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Gold refining update

October 30, 2013 By DentalBuzz Staff Leave a Comment

by Morgan Kerrissey, VP of Business Development at Garfield Refining Company

Way back in 2010 DentalBuzz was in its groove, dishing on Garfield, spotting trends and staying ahead of the curve. Fast forward three years and some of those trends now seem a wee bit dated– look at Lady Gaga and her Twilight inspired grill! — while other trends have only surged in popularity. Since that first blog post the already popular Patient Bling Program** exploded with another 10,000 doctors enrolling. For those of you not already in the know, the program is offered by Garfield Refining Company and is known to them as their Patient Scrap Program (**Fun people still prefer the Dentalbuzz rebranded name!).

Garfield offers prepaid mailers that you can distribute to your patients so they can deal directly with a precious metals refinery. It doesn’t cost anything, Garfield handles all the paperwork, and best of all you earn a 10% rebate. It’s like free money. Plus this year they have added some new features, allowing doctors to customize their payment schedules, be paid in coins or bullion, and receive better email reporting. It’s a win/win: patients love the opportunity to sell their old crowns and doctors love the opportunity to give their patients a small perk.

So once again, if you haven’t already, click here to enroll.

 

Filed Under: Products Tagged With: dental gold, Garfield Refining Company, gold scrap

DIY dentistry kit for preppers

October 23, 2013 By Trish Walraven 11 Comments

dentidrillList

It’s getting closer to 2014 and you can pretty much guess what that means: the Obamacarepocalypse is almost upon us. Yee Haw. Preppers convinced that TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) is imminent will be pleased that they will no longer need to add a dentist to their list of People We Would Like To Have With Us when it all hits the fan.

What can you add to your hoard instead of another mouth to feed? A home dental kit, of course! The DentiDrill comes complete with a handpiece, a curing light, a wee bit of composite, a vial of topical lidocaine, a lithium-ion battery charger, 1 tungsten steel drill head,  a silicon polisher, a stainless steel dentist mirror, and the DVD tutorial.

dentadrillsmallYou’d better pre-order soon, though. As soon as the FDA and other authorities get wind of this there will be an immediate shutdown of all shipments. You know how good our government is at shutdowns. Product is supposed to begin its journey to the US tomorrow if it all goes as planned, however.

Currently the DentiDrill is being marketed to moms who feel that their options are otherwise limited when it comes to taking care of their children’s teeth. Does a mother have the legal right to practice dentistry on her kids without a license? After the apocalypse comes, who cares about licenses? See, the marketers have got it ALL WRONG! You’re not scaring people away from managed healthcare, you’re inviting chaos and STUPID FEAR! I say bring it, if that’s what you want. This is only clever and useful if you’re desperate, and in the United States, trust me, we are not. At least not yet.

Curious to learn more?  You’ll just have to see this video to believe it.

 

 

Still don’t believe it’s real? Just look! There’s More! DentiDrill has a Facebook page here that details design and production going back a year or so. It certainly doesn’t seem too fishy.

If you’re ready to drop $275 for one or are just trying to figure this thing out, visit DentiDrill.com and get one step closer to feeling like you’re doing the right thing for yourself and your family.

As far as me and how far I’ll go to prep for the end of civilization? I’ll probably just learn how to take out teeth. Much more practical skill, no batteries needed, just a strong stomach and hey, maybe a couple of swigs from that bottle that you were counting on your drinking buddy to bring.

 

 
Interesting Note: The DentiDrill website domain owner shares the same address as the Kentucky Dental Association. Thanks to Dr. Shad Lewis at DentalTown for this wonderful bit of sleuthing.The American Dental Association says that the KDA denies the address connection in this announcement published October 25.

THE FINAL WORD? (updated October 28, 2013) The DentiDrill isn’t real. It’s a hoax. The Dutch dental insurance company responsible for the publicity stunt probably didn’t realize that it would just make their business model seem like a joke as well.

