Re-opening Your Dental Practice Soon? Use This Time To Make It More Inviting For New Patients

Re-opening Your Dental Practice Soon? Use This Time To Make It More Inviting For New Patients

As the economy re-opens, many dentists and orthodontists are preparing to open their practices to patients again and they’re also hoping to greet new patients. Here are some tips on how to use this time to make your practice more appealing for new patients.

Evaluate Your Team’s Workflow

Everyone cares about saving time, especially when they have to make time for doctor’s appointments. It’s no secret that doctor’s visits tend to be extremely time-consuming, and although most dentists typically have shorter wait times, this isn’t the case for all. Now is a great time to review your team’s workflow. Evaluate the synergy between your team and how efficient your dental practice is. By making sure your team is quick and efficient (without sacrificing the quality of service), your new patients will realize just how much time they save and how much more pleasant their experience is at your practice. 

Introduce New Dental Technology And Tools

Today, many patients are searching for modernized dental offices because it suggests that they will receive higher quality dental or orthodontic care. One way to incorporate modern dental technology is by downloading OrthoPhoto App, which is now available on Google Play and the App Store. This smartphone application transforms your dental record keeping. The app lets you take clinical images of your orthodontic patients’ progress throughout their dental braces treatment. What’s more, OrthoPhoto App automatically crops and sorts the dental photographs into a template designed to be easily exportable. Not only does this speed up and simplify the dental photography and dental record-keeping process so you don’t need to spend much time after-hours sorting through your images, but patients will surely appreciate the shorter visit.

Patient Education

Following the importance of technology and apps for dentists is the importance of patient education. No one typically likes going to any healthcare professional without being educated on what symptoms they are experiencing or what their appropriate treatment will be. Many healthcare practitioners will simply complete their treatment without paying attention to what their patients may be feeling, which will result in dental care that lacks compassion, trust, and understanding. There are a number of mobile apps for dentists, each of which aid in educating patients and building a relationship based on trust.

As you prepare to see new patients again, these are some great tips to keep in mind if you want to make your practice more appealing to new patients and if you want to stand out from the competition.

Improving Your Treatments With Advancing Dental Technology

Improving Your Treatments With Advancing Dental Technology

Technology has come a long way over the years and each passing day seems to bring bigger and better technology. Technology makes our jobs easier and even helps us do our job better than ever, so there is no doubt that dentists and orthodontists can greatly benefit from investing in modern technology. Here are a few of the latest trends in dental technology that are worth keeping up with.

Dentists Are Going Digital

Not only are more dentists enforcing a paperless system of practice and patient management, but they are also using digital technology to aid in their procedures. 

More specifically, they are turning to 3D dental printers. These 3D dental printers enable dentists and orthodontists to create custom clear aligners to straighten their patients’ teeth and give them a healthier smile. Utilizing 3D printing helps cut production costs while also providing faster service to your patients without sacrificing quality.

Many dentists and orthodontists are using intraoral scanners to complete dental impressions, which aid in the development and execution of dental braces treatment. As intraoral scanners are improved upon, they provide precise measurements to ensure each impression is as accurate as possible while also minimizing the discomfort patients feel when getting impressions for dental braces.

Augmented Reality 

Although augmented reality may be used more often by students in dental school, augmented reality is here to stay and can add immense value to just about all industries. In dentistry, it can be used to demonstrate procedures and help patients visualize what treatment they will receive. 

Smartphones In The Workplace

Every day, more applications become available for smartphones, and websites become more mobile compatible. However, the applications you download do not have to be exclusive to your personal life and entertainment.

Envisioned by dentist Kathy Nguyen, OrthoPhoto App is a smartphone application for dentists that redefines dental record keeping. Rather than relying on a specific braces camera used in dental photography, uploading the images, cropping them, placing them in a slide show, and manually sorting them into patient files, dentists can now take their patients’ clinical images right on their mobile phone. 

The application automates this once lengthy process. After dentists and orthodontists capture the relevant clinical photos, OrthoPhoto will automatically place them into a template that organizes them in the correct format (crop, size, order) and places them in the designated and easily exportable patient file to help you save more time and become more efficient. With OrthoPhoto App, practice better dentistry and improve your own quality of life as well as your patients’. Download it today for iOS and Android.

OrthoPhoto Is A Must-Have Smartphone Application For Dentists And Orthodontists

OrthoPhoto Is A Must-Have Smartphone Application For Dentists And Orthodontists

There are many smartphone applications that are becoming available on a daily basis for both work and entertainment, including some specifically designed for dentists, and OrthoPhoto is one of them. Here is why all orthodontists and dentists who offer braces and Invisalign should download the app from the Apple Store or on Google Play.

OrthoPhoto Was Created By A Dentist For Dentists

Dr. Kathy Nguyen, a practicing dentist in Houston, has longed for an easier way for dentists to track their patients’ braces progress and maintain their dental records. She would often tell her husband that she wished there was some kind of mobile application for dentists that could capture, organize, and store the clinical images they take throughout a patient’s braces or Invisalign treatment for easy dental record-keeping. 

Dr. Nguyen, her husband, and his business partner envisioned, designed, and developed OrthoPhoto as a way to enable dentists and orthodontists all over the United States to save time and focus on more important things. OrthoPhoto has since improved the workflow at Dr. Nguyen’s office, and it’s their ultimate dream for orthodontists and other dentists who offer braces to experience the same.

OrthoPhoto Helps Dentists Save Time And Improve Their Quality Of Life, As Well As Their Patients’

Prior to OrthoPhoto, busy dentists and orthodontists had to upload countless photos, crop them, put them in a slideshow format, and send them via email to later be stored in their patients’ files. On average, a single patient may take 15 minutes or more, so multiple patients quickly amount to extra work after-hours and less time with loved ones. 

