Helping Anxious Orthodontic Patients Feel More Comfortable

Helping Anxious Orthodontic Patients Feel More Comfortable

Dental anxiety is not unheard of. While very common, the best dentists and orthodontists have the right tools, training, and compassion to help ease their patients' nerves, especially now when there is additional anxiety for many due to the pandemic we are still getting through. In this article, we will offer some tips to consider when caring for anxious orthodontic patients. 

Easing COVID-19 Anxiety In Dental Patients

For patients who regularly deal with anxiety of any sort, COVID-19 anxiety on top of dental anxiety are a lot to bear. The best course of action in this case is to simply educate your patients on why it’s perfectly safe to visit their dentist. When patients are booking their appointment either on the phone or on your dental website, you can provide a message that breaks down the different procedures your dental/orthodontic practice is following. 

Exercise Compassion And Attempt To Understand Your Patients’ Perspectives

Many dentists are kind and compassionate, but they worry about asking too much when it comes to their patients’ comfort. It’s perfectly okay–and even encouraged–to ask your patients about their past dental experiences and understand certain triggers. Actively listening to your patients and taking notes of their concerns works wonders for easing them. Sometimes, anxious patients just want to feel heard because they weren’t at their previous dentist or orthodontist. 

Ensure Your Orthodontic Practice Is A Well-Oiled Machine

A smooth-running office is a great way to reassure your anxious patients that they are in a good place that cares about them, their health, and their time.

In addition to hiring only the most compassionate people to join your team, there are other tools you can implement that will help your anxious patients feel more comfortable and less stressed going to your office, including:

Installing OrthoPhoto To Save Your Patients’ Time And Help You Practice Better Dentistry

OrthoPhoto App, which is available on the App Store and on Google Play, automates the hours-long process of taking dental braces photos of your braces patients’ teeth throughout the course of their treatment and sorting them. Rather than relying on another dental braces camera, you can open the app, take the clinical images, and your device will automatically place each photo in the right patient file. Bonus tip: you can boost your dental marketing strategy by talking about how OrthoPhoto App separates you from other orthodontists, building the confidence your patients have in you. Further, because of OrthoPhoto’s ease of use and automatic saving, you won’t run the risk of losing your anxious patients’ files, and they won’t have to go back to retake their dental braces photos. 

Modernize Your Orthodontic Practice In Four Steps

Modernize Your Orthodontic Practice In Four Steps

It is never too late to modernize your dental office. As a constantly growing profession, the competition is intense, and the sooner you modernize your dental or orthodontic practice, the better. Here are four steps you can take to modernize your practice and stand out above your competitors. 

Step 1: Reduce Inefficient Communication

Your adult patients are busy and they are the ones who need to be contacted for their own appointments, as well as for their kids’ appointments. In the past, dental and orthodontic offices would call their patients to remind them of an upcoming appointment. Today, it is much more efficient to send an automated text reminder that gives the patient the option to reschedule if need be, or set a reminder for their appointment using the calendar application on their smartphone. By sending automated texts, your receptionist won’t have to play phone tag and your patients won't have to worry about forgetting about their appointments in the midst of their busy life.

Step 2: Upgrade Your Waiting Room

One of the easiest ways to modernize your dental office is to simply update its appearance. First impressions matter and the first impression any of your new patients get will build up in their mind seconds upon walking in. A new coat of paint works wonders for changing the entire look of a space, and investing in updated furniture and decor will also help modernize your practice’s image. When thoughtfully redecorated, you may even help your orthodontic patients feel less anxious.

Step 3: Invest In Updated Dental Practice Management Software

Almost synonymous with modernization is going paperless because it makes your orthodontic office all the more efficient. Going paperless can take a while, but purchasing and learning how to utilize a user-friendly management software saves time and keeps your team organized when it comes to storing and locating patient records, billing, and booking appointments.

Step 4: Switch To OrthoPhoto App For Optimal Dental Record-Keeping Of Your Orthodontic Braces Patients

Traditionally, dentists and orthodontists use a digital camera to capture clinical images of their patients’ progress when they undergo metal dental braces, ceramic braces, and even Invisalign treatment. After they take the pictures, though, doctors have to spend extra hours after closing time just to upload the images, crop them, place them in a template, and sort them into specific albums and patient files.

OrthoPhoto App, which is available on the App Store and on Google Play, automates this hours-long process so that dentists and orthodontists can manage their clinical images in a fraction of the time. Using your smartphone, you can take your patients’ braces images right on the application. It automatically places the images into a template that formats them correctly into their respective patient albums. With OrthoPhoto App, you can practice better dentistry and improve your quality of life!

What You Can Do To Drive More Patients To Your Orthodontic Practice

What You Can Do To Drive More Patients To Your Orthodontic Practice

All dentists worry about constantly seeing patients–old and new. A busy practice is a successful one, but with changes to insurance and families relocating for a number of reasons, dentists and orthodontists need to be proactive in positioning their practice as one that new patients MUST visit. In this article, we will discuss a few things you could do to improve your patient experience so that your established patients remain happy and new, potential patients pay you a visit.

Put Emphasis On Dental Marketing

Marketing is often overlooked, but in reality, it plays a crucial role in keeping your practice alive and thriving. Investing in a dental marketing strategy will ensure that you generate qualified leads so you can expand your business. Our affiliate Houston marketing agency, INFINI Marketing, is a Houston-based marketing company that offers dental marketing services, including dental website design, local SEO, digital advertising, and more.

