The Incisal Edge

Poll reveals dental patients just want to talk

Poll reveals dental patients just want to talk
15th Aug 2012

New research from the British Dental Trade Association (BDTA) reveals a significant proportion of patients (20%) are ‘warm’ to a variety of elective treatments although currently awareness of available treatments is quite low.

The BDTA commissioned Bray Leino, one of the UK’s leading market research agencies within healthcare, to conduct the research amongst 1,500 members of the general public.

It found that patients would welcome the opportunity to spend more time talking to their dentist about available treatments and their pros and cons to help them make more informed treatment choices.

The research confirms that patients have a very high degree of trust in their dentist, even greater than in their doctor, with 88% of all respondents satisfied (46.6% extremely happy and 41.8% fairly happy) with the level of service they receive.

Not only are dentists highly trusted, but by far the majority of patients, both NHS and private alike, found their current dentist by word of mouth.

Similarly they would choose a personal recommendation from family and friends over any other means of finding a new dentist if they needed to (67% private:65% NHS).

This is good news for dental practices enabling them to develop an approach to encourage recommendations knowing they will be helping people find a dentist through their preferred route.

Fear
Unsurprisingly, fear was found to be a compelling inhibitor, particularly amongst infrequent attenders, however for many patients (59%) a ‘friendly and relaxing environment’ helps them to overcome this barrier.

Together with trustworthiness, ‘value for money’ was cited as the most motivating of all messages for infrequent patients. In today’s era of austerity with rising household bills and reduced disposable income, clearly priced personal treatment plans will resonate well with patients.

Based on these findings the BDTA, in collaboration with the UK Dental Association Alliance, has produced the Top Ten Insights to Successfully Grow Your Dental Practice, download your free copy at: www.dentalalliance.org.uk.

The research findings are available at www.bdta.org.uk or contact the BDTA on 01494 782873.

The Monday Morning Quote #179

….and those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music..

Friederich Nietzsche

The Weekend Read – Platform by Michael Hyatt

We’re approaching the end of the blog in its present format – content will hopefully grow in frequency and value but the appearance is due for an overhaul.

Michael Hyatt was the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers for eight years and is now their chairman. He now describes himself as a professional blogger, author and speaker. His blog, michaelhyatt.com, has at the time of writing 242,863 subscribers, he has 136,313 followers on Twitter and 16,924 likes on his Facebook page.

All this from a social media following of zero.

I think it is fair to say that Michael Hyatt gets it – whatever “it” may be. In this book which consists of 60 bite-sized chapters he takes the reader through the basics, the reasons why, the hows and how nots of creating and maintaining a presence in an increasingly distracting environment.

The book is subtitled “Get Noticed in a Noisy World” and as someone who sometimes struggles with the din of Twitter in particular, I found “Platform” to be just the book I needed to help me focus on what the individual Alun Rees and the business Dental Business Partners needs in order to grow and enjoy my work.

It’s available from the Weekend Read on Amazon – it’s easy to read and I challenge anyone to fail to take a message away from it.

But (& it’s a big but) one of the lessons is to keep changing and evolving so read his blog too.

NHS Constitution to be modified to allow drug companies patient records access

From Pulse

PM: NHS Constitution to be modified to allow drug companies patient records access
By Gemma Collins | 07 Aug 2012
Prime Minister David Cameron has announced the NHS Constitution is set to be changed to allow pharmaceutical companies access to anonymised GP records ‘on a scale never seen before’.

The constitution currently guarantees patients the right to confidentiality and ‘to expect the NHS to keep your confidential information safe and secure’.

But a consultation on the constitution due to start in October is set to overturn this right to allow patients’ data to be automatically used for research unless the patient specifically chooses to opt out, the Mr Cameron revealed.

Pulse revealed in May that patients would be given the right to withhold identifiable data from being extracted from GP records, under proposed changes to a Government scheme to create a central NHS patient data service.

In a speech to the Global Health Policy Summit in London last week, Mr Cameron said the Government would also be consulting on the changes to the NHS Constitution later in the year.
He told the summit the data would be anonymised, but the open access would ‘help make the UK the best place in the world to carry out cutting-edge research’.

