Blog Category: Dental Equipment

How to Improve Case Acceptance in the Modern Dental Practice

How to improve case acceptance in modern dental practice

How to Improve Case Acceptance in the Modern Dental Practice

Your office may have experienced, and skilled staff, the latest dental technology, but that may come to nothing if your case acceptance rates are dismal. Read on and discover how to improve case acceptance in the modern dental practice.

Use Pictures, Rather Than Words

You can go on and on about treatments, but a patient may still say no to a necessary or recommended dental treatment procedure if they don’t see the importance of it. Why not just tell your patient, but show them what you can do for them.

If you use the appropriate images to show your patient a firsthand view of what the problem is, they’re likely to change their mind. For example, the patient may require deep cleaning instead of the routine cleaning that he or she had come for. Use the IRIS HD USB 3.0 Dental Camera to capture images of the affected teeth. Beam those images onto a large screen within the operatory so that the patient can see how serious the situation is. Your patient will then realize that your recommendation is indeed necessary, and he or she will likely move forward with the recommended procedure.

Emphasize Same Day Treatment

We live in a very busy world, and everyone seems to be pressed for time. How can your dental practice be more considerate of your patients’ time?

Case acceptance in the modern dental practice can increase significantly if same-day services are emphasized. Recent technologies, such as the XTG Handheld X-Ray from Digital Doc, have collapsed the time that was initially required for patient care. The handheld X-ray allows the dentist to get instant x-ray images that can be displayed on a screen and reviewed right then and there. So, any needed dental work can be completed during one visit instead of having the patient come back for additional appointments.

In short, digitize your dental practice so that same-day services become the norm. You will see an increase in case acceptance rates at your practice.

Show Your Dental Patient Urgency

Another way to increase case acceptance in the modern dental practice is to stress the risks of delayed treatment to your patient. For example, a patient who comes into the office with a toothache should be told that urgent treatment is needed before more damage is done, which will cause additional dental procedures like a root canal.

Fortunately, sub-enamel illumination technology like LUM can be paired with an IRIS Intraoral Camera to show the patient how extensive their dental problem is. Consequently, it is likely that the patient will agree to immediate treatment once they fully understand the urgency of the situation.

Adress Your Patient’s Fears of the Dental Treatment

Sometimes, case acceptance rates can take a tumble when you don’t address your patient’s fears. For example, a patient may postpone a needed surgical procedure simply because he or she fears that the procedure will be so complex that there will be complications and the recovery time will be longer than expected.

Your staff can learn to integrate language that removes fear from your patients during consultations. For example, as you discuss the images taken using the IRIS LTE USB 2.0 Dental Camera beamed on a screen, inform your patient that their tooth decay treatment is a routine procedure and they’ll be back to normal in no time. Additionally, you can explain that you have done it countless times without any problems. Addressing your patient’s fears will help increase the case acceptance rates of your dental practice.

Refrain from the Money Talk

Your work as a dentist is to educate and treat patients. Focus on doing just that and avoid discussing the cost of the procedure. Let the front office or billing department discuss this with the patient. The best thing you can do is educate your patient about their necessary treatment. Make the best use of the IRIS Intraoral Cameras to help the patient understand why the urgent treatment is needed.

As you can see from the discussion above, case acceptance in the modern dental practice largely depends on how you present the case to the patient and their understanding of the necessary treatment. Digital Doc can help you to digitize your practice so that better patient care can be offered efficiently without sacrificing attention to detail. Contact us today for a demonstration of how our products can help to skyrocket your case acceptance rates.

Traditional Dental Impressions vs. Digital Dental Impressions

If you would like to provide dental restorations services, such as dental crowns, in your office then you’ll need to take dental impressions first. You can offer your patients traditional dental impressions or you can use digital dental impressions. This article discusses the two types of dental impressions you can provide in your office.

Traditional Dental Impressions

Traditional dental impressions are obtained by placing dental putty in the mouth of your patient. This putty hardens slowly. Your patient will bite down on that so dental impressions are left in the substance.

Thereafter, a lengthy process of preparing the mold for the restorations begins and sometimes, retaking the dental impressions may be required to fix any errors made during the previous session.

There is a nearly universal dislike of this traditional dental impression capture method by both dental care professionals and patients alike because the putty triggers the gag reflex in patients and makes for unpleasant dental visits.

Additionally, traditional dental impressions are time-consuming for the patient and for dentists. In addition, you may have to repeat all these steps if the restoration does not form correctly for your patient.

All these issues prompted a better way to get dental impressions, and digital dental impressions were brought to the market by Digital Doc and a few other manufacturers.

