleasure of spending two days in this practice last week.

They had thought for YEARS about bringing in a hygiene coach to help them up-level their perio program, restorative co-diagnosis and hygiene systems and now was the time!

One thing I love about this team is that while they were referred to us by practice management consultant, Sharon Tiger and their financial advisor at Cain Watters, Dr. Harris was very clear with me on his objectives for the consult. In his doctor questionnaire he stated and I quote “We will not sacrifice quality care to increase production”.

The ironic thing is that high quality care automatically creates a highly productive hygiene team.

You’ve probably heard me say this before but here I go again. I fall in love with our industry all over again every time I hear a doc say…’the reason I called you is because we notice that our hygiene numbers are down. But really, we just want to be sure we’re doing the best for our patients and we need your help”.  And I will tell you that when I meet these teams in person, they walk their talk.

So…one high level service that increases productivity is adult fluoride. With the changes in the codes in 2013, it’s a little trickier to differentiate and track adult fluoride varnish and child varnish procedures. So in this week’s video, I’ll give you some simple tips so you can track how well you’re doing with adult fluorides.

Stay Inspired,
Rachel

Happy Spring! It’s finally reached us here in NC, and I hope that if you’re still in the cold that you’re at least seeing some small signs that warmer weather is on its way!

Last week, I snuck away with the family for a couple days of Spring Break in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We love this area for helping us unwind from ‘city’ life and spend some time together in the country.

On the heels of Valentine’s Day and Easter, it’s appropriate that we feature our upcoming Hygiene Profits Mastermind called ‘America’s Sweet Tooth Obsession and Its Impact on Oral & Systemic Health’.

When my daughter came home from her kindergarten Valentine’s Day party I have to tell you that I was appalled at the amount of candy that came home with her. I love an occasional chocolate and I’m sure I eat a lot more hidden sugar than I know, but this was ridiculous. She ate a piece or two and the rest quietly disappeared…

I’m so curious to hear Karen share not only how sugar effects our oral health but also our systemic health. There are some sources that claim sugar is a big player in INFLAMMATION. And if you listened to our February call about inflammation and heart disease, you won’t want to miss this one.

Scroll down to learn more about the upcoming call and see how you can take advantage of our FREE 2-month trial offer if you’re not already a Mastermind member.

“America’s Sweet Tooth Obsession and It’s Impact on Oral & Systemic Health”
with special guest Karen Davis, RDH, BSDH

As dental professionals we realize the importance of diet and nutrition related to our patients’ dental health. Getting comfortable with this subject and working it into our patient education however can be a real challenge. This month I’ll interview Karen Davis, RDH, national speaker and columnist as she helps us realize the true impact sugar is having on our health and the health of our patients. During the call Karen will share:

• The truth about “added sugars” in foods and drinks
• What the literature says about the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and the deleterious impact it has on systemic health
• Tips to motivate patients to reclaim their health!

Date: Thursday, April 18

Time: 1:00pm Eastern

CE credits are provided by Inspired Hygiene.
Inspired Hygiene is designated as an Approved PACE Program Provider by the Academy of General Dentistry. The formal continuing dental education programs of this program provider are accepted by the AGD for Fellowship, Mastership and membership maintenance credit. Approval does not imply acceptance by a state or provincial board of dentistry or AGD endorsement.
The current term of approval extends from 6/1/2010 to 5/31/2014.

If you’re not already a member of our Mastermind group, the first 2 months are FREE.  Click here to sign up.

Stay Inspired,
Rachel

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artistic Smiles of Miami

With the strong yet gentle leadership style of Dr. Yon Elejabarrieta, he and his team at Artistic Smiles of Miami worked together to successfully implement the new services and systems that they had agreed to during our two-day workshops. They understood that in order to achieve the goals they set out to accomplish, they needed to DO two things: they each needed to make a personal commitment within themselves, and then also work together as a team in order to be successful.

Their appointments were booked 3-5 weeks out, but they had a very high last minute no shows and cancellations. Here’s how they improved quickly in this area:

1. Implemented a priority care block schedule
2. Created a priority care call list of patients waiting to get into the schedule that week
3. Filled any appointments not confirmed within 24 hours with the patients from this list

This new process made it possible to get their high priority care patients from the waiting list into the schedule quickly. In the first month of implementation, they reduced their open time from 23% to 15%!

Having the whole team calibrated on the appointment flow not only increased productivity and treatment plan acceptance, but it helped decrease no shows due to a fully educated and informed patient.

Take a look at the growth within the hygiene department, led by the dedicated and hard work of the entire team over the past three months!

• Perio percentage grew by 40%
• Quads of active perio therapy grew by 39%
• Perio maintenance grew by 27%
• Sites of local antibiotic grew by 178%
• Hygiene average production per day grew by 34%

So whenever I hear that old Will Smith song “Welcome to Miami” I smile with pride knowing there is “a whole lot of good things shaking” with the team at Artistic Smiles!

Stay Inspired,
Jamie