Tag: Dr. Larry Emmott

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Paperless

Get the Book – Go Paperless

Make the commitment and Go Paperless.book

Most likely you already have everything you need to go paperless.

Stop putting it off, make the commitment, going paperless can save you tens of thousands of dollars. Buy the book, take the first step.

My comprehensive technology guide, “How to go paperless in the dental office” will answer the basic question…Why bother?  It then provides step by step help in setting up a paperless office, including the eight essentials that need to be in place before you get started, four ways to digitize stuff, and front deskless workflow. There is even a budget and financial analysis that shows how your current paper system is costing you over $40,000!

“How to go paperless in the dental office” will answer all your questions, provide a plan and show you how to save money… all delivered in a fun and easy to understand style.

Follow the link to order your copy today.

Categories
Dental Speaker

Ontario April 27

I am honored to be presenting two programs at the Ontario Annual Spring Meeting in Toronto.

Categories
Radiography

Digital Radiography Guide

What is your excuse?

Digital Radiography is no longer new; it has been on the market for close to thirty years. If you are not using it you probably have a convincing personal excuse. On the other hand you could compare film x-ray users to a dentist still using a belt driven handpiece in 1995, thirty years after the air turbine was invented.

There is no longer any excuse. Make the move to lower your patient’s exposure to radiation, improve diagnostic efficiency and reduce the cost of taking radiographs. If you are still wondering what to get and are concerned about costs check out my comprehensive technology guide, “Digital Radiography”

The “Digital Radiography” guide exposes nine myths about digital radiography and it will answer the basic question…Why bother? It then provides step by step help choosing and then setting up digital x-rays.

You will learn about; the five part imaging chain, the sensor wars, image enhancement and much more. And what will come as a complete shock to most dentists… there is even a budget and financial analysis that shows how digital radiography is actually cheaper than film.

“Digital Radiography” will answer all your questions, provide a plan and show you how to save money… all delivered in a fun and easy to understand style.

RadPages

Digital Radiography.

Categories
Radiography

Guide to Digital Radiography

What is your excuse?

Digital Radiography is no longer new; it has been on the market for close to thirty years. If you are not using it you probably have a convincing personal excuse. On the other hand you could compare film x-ray users to a dentist still using a belt driven handpiece in 1995, thirty years after the air turbine was invented.

There is no longer any excuse. Make 2016 the year you lower your patient’s exposure to radiation, improve diagnostic efficiency and reduce the cost of taking radiographs. If you are still wondering what to get and are concerned about costs check out my comprehensive technology guide, “Digital Radiography”

The “Digital Radiography” guide exposes nine myths about digital radiography and it will answer the basic question…Why bother? It then provides step by step help choosing and then setting up digital x-rays.

You will learn about; the five part imaging chain, the sensor wars, image enhancement and much more. And what will come as a complete shock to most dentists… there is even a budget and financial analysis that shows how digital radiography is actually cheaper than film.

“Digital Radiography” will answer all your questions, provide a plan and show you how to save money… all delivered in a fun and easy to understand style.

RadPages

Digital Radiography.

Categories
Management

Leading the way up Mount Olympus

What an honor and a privilege. I was interviewed by Dr. Steve Broe for his new book on leadership “Leading the way up Mount Olympus”.

 

It is available on Amazon Kindle for a very limited time for just 99 cents .

Categories
General Management Security

There is still time to Dance with Legends

There is still time (barely) to sign up for this great meeting.

AAPDA is a special organization. I am privileged to be presenting a session on Data Safety, HIPAA, Hackers and Hype. for the 2015 meeting March 4-6 in Tucson. Plus I have been a member for over 25 years and can honestly say the Academy has had a profound effect on my practice and my life. Check it out.

AADPA2015

 

Categories
Dental Speaker

Henry Schein Tech Summit

I was invited by Henry Schein  / Dentrix to participate in a technology summit with many of their top executives and a who’s who of dental consultants and technology leaders. I have tremendous respect for the people they invited and was honored to be included.

The meeting was both fun and very informative. As a dentist interested in high tech it is very nice to see a big company like Henry Schein take such an interest in the thoughts of the dentists and consultants who live it every day.

Categories
Dentalcompare

A Reading List of Books About Technology’s Impact on People

In case you missed it: Dentalcompare from September 2013:

“You are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things: the books you read and the people you meet.” – Charlie Jones

Here are three books that offer an insightful and a highly optimistic look into the future.

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter H. Diamandis

Peter Diamandis and his co-author Steven Kotler make the case that things are better now than they have ever been, and what is more, we are on the verge of eliminating the scarcity economy that has ruled our existence. We are rapidly approaching abundance.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

Here Comes Everybody is a fun easy read that uses stories to show you how the rapid, revolutionary spread of new forms of social interaction supported by technology and the Internet are changing the way humans form groups and how we exist within those groups.