Digital Dental Impressions

Digital dental impressions are taken by the use of an intraoral scanner like the Heron IOS Intraoral Scanner. This scanner captures images of all the intricacies of your dentition and creates 3D images of your dental structures so that a restoration can be fabricated. Digital dental impressions have a number of advantages over the traditional way of getting dental impressions.

First, less time is required to take the impressions simply because dentists can move the Heron Intraoral Scanner within the mouth and in a minute or so the required impressions are secured. This is unlike the traditional dental impressions that require you to wait for a long time before the putty sets so your patient can bite into it.

Secondly, your patient will have a more enjoyable dental visit since they will not have to spend a lot of time with unpleasant-tasting substances in their mouth. Digital impressions eliminate all that and the process is completed quickly, as already mentioned earlier.

Additionally, the digital dental impressions obtained are accurate and hardly ever require a retake since the images captured are sent directly to the fabricator so that the restorations made conform to the structures in your mouth. The chance of human error during the capture of the images or the fabrication of the restorations is reduced since everything is done digitally.

Furthermore, you will be pleased to learn that digital dental impressions are eco-friendly if you are concerned about the environmental footprint of everything that affects you. Digital dental impression technology saves the energy that would have been used to store the materials used to get the impressions. Numerous materials, such as dental impression trays, are also not needed when taking digital dental impressions.

As you can see from the discussion above, digital dental impressions have so many advantages over traditional dental impressions. If you’d like to acquire Digital Doc products like the Heron IOS Intraoral Scanner in your office and provide excellent services to your patients, contact Digital Doc today for a consultation!

Best Intraoral Camera 2018

IRIS Intraoral Camera Wins 2018 Product Award

Dental Advisor submitted the IRIS Intraoral Camera to nine dentistry consultants and asked them to subject the camera to a clinical evaluation over a period of four months. Their verdict? IRIS was given a 96 percent clinical rating overall by that team of consultants. Read on and learn about this camera and what that 2018 evaluation entailed.

Overview of the IRIS Intraoral Dental Camera

The IRIS intraoral camera is a user-friendly dental camera which has a five-point focus wheel. A dentist can use this focus wheel to determine how large or how small the area captured in the image should be. Eight positions are available for the user to hone in on the type of image to be captured, such as clear images of the arch, entire smile, the full face and so many other areas of interest.

The IRIS intraoral camera comes with a cable which is 15-feet long so that the user isn’t constrained when moving about to capture a variety of images when a patient is in the operatory.

The camera comes with two capture buttons to suit operators who are either left-handed or right-handed. This has the added benefit of easing the capture of images even when the camera is being turned around in the mouth of the patient.

Sony’s hi-resolution CCD and eight-point LED lighting makes the camera capture clear and sharp images with true colors.

The IRIS intraoral camera requires 1GB RAM, a 2.0 USB interface and at least 2.0 GHz as its computer system requirements. IRIS now makes a version for MAC computers as well. The camera is charged via the USB port on any PC.

Other Reasons why more Dentist’s Choose IRIS

High Definition 720p resolution
Motion activated auto On/Off
8-point true white LED array
One-piece slim design soft tip
Dual capture buttons for left or right hand use
One-touch 5-position electronic focus for a macro to infinite viewing with OSD
High performance impact and chemical resistant seamless body
USB 3.0 connector that fits standard delivery units

What the Consultants Said

The Stainless Steel Wand. The consultants agreed that the sleek, stainless steel wand is ideal for a clinical setting since this material is easy to maintain at the high standards of hygiene expected in a hospital setting. The stainless steel can also stand up to the harshness of some of the cleaning products commonly used in dental offices and hospitals. This is unlike plastic wands that soon wear due to the impact of the cleaning products typically used in a dental office or hospital setting.

Camera Software. IRIS also received kudos because the software upon which it operates was found to be easy to integrate into most of the commonly used patient management systems in dental offices.

The Lens. The 90° lens makes positioning the camera to capture images easy and intuitive. The images captured will, therefore, be sharp and clear due to the natural orientation of the lens.

The Barrier Sheath. Not many cameras can work satisfactorily when a barrier sheath is in place. Some models don’t even allow a barrier sheath to be installed. The IRIS intraoral camera is one of those few dental cameras whose image quality isn’t affected even with a barrier sheath in place.

The Lighting. The LED lights were found to be more than adequate to illuminate the field as images are taken. Those lights could also be turned off as a user is capturing images that have been backlit by x-rays.

