Trish Walraven – Page 17

When you’ve said it once…

June 9, 2011 By Trish Walraven 5 Comments

You’re a dental professional, you want to do your job well, accomplish a task and then move on to the next one. But there’s one critical thing that can make or break you, no matter how excellent your clinical skills are: you must also speak to the subject of your work.

Duh, talking about patients here! They’re your subject, and they expect to have somewhat of a conversation with you. You must use words to initiate your job, and a few to end it as you leave. Otherwise you’ll look like an assembly-line worker that’s too good to talk to the product. Hey, Doritos. You’re going into that bag nicely. Thanks for the job security.

So you create little lines here and there that you find yourself repeating to Mrs. Graham, Mr. Burgess, little Jacob. Hi, how’s it going? What concerns are you having? We’re going to lay you back now.

Eventually patients are able to pick up on the fact that you’ve turned a phrase hundreds of times, said it to hundreds of people. That’s when your assistant cringes because those stale words sound like the flight attendant talking about the mask that will drop down out of the ceiling if heaven breaks loose and descends into the airplane cabin. Sheesh. You’re just trying to fix a tooth here.

If you can’t get a personality transplant (which I did once and it was great at first, but then my old personality got bored and ate it), then your other alternative is to ditch the worn-out words and get new ones! Might I suggest trying on a few of these to make a change in your patient rapport:

•Dude, what’s your problem? Just kidding, it’s right here in the schedule.

•You’re going to feel a little mosquito-bite with this injection, and then its momma will be by to bite you GOOD!

•Alright, now turn to the left and cough.

•So what’s going on in your life that you’re too stressed to talk about? Don’t tell me about anything fun or interesting, that’s too easy.

•Hole La. May yammo ace Doctor Bacon. Day donday ace el dough lore? (Say this to everyone, even if they don’t speak Spanish. Or even if your last name isn’t Bacon.)

•Tell me, what hole do you want to have filled today?

•Uh oh, 15 minutes to Judge Wapner.

•(singing this song as you lower the chair): Baby going down down down down down.

•You say you’d rather be at the OBGYN than at the dentist office? Well make up your mind so that I can shine this light in the right place.

•See you in six months, or whenever you work up the courage to come back.

•Well that was easy. For me, at least.

Now it’s your turn. I’m sure you’ve heard colleagues use phrases that make you grit your teeth every time you hear them. With all anonymity please share yours in the comment section below. Words are powerful, even ones that are tossed around long after they’re worn out.

So what phrases are you tired of hearing? Which ones crack you up?

There’s an app for teeth bleaching

May 23, 2011 By Trish Walraven 6 Comments

By Trish Walraven

This picture was snapped at the local mall last week. If your Sephora shop is like ours, it has recently capitalized on its space across the mall from the Apple Store and is now targeting the same people who like to wear iPods around their necks. Glowy! White! Cords! Teeth? Hmmm.

I haven’t actually purchased the Glo™ system so the least I could do is to try to help sell a few of them with this exclusive “DentalBuzz How-To Guide for Avoiding the Dentist But Still Whiten Your Teeth a Tiny Bit.”

Step 1: Remind yourself that you really hate the dentist. And justify your reasons for not going to one by telling yourself that you brush every day with a toothpaste that you see advertised on TV. And mouthwash. You always use mouthwash, because it protects your teeth. So you don’t need a dentist.

Step 2: Save up $275. This is very important because you can’t get white teeth for free, no matter how much you see it offered by area dentists as a special for new patients. It’s NOT FREE. Also, make sure not to read up on any scientific studies about how light-activated or heat-activated whitening is no more effective than bleaching gel alone. Or that dentists use bleaching gel that is usually more than triple the strength of the strongest OTC whitener available. None of that matters because you are going to do this yourself with your own hard-earned money. Besides, insurance doesn’t cover whitening anyway so that’s one more way that a dentist won’t be ripping you off.

Step 3: Purchase the Glo Brilliant™ Personal Teeth Whitening Device at the place of your choice, either at Home Shopping Network, or Sephora, or directly from GloScience. And then justify the purchase one more time because the company has “science” in their name, after all.