The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships by Clifford Nass

Although this book is based on technology, what it really can teach us is how to better understand ourselves and how to interact effectively with the rest of humanity. The man who lied to his laptop did so in order not to hurt its feelings. You probably think that is foolish but after you read this book you will realize that we all do it, that is what makes us human.

via Emmott On Technology: A Reading List of Books About Technology’s Impact on People | Dentalcompare.com.

All three books listed above and others can be purchased from Amazon through the link on the right. Just scroll down ’till you see the “Book Recommendations” section. Thanks.

Categories
Management Paperless Radiography Software

Interoperability

From my January Inscriptions article:

Imagine a world in which if you owned a Ford you could only fill up at a Ford gas station with Ford gas. Toyota gas won’t work. You can only drive in the Ford lane and take the Ford off ramp. If the Ford off ramp is closed for repairs you can’t take the Chevy or Honda off ramp. That whole scenario is ridiculous but it is essentially what happens when we use proprietary dental systems.

Dentistry suffers from an almost universal lack of interoperability. Interoperability is the ability of different systems from different manufacturers to work together and share data. The opposite of interoperability is proprietary. Proprietary systems are closed.

INSCRIP-0114-WEB.

Categories
Dental Speaker Management

AADPA 2014

Categories
Future Tech General Theraputics

Solea Laser

soleaI spent the day with Mike Cataldo the CEO of Convergent dental and David Fantarella, DMD a high tech laser dentist, practicing in North Haven CT. Dr. Fantarella is a beta tester for the Solea hard tissue CO2 laser. He demonstrated it for me on a couple of fillings and a soft tissue crown exposure. Very impressive.

From the dentist’s perspective it was relatively easy to use and seemed to cut, or more accurately ablate, the tooth just as fast as a traditional high speed handpiece. It cut both enamel and dentin easily.

From the patient perspective it was essentially painless with no anesthesia, no vibration and no noise. The patients much preferred the laser to the conventional dental “drill”

One of the reasons it works so well is that the laser beam is controlled by computerized galvos mirrors that direct the beam size and the frequency of contact with the tooth. It also uses a foot control just like we use now to control the power.The result is more energy delivered to the tooth without creating excessive heat or causing pain. You can think of it as the first digitally enhanced tooth preparation system.

My experience is limited, but so far I have to say Solea seems to be in a class by itself and has the potential to revolutionize the profession just like the high speed turbine did in the last century.

Solea has finished testing and is available now for purchase.

Categories
Management

Hiring The Wrong Person

dental-assistantPersonally I am really good at hiring the wrong person and really bad at firing them. Part of the reason is this:

A study done by Rutgers University Graduate School of Business estimated that the turnover cost for a non-professional position is one and a half times that of the person’s annual salary, while the turnover cost for a professional position is as much as two times that person’s salary.

via 8 Signs You’re About To Hire The Wrong Person | OPEN Forum.

Replacing a dental assistant costs the office between $75,000 and $100,000. In a high tech dental office much of that expense is training people on the use of the technology. On the other hand if you are able to use technology efficiently enough to eliminate the need for an additional staff member the savings is the combined cost of the staff members salary as well as the $75,000 or so it takes to hire and train them. At that level there is a huge ROI on technology.

There are three important points to learn from this.

Hire the right people. The linked article gives some pointers on how to do that.

Train the new people well to get the most return on your investment. That is both the investment in technology and the investment in the person. Sporadic on the job training is not good enough.

Replace underperformers. This is the area of management that I failed at completely. Looking back I hung on to bad employees way too long partly because I did not want to face the expense and the time of finding and training a replacement.

Bill Blatchford famously asked, “When is the best time to fire and employee?” the response, “The first time you think of it.” At first that sounds cynical, even cruel but when you think it through it does make a valid point.

Categories
Hardware Office Design

Dual Entry

mouseman-300x300A simple, inexpensive, yet very powerful component to effective use of technology in the treatment room is multiple inputs. Input refers to any device, which allows the user to access the computer. The most common input devices are a keyboard and mouse. However there are other options as well such as touch pads, track balls, pen tablets, mini keyboards, voice and even smart phones.

Last century around 1995 when we first moved computers to the back we used the desktop model and had a single data entry point with a keyboard and mouse on the assistant’s side. As we developed the electronic chart and started using digital radiology, computerized notes, digital imaging and patient education we soon discovered we needed more input access.

For example, if the dentist wants to view or enhance a certain x-ray the doctor has to ask the assistant to bring it up on the screen and then click and zoom in order to give the doctor the view he/she wants. As you can imagine this is a problem and ends up taking two people to do the job of one in a pretty ineffective manner. The same problem occurs with chart information. If the dentist wants to read the previous appointments notes or review the treatment plan he/she has to ask the assistant, in front of the patient, to do it for him. Or worse yet, get up, move to the other side of the room, break asepsis, and do it, again in an ineffective manner.