The Consultants’ Conclusions

11% of the consultants who evaluated the IRIS Intraoral Camera said that it was similar to other intraoral cameras available. However, the majority of the consultants were of the view that the IRIS intraoral camera was superior to the other products on the market. All the consultants were in agreement that they would recommend the IRIS Intraoral Camera to any dental practice which needed equipment. They also recommended that dental practices using the IRIS camera should install a cable kit in all the operatories where they expect to use the IRIS intraoral camera so that moving the camera from one operatory to another is seamless. All in all, Dental Advisor relied on the report of the consultants to award IRIS Intraoral Camera the 2018 Product Award.

Help Patients Say Yes to Treatment

A recent statistic states that there is $32 billion in treatment approved for financing Care Credit still waiting to be scheduled – why?

Why are patients not ready to purchase? Are my services not good enough? Are they going to find another dentist?

Sometimes we forget our patients are consumers too. The reason why they may not be ready to purchase is most likely because of the thought process behind consumer purchases.

Think about the last time you purchased something. Maybe you bought a flat screen TV or a brand-new car or limited addition shoes you.

What made you buy it? Was it the product itself? Was it the look, the feel or the design of the product? Was the product on sale? Did you need your purchase or did your emotions play a role in your decision?

The average consumer today buys based on their emotion. So how do I get my patients to buy from me when there seems like there’s little room for improvement?

Well, many doctors will say “My intraoral camera image is good enough.” But good enough for who? The highly educated consumer sitting in your chair with a $1,150 cell phone in their pocket?

The average consumer today expects the best experience possible, so they will notice if your office equipment is outdated. New technology, like intraoral cameras, is constantly improving so there’s always room for improvement, Consider upgrading your cameras and monitors in your office to make their experience even better.

How an Intraoral Camera Can Have a Huge Impact on Your ROI

So you tell your patient he needs to get a couple of crowns or fillings after conducting a routine cleaning and exam.

Your patient looks at you uncomfortably and says, “Maybe I can decide on my next appointment, Doc. I don’t have any pain, at all.”

Then you see the distrust in his eyes and tell him reassuringly, “Sure, no worries. I just hope the problem with your teeth would not have grown worse by then.”

He then reaches for his wallet, murmurs “Thank you,” and rushes off.

Sound familiar?

Now, you’re not sure if he’s ever really coming back, even after six months when he’s supposed to have his next routine cleaning appointment.

But have you ever considered getting an intraoral camera for cavity detection and other crucial aspects of your practice? If not, consider the following advantages:

Early detection of dental problems – The smallest signs of a growing dental issue such as hairline fractures can be easily detected with an intraoral camera.
Accurate diagnosis – With the crystal-clear, sharp images that you can take with an intraoral camera, you’ll be able to make precise diagnoses and recommended the right treatment every time. For more difficult cases, you can easily confer with other experts since high-resolution images will be available during consultation.
Patient education – You can virtually do “show and tell” in real time. This means you can take your patient on a “dental tour” of his or her mouth, showing areas where gum disease may be a concern, as well as plaque and other early signs of tooth decay.
Improved doctor-patient relations – With an intraoral camera, your patient knows right away that you’re not “making stuff up” in terms of his or her oral health. Images of patients’ teeth and gums taken in real-time means they see exactly what you see, and you can easily point out areas they need to be concerned about.
Increased case and treatment acceptance – Using images taken with an intraoral camera means your patients won’t need a lot of convincing to make decisions for their treatment because they know and have seen the state of their dental health.
Filing or future case documentation – The availability of images from each patient case means you need not spend a lot of time writing up descriptions of each case. You’ll also save on office space as you can avail of both traditional PC-based and cloud-based information storage options.
Stronger dental insurance claims – When there are problems with dental insurance claims, there really is nothing like crystal clear pictures painfully detailing your patient’s dental problem and the need for treatment to reassure insurance companies that the claim being made is well-founded and legitimate.
Enhanced practice reputation – Having an intraoral camera around can have an immense impact on your credibility and integrity as a dental practitioner. Your patients trust you, and you can also trust them to refer you to friends and family.

The key takeaways here, in terms of the profitability of your practice are, of course, improved relations with your patients and case acceptance.

So now that you are familiar with how an intraoral camera can have a huge impact on your ROI, it’s high time you do some more research and shop around. How many do you need? What can I expect in terms of a % of growth in Year 1?

You can start off by exploring the IRIS intraoral camera series, including the IRIS USB 2.0 Chair or IRIS LTE USB 2.0 intraoral cameras which both offer flexibility and ease of use as well as sharp, high-resolution imaging results. Contact us today to schedule a free demo.