A smile...pass it on

“So, is it a command or a request?”

What? I was standing in line at the grocery store, double checking that I got everything that I came in to get. I must have had a very puzzled look on my face as I looked at the older gentleman in line ahead of me. He repeated, “Is that a command or a request?” as he pointed at my Smile Generation t-shirt.

“Well,” I replied, “I suppose most people smile when they look at it, so it must just be a given.”

“Hmmm…” he said fighting off a smile of his own, “I just have fun reading people’s t-shirts.”

I explained to him, “If you were out at the Irvine Marketplace at lunch time today, you would’ve seen a few hundred of us wandering around with this shirt on. It’s for the launch of our new website called The Smile Generation.”

I turned around so he could read the back of my shirt. “We have several hundred dental offices across 5 states.”

He just smiled at me, so I smiled back. He said, “You have a nice smile.”

I replied, “We have good dentists.”

He laughed.

When he got to the register, the checker asked if he wanted to donate $1 to the City of Hope for pediatric cancer research. He said he would, and she asked him to write his name on one of the cards they hang up around the store. Instead of writing his name, he pointed to me and said, “I want to write down her company’s name because she’s just been so nice. And I like her smile.” I flashed him my pearly whites again, thanking Dr. Reagan and Dr. Buehler in my head for all the work they did in my mouth. Then I turned around so he could see the back of the shirt and get the spelling right.

I smiled and said, “Thank you,” and he smiled back before gathering his groceries and wishing me a good day.

How do I wear my t-shirt? Well, I started wearing mine for charity:water. Then I wore it so I could wear a t-shirt and jeans to work. Next thing you know, I’m wearing it for pediatric cancer research. How will you wear it?

DrBicuspid.com recently posted an article by our President Steve Thorne. Steve focuses on “optimizing your practice” in these changing economic times in an article entitled”The Art of Modern Denstistry”.  Visit Dr. Bicuspid and check it out:

http://www.drbicuspid.com/index.aspx?sec=sup&sub=pmt&pag=dis&ItemID=304372&wf=34

Woodbridge Dental Group and Orthodontics

We are proud to announce the opening of Woodbridge Dental Group and Orthodontics; Pacific Dental Services’ newest affiliated dental office in Texas.

• Clinical leadership provided by Dr. John Barnes
• The PPE provided by Dr. Elizabeth Samuel

The team in Texas is great and we are always looking forward to seeing them grow.

Are you indispensable? That is the question that legendary marketer Seth Godin asks in his new book “Linchpin”. Imagine if suddenly there was a dental office on every corner of every street, or the dental market became saturated with a product that you were making. How would you succeed, what would you do to be indispensable? February 11^th Seth made a rare trip to Orange County and spoke to 800+ of us at the St. Regis in Dana Point. I was given the amazing opportunity to photograph the event and listen in on Seth’s words of wisdom.

“Become an artist” was Seth’s driving point the entire night. Art isn’t about just using brushes and painting, it’s about doing “emotional work”. Work that you pour yourself into and that you are passionate about.  Creating that connection with your patient, modeling that CAD/CAM crown and laughing with your staff can be art. It shows you care, and in a world where word of mouth is driving business, showing you care can create an exponential amount of new patients and hopefully make your work life more enjoyable.

When I first started with Pacific Dental Services 3 years ago the Dental Industry was a much slower beast. Most marketing was done with traditional local ads and postcard mailers. Online, things were a little more innovative but still way behind other fast paced industries. Now it’s 2010 and things are changing rapidly, our patients are demanding value, dentistry is becoming much more competitive. Business used to be about talking about how valuable your service was; now it’s about proving it.

You can quote me when I tell you that business has changed forever. With the adoption of social tools and mobile on the rise, the practices that offer the best experience for their patient and employee will become indispensable. How great is that? Those who do “emotional work” reap the reward.

How are you and/or your practice going to be a Linchpin in 2010? How is your business or place of work going to be the one where people see value?

Tell us how you will be indispensable in 2010 and comment below! Now go “make some art”!

I want to give a special thanks to Bryan Elliott who managed to put this event together in grass roots style. He is truly a Linchpin. To see the rest of the photos from the event visit my posterous page

The following article provides insight into the changing trends within the dental industry. There is a good explanation of typical dental practice settings and where basic financial metrics fall. You will see a good explanation of the benefits of larger dental practices and how management companies alleviate some of the headaches and add value within this setting. This reasonably explains and helps confirm the logical existence of a dental management organization like Pacific Dental Services, Inc.

Please read the article below and feel free to come back and comment:
The Emergence of the Dental Practice Management Company – By Thomas A. Climo, PhD, Courtesy of Dental Economics

What trends do you see happening in the dental industry? What pros and cons do you feel this brings upon the dental field? We would like to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Charles Rodgers, DDS
Vice President of Clinicians

Today we  announced that all 195 affiliated practices have migrated from paper charts to electronic dental records (EDRs). The technology is user-friendly because it mimics the way that providers have traditionally used paper charts. EDRs are fully integrated with existing practice management solutions, such as patient treatment plans, charges, insurance records, digital x-rays, appointments and billing. By incorporating EDRs, PDS affiliated owner doctors are now able to run their practices more efficiently while enhancing patient care.