You've been #hoaxed man RT @SubEWL: Ready to start saving on your healthcare? It's time to take control. #Dentidrill http://t.co/LzOq5hwGyH

— ixorg (@ixorg2) October 28, 2013

Filed Under: Marketing, News, Operative Dentistry, Products, Technology Tagged With: Apocalypse preppers, dental hoaxes, dental humor, dental parodies, DIY dentistry, viral marketing

A soundbite for deafness

July 19, 2013 By Trish Walraven 2 Comments

Suppose there’s a new treatment for a specific kind of deafness, and this treatment can’t happen without you, the dentist.  But there’s a vicious cycle at play preventing all the parts from hooking up and delivering the appropriate patient care.

SBmouthpiece

Would an ENT physician ever admit to being intimidated by a new product because it meant that they’d have to partner with a dentist to deliver the treatment?  Are they afraid of their own ignorance about dentistry?

Why then, out of thousands of ear, nose, and throat physicians, audiologists, and other hearing specialists, are only a handful of clinics offering what looks like to be a breakthrough product? Currently about 70 medical practices are listed at the Sonitus website. If you exclude the 13 practices in New York and the 9 in California, that means that the rest of them are scattered around the country at an average of less than one per state.

Can you imagine if you were the only dentist in your entire state who was working with an audiologist?

Well then.

Physician referrals sometimes make for the best patients. I mean, the patient trusts their doctor already. It’s easy for the patient to transfer that trust to you, especially if you’re partnering with that person.

Admittedly, this is looking at the situation from a dental-centric side: what’s in it for you. Right?

New patient flow aside, let’s go to the patient, the problem, and the product for a moment.

The patient: usually younger than the average person needing a hearing aid. As young as eighteen; average age? Mid-forties.

The problem: single-sided deafness.  One ear works pretty well, the other one, pretty badly. Having hearing only in one ear can be more devastating than you might imagine. While not as difficult as total deafness, single-sided hearing loss means that the “good ear” must be turned towards the sound origin which can result in loss of eye contact when listening to conversations, having to choose seating where no one will be able to sit next to the patient’s “bad ear,” dysphoria related to sound confusion, and many other issues which affect quality of life.

The product: It really is called…. wait for it…

A Soundbite.

Beautiful. Here’s how it works:

 

 The receiver reminds me a little bit of those old Nesbit spider partials that dentists no longer seem to make because of the fear that they will be swallowed. No sharp pointy pieces to snag in the gut, however. Um… yay?

So for those who are candidates for the SoundBite, what other options do they currently have? How about a titanium implant? Boy, that rings a bell (Ha! audiology humor). Seriously, for about $10,000 a titanium fitting is surgically implanted into the bone behind a patient’s deaf ear and a sound processor is attached to it which sends vibrations into the skull. Another option is to wear a microphone in the deaf ear and the receiver in the other one. But audiologists say that patients who can hear normally in one ear really have a problem with anything impeding the healthy ear’s function and definitely don’t want to wear two hearing aids.

It’s not a perfect solution due to the changes some users have noticed with eating and speaking, but those who have been fitted with the SoundBite have been extremely happy with the improvement in their hearing and feel like the small inconveniences are totally worth the life-changing effects of their new device. Imagine! The microphone picks up the sound of fingers snapping in a deaf ear, and the transmission through the tooth tricks the brain into thinking it’s hearing again! The cost is upwards of $6000, and batteries must be kept charged and changed after eight hours of continuous use.

SBmodel

Don’t you want to help now? Of course you do. You can click over to the SoundBite website, read this information for dentists, and even sign up to become a provider. But I have a better challenge. There’s probably an ENT or audiologist in your own zip code. Let them know that you’ve read up on this product, you might have even watched the video below, and that you would love to work with them to help patients manage their hearing loss. They won’t do it without your interest.
 

 
 
Hygienists already know all about this sound conduction. Just ask anyone who regularly uses ultrasonic scalers if patients hear a “feedback” tone that is very, very loud when the distal of the upper left molar is cleaned. It might happen with other dental techniques as well, but since I’m not down in the roots or cutting enamel off of teeth as regularly as I screech along the gumlines of able-eared people, I don’t know.

As a patient, though, I don’t hear this ultrasonic wail any more. Last time I had my teeth cleaned the tone was gone, as I suspected it would be. And that is the whole reason for even discovering the SoundBite.

