by Andrea Cook

There has been talk for some time regarding an update to the Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings, 2003. CDC will not be releasing new guidelines for infection control in dental settings. However, CDC has developed a document entitled Summary of Infection Prevention Practices in Dental Settings Basic Expectations for Safe Care and Companion Checklist. This document summarizes existing recommendations to make them much easier to understand and use in all dental settings including our orthodontic practices. The summary focuses on standard precautions and the foundation for preventing transmission of infectious agents during patient care. The summary is intended to supplement the existing CDC recommendations, not replace them.

The initial phone call by a potential patient is an excellent opportunity for the front office team to develop a warm relationship with the caller and “pre-sell” your services and amenities. Assign a designated person to handle the majority of initial calls. If the designated team member is not on the phone, the call is transferred immediately. All front office team members should back up the primary person and should be fully trained for this important task. The first choice is the Treatment Coordinator (TC). However, you may find that the TC is occupied in initial exams and rechecks, and realistically does not have the opportunity to take the call.

by Pat Rosenzweig

Years ago, when most offices still ran on paper, and computers were just being introduced, we saw a lot of doctors and staff members who preferred to continue to do all their scheduling and chart notes on paper. They just used the computers for patient accounts and billing. We've come a long way from those days and our software has become much more useful. We now have great software (such as those from Ortho2) available that can keep the office flowing, maintain all patient information, and keep everyone communicating. We know this great software is available and most of our practices currently own one version or another, so what's my point? My point is that while the doctor spent a decent amount of money on the software, most of our offices are currently using half of it...at best!

By Roger P. Levin, DDS

As a process that typically lasts for 18–24 months, ortho treatment can easily fall behind schedule if parents or adult patients aren’t diligent about keeping their appointments. You’ll always have overdue patients, but the following techniques will help you minimize the problem:

We're not done yet, there were too many photos to fill into one post so here's another serving of the best UGM photos of past parties.

The Users Group Meeting is only a few weeks away! Do you have your favorite pastel-colored jacket and leg warmers ready? Or maybe your can of hair spray needs some dusting off. No matter if you dress up or not, you’ll have a blast at the I ♥ the ‘80s party! Take a look at past parties to get inspired for this year!

We all want to work in an orthodontic office where our co-workers are cheerful, effective, and fun, and our patients are well-cared for, happy, and at ease. We want each person to inherently know and feel like they belong in your office. We want to work with people who are invested in the practice and stakeholders in the office success.

I remember when I was 12 or so my father finally bought a computer for the entire family. We had always had computers in our house because of his job but they were DOS systems that would display a whopping two colors. I spent days playing a 5 in-a-row tic-tac-toe game he had written as a programming exercise. But now finally our house had a computer for the whole family, and it was with total excitement that I turned on our new PC and thought, “Behold, I have Windows 98.” Back then staring into the CRT monitor of our shining new PC and loading up Encarta Encyclopedia 98 was probably the single coolest thing on earth to me.

Before I started delivering blisteringly sharp one liners on social media and making the world bask in my online glow, I worked in software support. I sat along with the best of the best of the best making sure each and every one of our customers got the most elite service possible. Back then the only way for people to get in contact with us was through the telephone and email. Well things have changed, in a good way of course. You can still call us to get our first class service and support, but now you can also hit us up on chat support.

By Roger P. Levin, DDS

An observation program represents one of the most potent strategies for acquiring new ortho patients, especially in today’s more competitive market. Some orthodontists object to spending time seeing observation patients at no cost. Others claim that observation programs don’t work, based on their unsuccessful attempt at running an observation program years ago.