Step 4: This is the most fun step! Take all of the stuff out of the kit and marvel over it. SPOILER ALERT! I’m going to tell you what you get:

•A lighted mouthpiece that comes with its own case!
•10 G-Vials! Futuristic-looking smearable 6% hydrogen peroxide gel tubes with built in brushes. G-Vials. Sounds kinky.
•The Glo™ Control. It’s so three generations of iPods ago….but….FOR TEETH!
•A Charging Dock! Docking is fun. And a Music Player! (just kidding, no music)
•A USB power plug. It plugs into your computer! And its for your teeth! (you should be squealing by now with joy).
•Glo™ Lip Balm. Because hydrogen peroxide is caustic.
•a BAG!!!! To carry it all in! Because you want to be able to whiten your teeth at your mom’s, while you’re driving to your job interview, or wherever you have an urge to wear the GloControl around your neck.

Step 5: Check to see that the GloControl is charged and hang it around your neck. You wouldn’t want to be putting the mouthpiece in your mouth all dark, now, would you? Also, apply a thin layer of the lip balm on your lips, and pout, because you’re too cute to get burned.

Step 6: Open one of the G-Vials and squeeze it until the gel appears on the brush (ooh. higher. Higher. There.). Brush the gel onto the fronts of teeth, taking care not to slobber on them.

Step 7: Plug in the mouthpiece, press the GLO button, unhinge your jaw and then cram the mouthpiece all the way in until it covers both your top and bottom teeth. Watch this video if you think I’m exaggerating.

Step 8: Spend the next eight minutes going about your day. This is verbatim from the GloScience website. Then you’ll want to immediately do Step 6 through Step 8 three more times, for 32 consecutive minutes per day. One G-Vial per day for ten days.

Step 9: Marvel at how much whiter your teeth are! You’ll probably notice a change, and hopefully the bleaching will last longer than a month, but if it doesn’t, just repeat Step 1 over and over until you feel better. And then buy some G-Vial refills. You know how you like your G-Vials.

Do you remember what came before this in the mall? The chairs, the lights, the kiosks, the leased-out spaces with people parading around in white lab coats? I think that this is a change for the good, and because the treatment course is similar to that recommended by dentists, it probably is much more effective. Well, except for the light. But then no one could charge so much just for the bleach and the tray?

Here’s to the power of bling.

Jamming on the Sonicare AirFloss

May 5, 2011 By Trish Walraven 6 Comments

by Trish Walraven

I’m taking flossing to the airwaves. Mah NUMPH bErrr BEHRRRRR… Don’t my riffs sound great?

No?

But it’s air guitar, man, use your imagination! Feel the energy, the passion, the creative flow that turns all of us into rock stars on our gaming consoles!

Something you may not have realized is that you are already a star, at least in the eyes of your patients. A Dental Star. Rock on. Your opinions are gold. Patients ask which toothpaste is best? Which mouthwash should they be using?

One question they never ask is “What should I use to clean between my teeth?” Do patients even register a thought about their interproximal surfaces? Here’s a question for you as a person, not as a dental professional: how often do you think about the skin between your toes? (toejam. eww.)

My point exactly.

But we think about the skin between teeth all the time. That’s where we see the most gingivitis, the highest plaque scores, the most room for improvement. And we’re tired of laying guilt trips on our patients when we realize that they’re not flossing.

That’s when you want to be able to point to alternatives and say to your non-flossers, “Maybe this will work for you.”

Water Piks are wet, messy, and have been around since the 1960’s. Still, they are my go-to recommendation for non-mechanical biofilm reduction because I see improvements in bleeding scores with patients who use them daily. They are also ubiquitous and affordable, making them more attractive than some of the higher priced or obscure dental water jets.

What’s that? Philips has a new gadget that competes with Water Pik? Well, Philips products can be bought everywhere, too! Can you say, “market penetration?” Can you say, “a funhouse explosion in your mouth?”