I happen to be one of those patients with single-sided deafness; my hearing disappeared suddenly, with no known reason. I awoke one morning with a roar in my left ear. I thought that this new horrendous white noise was the problem, it was so loud, I figured it would go away soon enough, so I tried to ignore it. When it didn’t, and then I made the shocking discovery when I turned my right ear away from music that it faded away…well, that’s when I realized I needed a specialist. It wasn’t just tinnitus; it was the absence of sound. And it sucked, like a vacuum cleaner. Literally.

Even though the bad news from my ENT was that the hearing was diminished and not likely to come back, the good news was that it wasn’t gone completely. I started searching for solutions, just in case I did go totally deaf in that ear, and that’s when I discovered that my very own dentist! my employer! could! help! me!

When you think about it as a professional, isn’t this awesome?

I’m thankful to still have a decent amount of hearing in my bad ear, and despite the fact that noises are garbled and tinny-sounding, I’m going to do my best without a SoundBite for the moment. However, there are many, many patients out there with total ear deafness that could benefit from one. All they’re missing is a dentist who can take a good impression.

And that’s my throwdown.
 

Filed Under: Products, Research Tagged With: deafness, Hearing aids, hearing loss, Sonitus Medical, SoundBite

Lumadent headlight review

May 30, 2013 By Trish Walraven 14 Comments

light Do you know how sometimes, when you get a new piece of equipment, it’s so Shifta La Paradigma that you can’t even THINK about working without it? You get a little anxious about the possibility of it failing and having to go back to the old way of doing things. What do you do?

You get yourself a backup, right? hoping that your original will keep going until FedEx arrives with your precious cardboard salvation. But then you realize that the backup is so Next Generation, your OLD one ends up becoming the backup. And that’s where I am with my Lumadent headlight. I have the old, the new, and opinions about them both, which are the real reasons you’re here. So let’s get to those, shall we?

Opinion #1: It’s Bright, Baby.

Not only is the Lumadent headlight well-focused and a good color, its shadowless light means that more photons are hitting your retinas, therefore the mouth that you’re looking at may be ACTUALLY MORE GROUNDED in reality. If you can’t see something, it’s not there.

Since I haven’t used any other lights except the Lumadent consider this a broad endorsement for headlights over any other sort of overhead illumination. Just about all of them have some sort of knob that will allow you to adjust the intensity, and I find that I rarely turn the Lumadent’s control any more or less than to the halfway position. I’ve learned how to control my head so that the light doesn’t shine in my patient’s eyes (unless I’m gesticulating wildly, then they might see a few blinding streaks) and the super bright just isn’t necessary most of the time. Also included is a flip-up composite filter to keep your accidental light curing to a minimum. I’ve heard some concerns about LEDs damaging user’s eyes over time which is one reason I tend to keep the power down, but don’t seem to have any problems with eyestrain in the two years I’ve been using one. The new model seems to be just as bright and as clear as the older one, so no change in this most important feature.

plugsOpinion #2: Cords are better. And worse.

But mostly better. I’ll explain. The cord replacement is much easier now that the light detaches completely from it. They’ve also switched to a longer initial cord which means that I don’t have to keep a too-long extension hanging around or knotted up in a tie wrap. You’ll notice that the plug-in at the battery has changed to a right-angle which should keep the tension off the cord. I was KILLING my extensions contacts and the light would flicker and just short out and be a huge pain.bulbs

What I’m less than thrilled with is the way that the right-angle attaches to the light itself. If you end up with a short in the new cord now, all you do is detach it right there, loupside, leave the light on the loupe, and plug in a new cord. But the cord sticks up at a weird angle and I’m forced to use yet another tiny tie-wrap to keep those wires from getting tangled in my hair and attached close to the frames. The other thing I do like is that the lens is easier to access and clean now that it’s not recessed. It’s the one on the left in this image. batteries

Opinion #3: This battery pack is serious.

My original battery pack served me well and would stay charged for a whole day, but its slick case in a sassy leather pouch clip probably caused the short outs due to occasional detachment problems. Not the clip, just the battery itself would skittle across the floor when I had a “way to go, Grace” moment. clip

Now that I have two batteries I forget to charge the new silver one, but I have yet to have it clunk out on me and switching back to the black one for backup. Once you go silver….

