Seseme Communications is sponsoring a one hour free webinar on “Going Paperless” Tuesday Feb 28.

Registration Here

1. Begin with the End in Mind:
Have a plan and a goal before you start

2. Establish a technology infrastructure:
Integrated practice management software

Computers networked in the treatment rooms

3. Add the “Big 2”:
Digital images

Digital radiography

4. Non-dental programs:
Word processing

Checkbook

Anti virus

5. Add advanced dental applications:
CAD CAM

Digital Diagnostics

Computerized probes

6. Keep a future focus; be open to evolving technologies:
Internet

3D Images

Mobile

If you get a good set of intraoral digital photos and x-rays you can do much of the charting at your desk. You no longer need to be chairside with the assistant calling out findings while she scribbles things down on paper. This is especially true with existing restorations, broken teeth and other conditions. You can also make a treatment plan from the digital photos and x-rays.

I will be presenting a half day program at the Yankee Dental Congress January 28, 2012

Everyday dentists are faced with remarkable new high tech products that do everything from finding caries to making a crown. Digital technology is revolutionizing every aspect of dental practice including how we make clinical decisions and how we communicate. A great high tech digital office will never happen just by accident. Planning starts with the essentials for the doctor and the team. That is, knowing what to buy, how to use it, and how to make it all pay off.

via . Yankee Dental

Online Video CE The High Tech Power Practice

Five Modules

• Essentials
• Paperless
• Advanced
• Internet
• Stuff

DentalEDU.tv

At a very basic level an EDR is simply a digital or electronic dental chart. That is, all the information or data that we used to create using paper is instead created in a digital format and stored as an electronic record. This includes charting, treatment planning, procedure notes, medical histories, lab slips, lab results, photos, x-rays, models, finances and a lot more. It is possible to create a completely digital or electronic version of these things right now with many of the leading dental Practice Management Systems (PMS) like Dentrix and Eaglesoft. However as good as these systems are they are not fulfilling the promise of EDR.

An ideal EDR (or EMR) collects all the relevant medical dental data about an individual, organizes it in a meaningful manner and, here is the kicker, it allows that data to be accessed anytime anywhere by anyone with a legitimate reason to use it.

Current PMS products may do a fine job of creating a digital dental chart but the chart data is confined to the specific dental office where the data is stored. It is difficult or impossible to transfer that data to another office, even if the other office is using the same PMS. It is difficult or impossible to import data into a PMS from an outside source.

This is am excerpt from my recent article in Medscape.

A critical step in developing a successful paperless record (or any new technology system) is training. Every team member, including the dentist, must understand and use the computers. You will never get full value from your technology investment with out training. One of the major technology mistakes dentists often make is to take off and go golfing on the computer training day. Or worse yet don’t get any training for the office at all. Cross training eliminates the artificial barrier between clinical and administrative teams and ensures that anyone can do the tasks necessary to keep the office running.

Here is a link to a recent article I wrote for Medscape.

Current products may do a fine job of creating a digital dental chart. However, these dental chart data are often confined to the specific dental office in which the data are stored. This creates a challenge for multiple offices. Current products make it difficult, if not impossible, to transfer data to another office, even if the other office is using the same PMS. In addition, data cannot be imported into the PMS from an outside source.

via Dental Electronic Records Lag Behind: The Effect of Electronic Health Records on the Use of Clinical Care Guidelines for Patients With Medically Complex Conditions.

Follow the link to an article I wrote for the AZ Dental Journal Inscriptions. The article is on paperless or digital specialty referrals.

http://www.azda.org/Inscriptions/2011Dec/index.html#/36/

A link to a new article in Dentalcampare.

What if you could export American quality of care and combine it with a developing world cost platform in a desirable resort destination? You could offer patients a fabulous vacation experience, the opportunity to receive high quality dental care delivered by US trained professionals for less than the treatment would cost in most US cities

via A New High Tech Look at Dental Tourism | Dentalcompare: Top Products. Best Practices..