It’s called the Sonicare AirFloss, and it was introduced to the world a few weeks ago at the International Dental Show in Germany. Philips is being cheeky about it at the moment, but it looks to be making its American debut at the California Dental Association Meeting in Anaheim next week.

The Sonicare AirFloss is said to replace flossing with micro-bursts of water and air. Fill its reservoir with a few teaspoons of mouthwash or water and you’re ready to blast the little legs off your biofilm bugs.

As of this writing, the only way to learn more about the AirFloss is to sign your office up for a Lunch and Learn at the Sonicare website. Who would turn down free food and a nugget of sponsored CE credit to expand their knowledge base about a product that patients will soon be coming to us for answers about its worthiness?

I am always intrigued by the buzz about new preventive products. As an idea that Philips recently acquired with the purchase of Discus Dental, the Air Floss is being presented in a warm fuzzy cushion of patient acceptance. Do patients like this more than flossing? Do they like it more than using a Water Pik? This presentation makes me think that the science behind the product hasn’t shown the health results that Philips had hoped it would. Watch this video from the IDS in Cologne and see what you think. This is Maria Perno Goldie, RDH Village eFocus editor:

And then there’s me. My family will be so thankful when we get an AirFloss because it might just keep me from pretending to be on American Idol when I think I’m alone in the bathroom:

Concert yell, WooOOOOOOOO!

Living the dream, baby.

Thanks, Star Dental, for the shirt. You rock, too.

5/13/11 Update: The AirFloss is now live on the Sonicare Website!

Happy Earth Day to my instrument drawer

April 22, 2011 By Trish Walraven 1 Comment

by Trish Walraven

This Good Friday is quite the contemplative one, blending the best of tree-hugging and cross-hugging in one wonderful day off of work for most of us.

So when I got a notice in my email box from Hu-Friedy in celebration of Earth Day today, I immediately made the phone call to get our practice started up on the Environdent program. Heaven knows our junk drawer is hard to open, with all the broken cavitron scaler inserts, bladeless curettes, explorers with gnarled tips, bald probes and scratched-up mouth mirrors. It’s a vast nubby world in there, but the hoarder in me just wouldn’t let any of it go, just in case American Pickers made a visit to our office.

Now that I’m signed up, Hu-Friedy’s going to send a bunch of boxes so that I can make our junk drawer look more nice and neat, like the one in their line drawing below. <!>

This is how the Environdent program works:

And HA! I’m going to get a pretty good deal for all that hoarding. For every 12 instruments that we send them to be recycled, we’ll earn one free Hu-Friedy instrument of our choice. When you look at our drawer, that means we’ll be able to get enough explorers to last about ten years.

You too? Well then give them a call next week (they were nice and let everyone go home early so don’t call today) and get your office set up on the Environdent program. For over 15 years Hu-Friedy has been recycling over three tons of surgical steel every year. Request your free Environdent kit at 1-800-HU-FRIEDY (1-800-483-7433), and feel good this Earth Day for keeping stuff out of the landfills, for justifying your obsessions, or for simply being a tightwad.

Didja Know? Hu-Friedy was founded by Austrian immigrant Hugo Friedman in 1908, whose grandson still owns the company today. So Happy Passover to everyone as well!

Radiation: Duck and Cover (CYA!)

April 15, 2011 By Trish Walraven 2 Comments

by Trish Walraven

We know that you want to protect your family from anything that you hear about in the media. Especially radiation. Especially now, with the leaks at the nuclear power plant happening in Japan and with Dr. Oz telling everyone that going to the dentist could endanger their thyroid glands.

Your perception is made reality here at Safe Smiles Dental Care. Are you afraid of the cumulative effects of flying in airplanes, going outdoors, and X-Rays? Good.

Why do we say good? Because the way we nurture your fear of radiation sets us apart from other dental offices. We won’t say, “Oops, let’s re-take that xray; it didn’t come out right” here. We will get it right the first time, because, gosh darn it, we care. And we spent a lot of money on rectangular collimators with little magnets and beepers that tell you that we’re all lined up. And what about “Sorry, the thyroid collar will obstruct our view so we can’t use it”? You won’t hear that in our office either. We’ll just not worry your pretty little head about that part of your jaw.