So this pack is so serious, it’s like Chuck Norris, it has it’s OWN clip built in. A very tough clip. One so tough that if you wear those cute scrubs with the flared legs and the knit waistline you can forget trying to spread the clip enough to get it to attach to your pants. But I adapted by figuring out how to wear it on a waist-level pocket. Now my biggest issue is leaning close to patients and inadvertently turning the light off at the black side switch. I really think it was better on the top when it was red and adjacent to the intensity knob.

Opinion #4: There’s no excuse for not using a headlight.

I’m just going to think I’m better than you if you don’t have one. That’s my throwdown. If you use the excuse that headlights cost too much? Compare the Lumadent with its “better” competitors, it’s so much less expensive, you can buy one for you AND your assistant. And for your higher power loupes, for that matter. What about the problem with wires and bulk? The Lumadent is so lightweight that once you adjust your behavior a little (all I did was to begin wearing a strap on my loupes instead of taking them on and off so that they hang around my neck when I’m not using them) they will become a much easier part of you than having to reach up and adjust a mounted light somewhere over your right shoulder, in space. And patients stop anticipating the bright light and never squint anymore when it’s time to open their mouths. PATIENT ACCEPTANCE IS AMAZING, and in my opinion, the BEST reason why you should get a Lumadent.

wiremanagement

 

 

 

 

 

This is my parting shot for you, a side view of the Lumadent attached to a pair of Through-The-Lens shielded SandyGrendel loupes with the custom mount that came with the light. See how it sticks up a little too high, and there are two tie-wraps, and a cord management doohickey making this all such a mess?

No? I don’t see it either, actually.

DBSmile1

 

 

For earlier insights about Lumadent and the company, click here to go to the DentalBuzz original review.

Filed Under: Instruments, Operative Dentistry, Products, Research, Technology Tagged With: dental headlights, dental loupes, LumaDent

Future “drug” for dental phobics

April 12, 2013 By Trish Walraven 2 Comments

It looks like virtual reality may actually be almost Matrix-quality in a few short years, and our patients will be able to immerse themselves fully in another world while they’re getting their dental work done. But because there’s a lot more money to be made in gaming (and there’s a MUCH wider customer base) don’t expect that this technology will have a dental application any time soon. Here’s a decent introduction to the concept featuring Palmer Luckey, the originator of the Oculus Rift headset:

These sorts of glasses have been intriguing to me for years, but all the previous versions mentioned here on DentalBuzz basically make it seem like you’re watching a TV screen from a distance. Oculus Rift is different. Users have described the feeling as being totally disconnected from reality. And isn’t that what recreational drugs do? Isn’t that what dental sedatives do?

Imagine a dental appointment where a fearful patient is allowed to slip into a virtual playground where they don’t even need to move their head much in order to initiate the immersive feeling of being elsewhere while they hold their totally oblivious mouths open. Patients’ ears will hear the sounds of their “other world,” letting them slip away from their bodies for a little while so that you can manage all the dental unpleasantries for them.

Here’s another preview of Oculus Rift:

There are many software developers in dentistry that are in search of the next big thing. The 3-D milling technology is pretty awesome these days, but indirect dental software such as patient education, practice management and the like are also looking for the leg-up. Oculus Rift is looking for developers right now, and my guess is that they haven’t even imagined its application in dentistry.

But that’s because you haven’t yet picked up their development kit to make it happen.

Here ya go, and good luck:

 

oculus

 

DBSmile1

Filed Under: Hardware, Operative Dentistry, Products, Research, Software, Technology Tagged With: dental phobia, fear of dentists, Oculus rift, patient comfort, patient sedation, virtual reality, VR glasses

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DentalBuzz explores rising trends in dentistry with its own slant. The speed at which new products and ideas enter the dental field can often outpace our ability to understand just exactly the direction in which we are heading. But somehow, by being a little less serious about dentistry and dental care, we might get closer to making sense of it all.

So yeah, a tongue-in-cheek pun would fit really nicely here, but that would be in bad taste. Never mind, it just happened anyways. Stop reading sidebars already and click on some content instead.

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