No matter where we run our business, we have to remain relevant in our communities. I believe in branding — creating some type of image or logo that represents you and your office. Once you have established your brand, you can really start to create an image to share with the public, which will communicate what your mission is and what it is that your office has to offer. If your brand expression ..read more

To the Loyal Readers of The Daily Grind, The Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) unveils a bright new look at agd.org. As part of this new look, we’ve moved The Daily Grind onto agd.org, where you can now access all of your AGD news sources in one place. You also will find the tools and resources you’ve come to rely on, as well as new features and a fresh, modern look fit for our thriving ..read more

No doubt we’ve all used or heard the phrase, “I read it on the internet.” But what this exactly means is unknown, not to mention risky. I’m certain that countless health care providers hear it all the time from their patients and clients. I gather information from the internet, too. Is an internet search a good thing or bad thing? It may be both.  Naturally, being able to sort through the ..read more

As we know, dentistry has entered a new economic reality — a reality that is reshaping the way in which we do business, as part of an industry whose foundation is built upon the appreciation and realization that relationships matter, above everything else. Yes, everything! Stated another way, no longer are our clinical skills the differentiator between success and failure. Rather, it is the ..read more

“Doctor, the radio keeps turning off!” So began my morning. Little did I know that within the hour, an electrician, my dental equipment repair team and an electrician would be in my office. My staff also would be cancelling all of my appointments for the day.“Why does the radio keep turning off?” I asked. No one knew. “By the way,” I said, “who is smoking a cigarette in my office at 7:50 a.m ..read more

We dentists started as barber surgeons, with teeth as disposable as hair. The oral region was glossed over as unimportant by the medical community for thousands of years. A good friend of mine, a physiatrist (physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist), admitted to me that his education stopped at the temporomandibular (TM) joints and anything beyond that was a total mystery to him. In my ..read more

Today’s dental economy is rapidly changing, and the dentist owner is challenged to remain current in every facet of his or her business, both clinically and operationally. There is a continuous wave of new materials, techniques and technology inundating us, begging for our attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With the arrival of discount dentistry, social media, poor dental insurance ..read more

It’s midweek, and you have a schedule that somehow just went way south. A staff member just informed you of a situation that will affect your schedule. An insurance claim denial waits on your desk to be appealed. Oh, and you just remembered you’re up for CPR renewal, and darn it, that model trimmer is still leaking. You know, it’s a typical day in our field. Needless to say, the drive home can ..read more

Cross-training is a way of life for the modern athlete, and no one in Chicago’s professional sports scene more illustrates that than Jake Arrieta, pitcher for the World Champion Chicago Cubs. His training regimen received quite a bit of press over the past baseball season for being so multidimensional. Yoga, Pilates, Olympics-style weight training, visualization and sports psychology were all ..read more

One of the biggest struggles most dentists have is hiring the right people to be on their teams. For me, the ability to think through, understand and resolve tasks is a must-have trait for an applicant to be considered. I have found that the struggle is that people are not used to thinking anymore. The thinking-process concept is becoming obsolete.  In today’s younger generations, I feel that ..read more