Send Surveys After Every Patient Visit

Like with any business, customers/patients appreciate knowing that their opinion is valued because it means you care about catering to their needs as best as you possibly can. This is also a positive for business owners who can use this information to better their business. With that said, don’t send out surveys simply because you can. If you are going to send out surveys, be sure to take the time to read your feedback and apply it.

Optimize Appointment Duration With OrthoPhoto

If you’re an orthodontist, or a general/cosmetic dentist that offers dental braces treatment, then you will see those patients more frequently. Because of this, you should make the most out of their time during each appointment. OrthoPhoto is one of the many dental apps available, but it is specifically designed for orthodontists and dentists that offer braces. 

Rather than spending excessive time after-hours sorting through braces progress images, OrthoPhoto enables dentists and orthodontists to capture photos of their patients’ smiles through the course of their dental brace treatments right on their smartphone. Then, the app automatically places the photos into a predetermined template that will be uploaded to designated patient files. Not only does this save dentists and orthodontists time by streamlining the dental recordkeeping process, but it also makes patient visits shorter and more pleasant. 

Download OrthoPhoto for Android and for iOS and enjoy improving the quality of your life while also reaping the benefits of additional patients!

Using OrthoPhoto For Dental Braces Treatment

Using OrthoPhoto For Dental Braces Treatment

Dental photography is a crucial component of dentistry that aids in dental marketing, as well as essential record-keeping. There are different cameras used by dentists and orthodontists when photographing their dental braces patients, and OrthoPhoto is the superior option. In this article, we will compare other dental photography cameras to OrthoPhoto App.

DSLR Cameras for Dental Record-Keeping

DSLR’s, such as those by Canon or Nikon, take beautiful pictures, as well as 4K video if you get a newer model. These cameras are often recommended to orthodontists due to their excellent quality for taking photos of their patients’ teeth throughout the course of their dental braces treatment. 

However, DSLR’s do tend to be on the pricier side, especially since they offer plenty of features that go beyond the scope of a dentist’s or orthodontist’s needs, so the extra money may be hard to justify.

Point-And-Shoot Cameras For Dental Photography

Point-and-shoot cameras offer just enough for orthodontists to get the most use out of them. They are also a lot more user-friendly than a DSLR because, as the name suggests, all you need to do with this type of camera is point it and take the picture. Its ease of use, however, means that the photos aren’t taken in the best quality and clarity.

OrthoPhoto Works Wonders For Dental Photography

OrthoPhoto has successfully automated the time-consuming process of capturing and sorting images of your patients’ dental braces progress. With a typical camera, orthodontists and general or cosmetic dentists who offer dental braces treatments have to take the photos, upload them, manually crop and organize them into a file, and then place them into the right patient’s file. A single patient may take 15-30+ minutes, so dentists and orthodontists often spend a lot of time after closing just getting this task done. With OrthoPhoto App, however, orthodontists can take photos right on their smartphone camera, and today’s smartphones have astounding capabilities that keep getting better!

OrthoPhoto App also automatically places the braces progress photos into a templated document with the correct crop, size, and order and then places them in a specific patient’s file. This significantly cuts down the time it takes to organize braces photos so dentists can dedicate their energy to resting and making memories with loved ones after they close their office for the day.

Three Problems OrthoPhoto App Fixes For Orthodontists

Three Problems OrthoPhoto App Fixes For Orthodontists

Every day new smartphone applications are made available to professionals, including dentists and orthodontists. OrthoPhoto App is a revolutionary smartphone application that is transforming the way they practice dentistry. In this article, we will address 3 common problems that OrthoPhoto alleviates for dental professionals.

OrthoPhoto Saves Time

Before OrthoPhoto, busy orthodontists and general dentists who offer dental braces treatments had to take the time after-hours to upload all of the photos they had taken of their patients’ dental braces progress. Once uploaded, they had had to follow with cropping the photos, placing them in the correct slideshow format, and sending them via email so they could later be stored in patient files. On average, a single patient may take 15 minutes, and although this may not seem like much on the surface, multiple patients quickly add up to a few hours at a time that could instead be spent with their loved ones, engaging in hobbies, and/or resting. When orthodontists use OrthoPhoto App on their smartphone, all they need to do is select the patient folder and take the dental braces progress photos–the application will automatically take care of the rest and put it into an easily exportable format.

OrthoPhoto App Creates A Better Patient Experience

As passionate as dentists and orthodontists are about their jobs, the fact remains that many patients dread dental appointments, and dental braces patients aren’t an exception. Most patients just want to get in and get out, and OrthoPhoto App makes this possible with its smooth, error-free ease of use.

OrthoPhoto App Makes Dental Recordkeeping A Faster, Easier Process

Our application has various plans that allow for different amounts of patient files. Once dentists and orthodontists pick the plan that works best for them, all of the photos they have taken of their patients’ dental braces progress will remain safely stored on our HIPAA-compliant app. Whenever dentists and orthodontists need to reference patients’ dental records, it’s as easy as completing a search on the app. With its fast loading times, dentists and orthodontists can pull complete dental records in the palms of their hands and in a matter of seconds. 

OrthoPhoto Has Changed How Over 1,000 Dentists And Orthodontists Run Their Practices

With over 1,000 subscribers, we are so excited to see how OrthoPhoto is revolutionizing dental braces care. If you’re ready to elevate your practice with OrthoPhoto, download OrthoPhoto App for iOS or OrthoPhoto App for Android.