The solution was a second input device on the doctor’s side of the room. This can be any type of input; we used a pen and tablet, a touch pad and even a wireless infrared keyboard. However we found what really worked well was a simple mouse.

So, you have two mice (mouses??) in the treatment room; one for the dentist and one for the assistant.

Look here for more help and ideas setting up computers in the clinical areas.

Categories
Dentalcompare Diagnostics Theraputics

Eliminate Pesky Impression Gremlins

gremlinsIn case you missed it: Dentalcompare article from last Dec on Digital Impressions.

Each of these items: the impression material, the stone, the wax, the investment, the metal, various acrylics and finally the oven fired porcelain has some sort of setting and shape change with time, temperature and humidity. There’s also mechanical distortion if the tray bends, the die is abraded, the material compresses or is pulled slightly from the tray. And of course there are bubbles, contamination and tears.

Any one of these errors—lurking like little gremlins—can easily go undetected by the lab or the dentist. The result – remake.

When you take a digital impression you eliminate all of those chemical and mechanical gremlins. The result is better and more reliable restorations with almost no remakes. Studies show a remake rate of just 0.3% with digital impressions compared to 4 -5% with traditional methods.

via Emmott On Technology: Go Digital to Eliminate Pesky Impression Gremlins | Dentalcompare.com.

Since that article was published E4D has introduced a new low cost impression camera the NEVO. It is powder free and takes continuous images to stitch together a model. It can be used with an E4D milling chamber or as a digital lab impression.

Categories
Dentalcompare Internet

Test Your Online Footprint

This week on Dentalcompare

Even if you scored zero on the quiz you will show up in a search. You will show up in Yellow Pages, Superpages or Yelp and the like. As a zero you are not invisible to the Internet. You just have no influence on what shows up and what others see or read about you

via Emmott On Technology: Is Your Dental Practice Prepared for Online Engagement? | Dentalcompare.com.

The article includes a ten point quiz to determine your online footprint.

Categories
Dentalcompare Diagnostics

Caries Diagnostics Steps Ahead With The Canary System

This week on Dentalcompare:

If Doctor McCoy on Star Trek had been a dentist he wouldn’t have used a Tricorder he would have used a Canary.

via Emmott On Technology: Caries Diagnostics Steps Ahead With The Canary System | Dentalcompare.com.

I am using Canary in my office. The science is amazing and the patients love the no radiation.

Categories
Dental Speaker Social Media

Top 10 Dentists in Social Media

WOW this is so flattering, I am honored. I was chosen as one of the top ten dentists in social media:

We kept Dr. Emmott on our list again this year because he connects with everyone – not just dentists – because of his active participation in social media and the laid-back feel to his posts

via 2013 Edition — Top 10 Dentists in Social Media – 1Dental.com Blog.

Categories
Future Tech Hardware Office Design

Sneak Peak the Boomer

Coming in 2013

Boomer is a foot operated computer mouse for those that need to run a computer hands free. Dental, medical or surgical to prevent cross contamination and those who find it difficult to use a hand mouse.

via VoltCrowd | Crowd Funding | Start-Ups: Boomer The Foot Mouse.

Categories
General Theraputics

News Flash…Nice teeth look better

As reported at Dr. Bicuspid (registration required)

When looking at images, people perceived those with straight teeth to be 45% more likely than those with crooked teeth to get a job when competing with someone who has a similar skill set and experience. They were also seen as 58% more likely to be successful, as well as 58% more likely to be wealthy.

When it comes to attracting a possible mate on a dating site, those with straight teeth were seen as 57% more likely than those with crooked teeth to get a date based on their picture alone.

via Dental News, Dental education, Dental Social networking.

People with good looking teeth are better looking than those with ugly teeth. This is one of those -duh, they needed a study to figure that out – kind of things.

On the other hand the study does say more than that and it is not a bad thing to have some science to back up what seems obvious to most of us.

The interesting extrapolation from attractive teeth are better looking than ugly teeth is that observers assume  that attractive people are more likely to be smarter, make more money, get a better job and marry a better spouse. On the surface this seems so shallow and vain yet the fact is the people do make these judgments. Even if we think it is silly and unfair that is the way the world works.

Based on that, cosmetic dentistry takes on new value. Improving someone’s appearance could do more to improve the quality of their life than we could ever accomplish by simply filling a back tooth.

Categories
Future Tech

Topol on The Creative Destruction of Medicine

 

Topol on The Creative Destruction of Medicine.

I read Topol’s book below that the linked video discusses. I found it very interesting. Creative destruction is an economics term that applies to industry changes that destroy one industry while creating a new (and hopefully better) one. The easiest example is that cars destroyed the horse carriage industry and air travel destroyed the passenger train industry.

Usually creative destruction is the result of new technology. According to Topol the medical industry is ripe for creative destruction as new and amazing technology will allow us and our physicians to understand and treat disease in ways not even imagined a generation ago.