As a mobile app for dentists and orthodontists, OrthoPhoto has streamlined the tedious process of capturing and organizing braces progress images. Rather than relying on an expensive camera for dental photography–which may or may not produce good quality images–and spending 15+ minutes per patient, dentists can take their clinical images right on the application and rely on OrthoPhoto to do the rest! Now, patients spend less time at the office so they can get back to their daily lives, and dentists and orthodontists can leave work at a reasonable time so they can be with their loved ones, which is extremely important to Dr. Nguyen as a working mother of young children.

Thanks to OrthoPhoto App, dentists can have it all–they can dedicate time to providing better-quality care to their patients while also going home early enough to spend time with loved ones and make more memories.

OrthoPhoto App Versus Other Cameras Used In Dental Photography

OrthoPhoto App Versus Other Cameras Used In Dental Photography

Dental photography is a crucial component of dentistry that aids in marketing and record-keeping. Here are different cameras used by dentists and orthodontists when photographing their dental braces patients and how they compare to OrthoPhoto App for iOS.

Recommended Cameras for Dentists and Orthodontists 

There are a few different cameras used by dentists and orthodontists when they want to track their patients’ braces progress. The two most common dental cameras are as follows:

DSLR Cameras for Dental Photography

DSLR’s, such as those by Canon or Nikon, take beautiful pictures, as well as HD video. Newer cameras even shoot video in 4K, which is excellent for testimonials that you can then upload to your website and social media. Combine a DSLR with a macro (close-up) lens and you will take great photos of your patient’s teeth. This makes DSLR cameras ideal because they work for marketing purposes and record-keeping purposes. There is a downside though. They are on the pricey side and tend to offer too many features that go beyond a dentist’s needs, so it may not be worth the extra money.

Point-And-Shoot Cameras for Dentists to Take Clinical Orthodontic Images

Point-and-shoot cameras offer just enough for dentists to get the most use out of them, and they are far simpler than a DSLR because, as their name suggests, all you need to do is point it and shoot the picture. The trade-off with these is that the photos may not be the best quality, so even though it works really well for dental and orthodontic record-keeping, it may not be ideal for marketing purposes.

OrthoPhoto App Smartphone Camera for Braces Progress Images

OrthoPhoto has successfully automated the time-consuming process of capturing and sorting progress images for dental braces patients, affordably. With a typical camera, dentists have to take the photos, upload them, manually crop and organize them into a file, and then place them into a patient’s file. A single patient may take 15-30+ minutes, so dentists often spend a lot of time after-hours getting this necessary task done. With the mobile application, however, dentists can take photos right on their smartphone camera, and today’s smartphones have astounding camera capabilities that keep getting better, so this is great for marketing your practice!

The mobile app 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 and orthodontists can dedicate their energy to other aspects of their job. 

Dental photography for patient records doesn't have to be a long process. Spend less time maintaining records and more time with loved ones with OrthoPhoto App for iOS.

Signs You Should Improve Efficiency In Your Dental Practice And How To Do So

Signs You Should Improve Efficiency In Your Dental Practice And How To Do So

As dental practices open up, it’s time to assess just how efficient yours is. Are there any blind spots that need to be addressed and improved upon? Here are some signs you have room to improve upon your current level of efficiency. 

Does Your Dental Practice Embrace Mobile And Tablet Technology?

When it comes to improving your workflow and the patient experience, there are multiple apps for dentists. OrthoPhoto App is a HIPAA compliant orthodontic application created by Dr. Kathy Nguyen for iOS. It allows dentists and orthodontists to take clinical images of their patients’ orthodontic braces progress and automatically saves the records.

Through OrthoPhoto, dentists and orthodontists take pictures of their patients’ dental braces progress throughout their treatment. The application automatically places the images into a templated file, which you can save and export with ease for dental record-keeping. Dentists and orthodontists no longer need to dedicate extra hours after the office is closed to handle a mountain of patient records.

Do Your Patients Wait Longer Than 10 Minutes Before They Are Called In For Their Appointment?

On average, dental and orthodontic patients wait about 8 minutes before they are taken to the chair at which they will be treated. Let’s face it, dentist appointments can be a dread for many, and patients need to go back to school or work after their appointment, so the less time they spend waiting, the better. If your patients have to wait longer than 8-10 minutes, it’s time to make some changes. We recommend gathering as much information about patients as possible before their scheduled appointment. Have your front desk staff ask if any patient information has changed. If it has, then it’s a great idea to only give patients the paperwork that needs updating. If none of their info has changed, then it’s much easier to ensure they get called back in time. 

Another method of improvement is to automatically provide patient paperwork through an online portal or via email or text a few days prior to their appointment. Also consider putting a late-patient and/or no-show policy in place. 

Is Your Staff Scrambling For Files?

Speaking of providing online paperwork, consider transforming your dental or orthodontic practice into a completely paperless one. There is plenty of practice management software out there on the market that is easy to use, and software is becoming increasingly cloud-based these days. Rather than relying on stuffy filing cabinets or drawers–which also need to be regularly sorted through by hand–spend less time tracking down documents and more time providing exceptional dental treatment. 

Going the paperless route will certainly take some time, but making daily progress works wonders. Before you know it, your office will be eco-friendly, digital, and efficient.

Efficiency Can Always Be Improved Upon

There is always room for improvement, so if you realize your practice could benefit from the aforementioned updates and your braces patients can be happier with some updates, now is the perfect time to implement them so you can practice better dentistry and create a better patient experience.