“We are committed to providing dentists with state-of-the-art resources for their practices, and our affiliated dentists have seen a tremendous value in EDRs. Patients’ records are more precise, can be located quickly, and are backed-up to minimize the impact of catastrophic events. Furthermore, our PDS network is secure so patients can be assured that their privacy will continue to be maintained,” said Steve Thorne, Pacific Dental Services founder and president.

Photo Courtesy of waynemah via Flickr

“Using EDRs has been such an advantage in running my practice. Ultimately, I was pleased that PDS offered my office the opportunity to make the transition to EDRs so that I can open a chart and study it from any workstation in my office. The time I would have spent locating my patients’ charts can now be allocated to treating the patients themselves,” said Lance Rygg, DDS. “Of course, the fact that EDRs are environmentally friendly, require less storage space, and are backed-up in the event of an emergency are also great benefits.”

Our goal is to allow dentists to concentrate on providing the highest levels of cost-effective patient care by providing business support services including human resources, marketing, daily operations, billing and collections, with ongoing educational training and strategic financial and practice development planning. The Company continues to grow, reporting a revenue growth of $102M, increasing from $178.8M in 2005 to $280.8M in 2008. Additionally, 136 new offices have been opened between 2005 and today increasing the number of employees and affiliated dentists to more than 3,000.

We are excited to be part of the modernization of dentistry and business. What other advancements in dentistry would you like to become a standard? Comment below and let us know where you think the world of dentistry is going or where you would like it to be.

Congratulations to our first Colorado PDS “Rockstar Employee of the Month”

Left to Right: Linda Ryan, Debbi Rogers, Samantha Mastreno, Joe Saporito

Samantha Mastreno – Operations Manager Trainee from Prominent Point Dental Group in Colorado Springs.

Samantha received a $100 Visa Gift card, Free Boost, and a beautiful trophy.

The Colorado Region PDS Rockstar Award Criteria is:

Must be Excellent in the following areas

• Can do attitude, passion and purpose
• Perfect Patient Experience
• Attendance
• Appearence
• Teamwork

Great job Samantha!

Finally after many requests we have uploaded the hilarious video skits that were debuted at XP 2009 starring our own Owner Doctors, Regional Partners, Directors  and Managers.   There are five unique videos – CEREC WOW, Love Chair, Scrub-A-Duds, The Cheerleaders, and Van Down by the River.  Enjoy them all!

*** Disclaimer ***
These videos are for entertainment purposes only.

To see the rest of the videos visit our YouTube Page

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foeVdMw6rJw&feature=player_profilepage

Dr. Brian Buehler

Pacific Dental Services appointed Dr. Brian Buehler to the position of Clinical Research Advisor at the PDS national headquarters in Irvine, CA.  Dr. Buehler has been practicing dentistry for over 20 years and is affiliated with PDS in multiple dental practices throughout California and Arizona.  His main office is located in Laguna Beach, CA.  Consistent with the strong relationship between Pacific Dental Services and Sirona Dental Systems, Dr. Brian Buehler will work with Sirona in the capacity of Clinical Advisor for their organization as well.

The appointment of Dr. Buehler furthers the PDS mission to be the “provider of choice” with a continual focus on research and development.  It’s also another step in the partnership between PDS and Sirona.  Together, they’re demonstrating that CEREC works very effectively in group practice.  Dr. Buehler will promote CEREC through demonstrations to other group practices.

“With PDS, I’m afforded an incredible opportunity to utilize the best technologies in the dental industry.  This new position allows me to further unique relationships with partner companies to ultimately raise the level of patient care provided at PDS affiliated offices.” explained Dr. Brian Buehler.  “I’m especially excited about our relationship with Sirona to continually develop CAD/CAM technologies.”

Joanna Rodgers, Vice President of Operations

Joanna Rodgers, Vice President of Operations for Pacific Dental Services, was honored as a nominee at the 2008 Women in Business Awards luncheon hosted by the Orange County Business Journal© (OCBJ©).

The annual OCBJ Women in Business Awards are given to individuals who play a unique role at their company and challenges they’ve overcome. There were over 160 nominees for the Women in Business Awards program this year. The 5 honored nominees were chosen for their accomplishments within their industry, their company, in the community and on a personal level.

Joanna Rodgers started her 14-year career with Pacific Dental Services in 1994, managing the companies’ first dental office. Her tenacity and business acumen helped to spur incredible personal and professional growth as she moved through the ranks from multi-office manager on up to Vice President of Operations for over 60 PDS affiliated dental practices within Southern California and Nevada.

Employees describe Joanna as someone who personally invests in the success of her team members. Not only is she motivated when it comes to her business team, she is equally as dedicated to her family, her husband and 4 sons. She is heavily involved in giving back to the community, as she is involved in not only individual outreach cases within her office regions, but also through corporately sponsored outreach such as annual holiday programs to adopt needy families and annual dental outreach in Mexico and urban areas.