This is what we call scratching our niche, baby. Our practice is the ultimate low-radiation dental office, and you won’t find this level of concern down the street at Dr. Happy-go-lucky’s practice. No way. We’ll massage your fears away with our assurance that any cancer you get in your lifetime won’t be from dental radiation.

So give us a call today at (990) 648-2130 to schedule your complimentary screening exam. We also offer just radiological services if you prefer to have your dental x-rays taken at our office and then forwarded to a dentist of your choice. But that’s such a hassle. Come on, you know you’d rather stay here with us. Especially when you start seeing these warning symbols posted all over the signs of our local competition:

Stay safe, and we’ll look forward to seeing you soon!

__________________

Yesterday on his network television show Dr. Mehmet Oz defended his remarks back in September about the necessity of lead thyroid collar use during dental x-rays whenever possible by stating that “there’s no good reason not to protect yourself against radiation.” While this is true, the bottom line is about using radiation in a way that leads to best outcomes in our patients, a point that several guest physicians also tried to make despite the protests of Dr. Oz.

Seriously, when you look at the sources of radiation in the world today, why worry about the miniscule intentional amounts? All radiation is dangerous, and it should be limited as much as possible, but the only way to avoid it totally is to dig a radon-free hole somewhere and live like a makedd roll gnat the rest of your life (ummmm. I mean naked mole rat. So hard to get that one right!). Calm your fears with this Radiation Dose Chart that was recently compiled, complete with facts about the Fukushima Nuclear plant (click on the image for full-size).

Another thing that I whipped up here for all you DentalBuzz readers is a Medical Radiation Dose Chart to download and show to your patients that have no idea how much radiation that they may be getting from the more common diagnostic procedures. I didn’t know a lot of it myself, so originally I created it to use in our office but you may find it helpful too. Did you know that it takes 10,000 PA radiographs to reach the annual limit of x-radiation? How many CT scans does it take to reach the limit? I’m too lazy to do all the math but it looks like 1 CT scan equals about 2,000 bitewings (film, not digital) according to this chart.

Regardless, we all have a responsibility to admit that we don’t know what we don’t know. And perhaps Dr. Oz may be a little right; we should do our best to protect our patients from radiation whenever possible, adapting the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principle with regards to radiation in dentistry.

Enter the media blitz. Interactive Digital Imaging (IDI) is re-introducing its rectangular collimator with a PR campaign targeting consumers. Dental patients will be encouraged to “Look for the Green Ring” at their dental offices, similar to the “Ask Your Doctor About” style of direct-to-consumer advertising used by the pharmaceutical industry. Originally priced at $1295, the newly redesigned Tru-Align collimator will be offered at $795 with improvements that overcome cone-cut errors and enhancements that make the positioner more user-friendly.

My favorite feature of the Tru-Align system is not that it can be used with any typical XCP holders (but still a good thing – this includes sensors, phosphor plates, and film), but that when you bump up the xray cone to the collimation ring, you get a magnetized lock-on and an audible beep to let you know that you will NOT be getting a cone-cut on that image. BAM! ZAP! If nothing else, the precision of this thing should impress our patients. And if they’re the kind that are really concerned about their radiation exposure, you can spew some factoids about reducing the absorbed dose from around 150 microsieverts to 30 microsieverts for an 18-image FMX series.

What it finally comes down to is having the right things to say to your patients when they ask about radiation, and addressing any real problems that you may be having in your office, like the assistant who has to re-take a periapical x-ray three times in order to get the one that you need. Or making sure that your thyroid collars are actually being Velcroed behind your patients’ necks. Or halting the bacteria-fest breeding on your lead aprons. My bet is that’s the biggest offense of all. Ahhh, a problem for another day…..

___

Thanks to these blogs whose articles have helped shape this one:

The ALARA Principle: Dr. Jeffrey Hoos and Michael Razzano on Dentistry IQ

The Digital Dentist Lorne Lavine

Dr. Oz discusses Dental X-Rays and Thyroid Cancer: Dr. Todd Welch at The Science of Dentistry

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