Trish Walraven – Page 15

Typos on your practice website

September 12, 2011 By Trish Walraven 5 Comments

Let’s play a game of search, kind of a “Where’s Waldo” for proofreaders. Ready? How many grammar and spelling mistakes can you find in this dental practice website?

(click on the image below to see it live)

The offender that originally caught my eye is “Sugary.” Really? Oral Sugary? Sweet. At first that was the only one I saw. And then the others appeared as I looked closer and started trying to read through the front page.

Also, what’s with the music selection for that video you can’t turn off? It’s something between the Brady Bunch theme and middle school marching band, and the best you can do is mute your computer so that it doesn’t keep starting over with each page change.

English appears to be a second language not only for the website developers but for most of the patients, too. Otherwise, don’t you think someone would have told them about this by now? It won’t be me. Not just yet, because I’m getting to a point first.

I counted eight errors. But what makes this number so awful is that there are not that many words on this page!

Maybe the Vietnamese community in Houston is more forgiving about dental websites. They might not even be able to read the words at all, and maybe the flashy stuff looks clean and assuring. Especially the little kiss blown at the end of the video. I actually found the clinician’s manner to be quite touching and sincere.

No one needs to be told anymore that you have to have a decent website to make a good impression these days. I mean, if yours looks like 1995 HTML markup you’re probably better off not having one. And even if you have a super-cool template and someone in-house that can webmaster a bit, you have to watch that you don’t put off patients with weird stuff, or too much information, or not enough information. On the other hand, if you’re not careful enough about the website designer you hire, your prospective patients might get a case of STOCK IMAGE GLAZEOVER and quickly leave your page for the next dentist in the Google search that has real people on their front page, not this same girl you see everywhere:

See what I mean?

Now go look at your own website. It needs to be better, no matter how good it is now. And if you think it’s just fine the way it is, then you need to talk to someone you trust who can either give you ideas on how to improve your online presence or just give up trying. Because there is no “Done” when it comes to web design. There’s just better for now.

Kind of like getting your teeth cleaned.

“A Little Help” for this dental hygienist

September 11, 2011 By Trish Walraven Leave a Comment

In remembrance of the tenth anniversary and for all the anniversaries before and after today, one sacredness will probably never be broken: no jokes about 9/11.

With that said, it does seem that we’re dealing with the tragedy a little bit better when someone in Hollywood can carefully insert it as a plot element that isn’t about inspiration, or the devastation, or any of that.

You probably recognize Jenna Fischer from her TV role in “The Office.“ With this film she’s an out-of-control New York dental hygienist whose husband dies nearly a year after 9/11. She doesn’t suck spit well, even when patients are coached by the office parrot. Dentists don’t have birds in their offices, silly screenwriters, dentists have fish. Finding Nemo got that part right, and boosted business for aquarium maintenance companies that supply clownfish to dentists.

Our character has a lot bigger problems than pooping parrots to deal with, including a son who tells everyone that his dad died on 9/11 instead of from a heart condition.

I wish that I could have reviewed this movie, overanalyzing all the inevitable dental office flubs, but it’s already come and gone from the theaters less than a month ago due to the minimal publicity it received. No worries though. You should be able to rent it (stream it, whatever you do to movie releases these days) starting October 25th so be sure to subscribe to the DentalBuzz Twitter feed for the reminder when it comes out.

Link: A Little Help official movie website

HandPiece, Love and KaVo Happiness

August 26, 2011 By Trish Walraven 2 Comments

Forty-something years ago the US had a revolution that twisted the Mad Men-tality of societal standards. The shadow is all that’s left now: the 60’s are just another commodity that’s most visible in ‘tween fashions and feelgoody Volkswagen campaigns.

There’s probably a few Free Love dustbunnies that have survived by clumping together at Jimmy Buffett concerts (did all the Deadheads join the Parrotheads? are they all now DeadParrotHeads?). Anything else is marketing, which brings us to this Time Life Music parody video from KaVo. It’s not particularly inventive, but it has enough good characters and pretend song titles from the era to keep the average dental professional engaged. Oh, and you can sign up to try any KaVo handpiece for free:

Sorry that you can’t get those three minutes of your life back, but you have to admit that the gal singing “Take Another Little Piece of My Tooth” showed real talent and made most of it worthwhile. Also, patients shouldn’t be used as props. This one just stares at the dentist the whole time he’s talking…

Now go try a handpiece and show KaVo that their creative department really is doing its job so their employees will get more money and maybe the next video they make will be one that you DO share with everyone.

Chuck Norris implants

August 15, 2011 By Trish Walraven 2 Comments

Just in case you missed the rash of Chuck Norris facts that Chuck Norris himself loves to cheese about on the talk show circuit, here’s a quick cluster of ’em written by periodontist and private surgical tutor Anthony Reganato, DDS, MS.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

To me, a “Chuck Norris” implant is not one that is threaded into place with a handpiece. A “Chuck Norris” implant actually spins the patient around and around until the implant is sitting exactly where it wants to sit…

A “Chuck Norris” implant does not require an osteotomy, anesthesia, flap, or even a patient to be seated in the mouth.

A” Chuck Norris” implant can be immediately placed after roundhouse kicking the bombed-out tooth right out of the mouth.

A” Chuck Norris” implant does not have threads…the outer coating is merely shaking in its boots just knowing that a can of whoop-ass may be unleashed at any time…

A “Chuck Norris” implant provides its own sedation to the patient…no need for drugs or tubes…also provides its own pre-med.

A “Chuck Norris” implant needs only one to be placed for an entire full mouth reconstruction.

A “Chuck Norris” implant can be placed via extra-oral approach and still end up in the ideal prosthetic position.

A “Chuck Norris” implant drives itself to the dental office in a 1965 ‘Vette everyday until it’s finally used…

A “Chuck Norris” implant is prosthetically compatible with every system except Zimmer… “Chuck Norris” implant just don’t play that.

A “Chuck Norris” implant can be inserted upside down and still work just fine.

A “Chuck Norris” implant can cure cancer.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

Now that your ruggedness has been piqued, you’ll want to YouTune here into Anthony’s Reganato Lecture Series and tap, tap deeply into your own inner spring of surgical ChuckNorrisdom.

So what have you seen “Chuck Norris” implants do? How have they helped your patients?

Quizno’s creatures need ortho treatment

August 4, 2011 By Trish Walraven Leave a Comment

by Trish Walraven

It’s a shame that these commercials, first broadcast during the 2004 Superbowl, were upstaged by Janet Jackson’s “stardom” during the halftime show that day. I thought that it was utterly brilliant marketing, even better than the commercials that went totally silent and you’d have to peek your head around the corner to see why your TV turned off. I mean, this campaign is the epitome of the proof that marketers will do whatever it takes to get your attention.

So if you agree with me that these were the silliest, funnest commercials of the time, especially because secretly you found yourself doing a subconscious ortho workup on the pre-adolescent mess of a dentition, then you now get your chance to revisit them here.

Our little freaky bowler hat hobgoblin is acting shy about showing his jacked-up smile at first. Open please, and bite your back teeth together.

Or just sing for us, okay?

Yes, you have a pepper bar, and you’re cute in a “I can’t unsee that” kind of way. But did you have to go all Sistine Chapel on us?
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