Monthly Archives: July 2010

Conclusion, More What’s Up with This?

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Last week, we discussed an impression gone bad. This is from another impression where a similar thing happened. Many VPS impression materials have their set retarded by the air-inhibited layer from composite resins or from bisacyrl provisional materials.

If you make your impressions after you do your provisionals (recommended to check reduction, show through in the provisional may be a sign of under-reduction), then you need to make sure you clean the preps thoroughly. If you use composite prior to impressioning, cure under a layer of glycerin to avoid an air-inhibited layer.

Bad Die

Think about painting a light coat of glycerin over your preps before doing the provisionals to make them easier to clean when you are done and to avoid the mess you see above.

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Veneer Preps: Part 2 of 5

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To reduce or not to reduce? Treatment planning reasons behind incisal reduction.

If you cannot see this video, please visit speareducation.com/blog.

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What’s it Worth to You?

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Hourglass with $ in SandIn a recent post, I listed “mastering the value of time” as one of the four keys to achieving ultimate success. I think most people see the wisdom in this—after all, you can’t change the number of hours you get in a day; what you can do is change what you get out of them. But what I think a lot of us overlook is that there is more than one way to measure value.

When we hear “do more in less time” we tend to think in terms of production numbers –and that is a valid and crucial measurement. But what about the other things that enhance or diminish the value of our hours? Take a look, for instance, at how your front desk person is spending the bulk of her day. If she is routinely working through a list of calls to follow up on payments and appointments, the value of her time is limited. On the other hand, if she masters a protocol that sees more than 95% of patients leave the office complete for payment and appointed ahead (believe me, it is possible) she has liberated more time to be a strategic contributor to the practice, rather than a babysitter.

The same goes for those who believe in the magical properties of the yellow sticky note: that somehow if it’s scribbled down and stuck to a computer screen it’s (sort of) dealt with. Many of the things that get relegated to the yellow squares are things that can either be done now, or programmed for completion in an accountable way, or removed from your plate entirely.

There is a fundamental principle at work here and that is that if you have a system for doing things right the first time you only have to do them once. And if you’re saying you don’t have time to deal with it once in a comprehensive way, what makes you think you’ll have time to do it again in a series of partial ways? (One 10-minute exchange at the front desk can save countless follow-ups.) If you don’t have time to do it today, what makes you think you’ll have time tomorrow? Don’t let the sticky note become a procrastination tool.

As with so many life issues, it pays to examine how the most successful people approach it. I don’t think Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey spend a lot of time frantically catching up with post-it note noise. I doubt that Steve Jobs has employees who make a career out of unnecessary “make-work” projects. These people have an unshakeable focus on their vision that gives them a keen sense for the value of an hour.

It’s a lesson we all need to remind ourselves of. We understand—at least in an abstract way—that time is our most precious resource, but too often our actions tell another story. The richest lives, in all senses of the word, belong to those who respect each hour enough to insist on getting full value.

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The End (of the Recession) Is Coming!

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The End Is Near

How can I make such a bold prediction? What inside knowledge or special insight into macro-economics do I have? None. But I do know that the economy will change, because that’s what economies do—they cycle through ups and downs. The cycles tend to come faster and more often now, but one recurring fact of economics is this: What goes down must come up.

I’ve been saying for a long time that the way through these tough times is to focus even harder on your own practice economy—the one within your control—and not allow yourself to be emotionally influenced by every movement in the national economy. But while you don’t want to adjust your daily strategies to the latest stock market news, you do want to be ready for when the pendulum swings back hard. Keeping that in mind, what are you doing to prepare for the end of this down cycle?

Years ago, the Harvard Business Review ran an article about “Moving Upward in a Downturn” that illustrated this point. It’s human nature to want to hunker down through lean times, to cut expenses to the bone and limit innovation for awhile. But as they revealed in the article, the businesses that recovered most quickly and impressively after a downturn were the ones who had the vision to anticipate the rebound and invest strategically in positioning themselves to take advantage of it.

Those patients who have been turning down necessary treatment these last couple of years will be back—and when they come back, the sad truth for them is they will have some catching up to do in their oral health. You may understandably be frustrated with the lack of follow-through by patients today, but we all know that dental issues don’t heal themselves, so today’s “no”s are creating a pent-up demand for more treatment down the road.

