As healthcare workers constantly in close contact with the oral and nasal cavities of patients, dental professionals are at the front line of recognizing symptoms and helping to stop the spread of the latest coronavirus. Regardless of whether your dental practice is located within an area affected by the disease or not, it’s crucial your office follows the recommended CDC guidelines to protect the health of your patients, your employees and yourself. 

From your team of staff and your equipment to the treatments you offer and your interior design, there are many parts of your dental practice that are fairly simple to change, but location isn’t one of them. To help you avoid the horror of realizing you’ve made a terrible mistake and then the staggeringly high cost of fixing the error, it’s important you do your research when it comes to choosing the location for your dental practice and get it right first time round.

“Your services are no longer required”, “We’re taking things in a different direction”, “I’m afraid we’re going to have to let you go”...however it’s worded, all three of these phrases mean the same thing — you’re fired. Regardless of whether or not the dismissal was your fault, being asked to pack up your things and leave the dental office is a nerve-wracking experience that will leave you feeling shaken and worried.

No two dental practices are the same. Some enjoy great success with outsourcing, while others are capable of handling most things in house. Even if you’ve always taken care of the work on your own, if you’ve recently expanded your dental practice, outsourcing at least some of your more troublesome tasks has likely crossed your mind. But is outsourcing the right move for your business?

The benefits of maintaining proper oral care stretch far beyond having a sparkling white smile. Taking good care of your teeth and gums also helps prevent a number of systemic diseases, including diabetes. More than 100 million adults in the US have diabetes or prediabetes and only half of diabetics are aware they have the disease. This life-changing condition can lead to blindness, stroke, heart disease, kidney failure, nerve damage and periodontal disease.

Running your own dental practice can be very rewarding and fruitful on a personal level. But there are many hidden costs and overheads that can often detract from the value of the work. Because of this, one thing almost all dental practices have in common is the desire to reduce expenses.

Whether you work in a dedicated pediatric dental practice that exclusively treats children or you work at a family dental office which only has a few child patients, it’s impossible to avoid working with children when you’re a dentist, dental hygienist or dental assistant. If you don’t welcome children into your practice, not only will you lose your youngest patients, but you’ll also likely lose their parents and other family members, too. If your dental practice is going to be successful, it’s important you learn how to manage children and their parents in the dental practice from the beginning. 

Infection control in dentistry has particular standards. Learn how to protect yourself, your patients, and the reputation of your practice.

Everyone who works in healthcare is at risk of infection, especially dentists and dental hygienists who spend most of their day in very close proximity to the oral and nasal cavities of multiple patients. To prevent the transmission of diseases between dental healthcare workers and their patients, it’s vital everyone in your practice takes the proper precautions and follows adequate infection control procedures. 

When a treatment results in severe oral pain, some dentists prescribe opioids for pain relief. However, this seemingly innocent act of medical care can lead to opioid abuse, a growing problem throughout our nation which poses a significant risk to the economy and public health.