Now is the time, then, to upgrade your skills, to integrate new technology and become proficient with it, and to embrace social media opportunities. If there is more downtime than usual in your schedule, use it to your advantage by preparing for what your patients will want and need when the economy turns. Sure, you can wait until the turnaround comes first. That’s what most dentists will do. But the ones who will make the biggest strides in the next “new” economy will be the ones who saw it coming and positioned themselves for success now.

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New Faculty Club Feature

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In this video, Gary highlights a great new networking resource  – the Associates forum on the Spear Faculty Club discussion board.

If you cannot see this video, please visit speareducation.com/blog.

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Having Your Dream Vacation

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Glen, Imtiaz, and Frank in Hawaii

I don’t usually give travel recommendations, but as we head into the summer vacation season, I have some advice to those of you who are packing your bags and heading for the airport or open road: this year, wherever it is you’re going, resolve to spend some time in the future.

I received a lot of feedback from a recent post about combining the power of being in the now with the need to craft a vision for the future. For a lot of people, this push-and-pull with time is an ongoing battle. Which is why I think annual vacation time is the perfect opportunity to devote serious “in the now” time to your future.

There is just something about being physically removed from your usual environment that unlocks the imagination. You get to unhook yourself from the noise of everyday life and really think creatively, beyond the usual limitations.

I think about the time I have spent with Frank Spear in Hawaii when we each were on vacation. In the mornings we would each do our own thing. Frank has his routines, and I like to take advantage of the time to run, swim, or scuba dive. But then we would get together in the afternoon, just to talk and think and bounce ideas off each other for awhile. It’s amazing how, in an atmosphere like that, where we are relaxed and far removed from the usual office pressures, the ideas just flow. It wasn’t like work at all—it was just two people who are passionate about life and about what they do spending some “play time” together to dream and be creative. I’m convinced that some of the greatest ideas and innovations in the world are born in free-thinking sessions like this.

This kind of dedication to vision is a precondition to success, and you’ll never find a time when you are more mind-ready, or more open to possibilities, than when you are away from the usual routines. And the best souvenir you can bring home is a more inspiring future.

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Veneer Preps: Part 1 of 5

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In the first clip of a five-part series on anterior veneer preparations, Lee discusses no-prep versus minimal preparation veneers.

Check back for Part Two on incisal reduction.

If you cannot see this video, please visit speareducation.com/blog.

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Manji’s Four-Step Program for Overcoming Professional Burnout

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Four StepsIf you are a dentist-owner, I’m willing to bet that one of the reasons you went into this profession is because of the allure of developing a sustainable, independent practice—a practice where you can have professional autonomy and build a business that serves the needs of you, your team and your patients, while giving you time to enjoy life. That’s the dream, anyway, and it is an achievable one in this profession. It’s why more and more young adults with ambitions for a career in the health sciences are turning to dentistry over general medicine. They see the potential for fulfillment and freedom, for doing good while doing well.

The secret to achieving this dream is something that young dentists often ask me about, but it really applies to any dentist at any stage in their career. In fact, I maintain that there are really only four things you need to do to reach ultimate success in dentistry:

  1. Master the clinical journey. You’ll notice I don’t say “master clinical excellence,” because there is no such thing as completing your mastery. The people who do great things in any profession are passionate about what they do and passionate about continual improvement. Look at clinical excellence as a lifelong journey, as a way of thinking, and keep that passion alive.
  2. Master your time. I’ve written about this here before in a few places, but a fundamental part of seizing control of your life is taking control of your time. That means being realistic about all the things you need to do—in the practice, on the practice, and away from the practice—and being unconditional about designating the right time for each.
  3. Master your value. Without a keen appreciation for how to communicate the value of quality dentistry, even the greatest clinician in the world would have trouble keeping a practice thriving.
  4. Master the value of time. We all have the same number of hours but not all hours are created equal. You need to ensure that your schedule is strategically designed—not just the right number of cases but the right kind of cases—to achieve the economic goals that fuel success in all other areas of the practice.

Now of course, there are a lot of strategies behind each of these imperatives—more than I can communicate in the scope of a single blog post. But the point is, the dream is alive for anyone practicing dentistry and it should be inspiring to know that with the right commitment, and the right help, it’s only four steps away.

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Anterior Bite Plane Appliances

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In this video blog, Gary gives you the when, why and how on appliances.

If you cannot see this video, please visit speareducation.com/blog.

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