Mr Cameron said: ‘Drug development relies more and more on real-time data. The UK is going to be the world leader when it comes to making this kind of data available, and we’re going to do this by harnessing the incredible data collected by our NHS.

‘We are about to consult on changing the NHS Constitution so that the default setting is for patients’ data to be used for research unless the patient opts out. This will make anonymised data available to scientists and researchers on a scale never seen before.’

He said the data would be used for research into ‘long-neglected areas’ of care like dementia.

The consultation is due to start in October, according to the Department of Health.

A new study at Columbia University shows that pre-diabetes can be found from a routine dental checkup

from Marty Jablow

Early Detection Of Diabetes In Teeth Is Funded By Columbia University
A new study at Columbia University shows that pre-diabetes can be found from a routine dental checkup

NEW YORK, July 22, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — A recent study published in the Journal of Dental Research at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine (CDM) and backed by The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation amongst others; found that a pre-diabetes determination can be made by simply going to the dentist.

The study has huge implications for those Americans who are developing Type 2 diabetes at alarming rates. Unlike Type 1, Type 2 Diabetes is acquired, mostly from poor diet and therefore, early detection can stop the disease from progressing. According to the American Diabetes Association, a whopping 25.8 million Americans now have diabetes. That’s 8.3% of the US population and 90% -95% of that is from Type 2.

The study at Columbia looked at approximately 530 adults with at least one diabetes risk factor (family history of diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, or obesity). Each patient received a periodontal examination and a finger-stick, hemoglobin A1c test. Patients later returned for a fasting plasma glucose test, to show whether they have diabetes or pre-diabetes.

The researchers found that a basic algorithm of only two dental parameters (the number of missing teeth and percentage of deep periodontal pockets) was necessary to identify patients with unrecognized pre-diabetes or diabetes. The addition of the hemoglobin A1c test further improved the algorithm’s performance.

“Periodontal disease is an early complication of diabetes, and about 70% of U.S. adults see a dentist at least once a year,” says Dr. Ira Lamster, Dean of CDM and senior author of the study.

“This study will hopefully become part of any routine dental checkup,” Jeffrey Epstein remarked, whose foundation supports cutting edge science research. “Together with a hemoglobin A1c test, it will vastly improve the prevention of Type 2 diabetes.”

The Monday Morning Quote #178

“verily the lust for comfort murders the passion in the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral”

Kahlil Gibran

The monday Morning Quote #177

“I’ve often said, the only thing standing between me and greatness is me.”

Woody Allen

“Making a difference” Joanna Taylor & Associates retreat 2012

Following the successful retreat at Wydale Hall last year Jo Taylor invites all members of the dental team to the retreat for 2012.

Full info below and to get a booking form go to Jo’s website here.

RollyBrush – Does anyone know if / how well it works?

I’ve seen things like this in dispensing machines in motorway service stations and treated them with suspicion – but then I was slow to take interproximal brushes on board being a “floss is the only thing that works” man. So when I saw this on Marty Jablow’s blog I was interested.

If you’ve tried it let me know what you think.

“Irish takeover for British teeth”

From Wiltshire Business Online.

12:00pm Friday 20th July 2012 in News
Dublin-based Smiles Dental today announced its purchase of the debt of UK dental practice group James Hull Associates (JHA), with a view to take equity control in the coming weeks. The deal will see Smiles Dental take control of JHA’s 70-plus practices across the UK.
Smiles Dental was established in Ireland in 2005 where it now operates 17 practices. The business was founded to provide specialist teeth whitening services, but has expanded to offer a full dental provision.
Last year the company treated more than 150,000 patients and is now the largest privately-owned provider of dental care in Ireland, with 75 dentists under contract and more than 100 nursing and administration staff.
The deal with JHA represents further expansion into this much larger market. JHA has more than 20 years experience in providing high quality private dental care in the UK, and the merger of the two businesses represents a substantial opportunity for growth.
Emmet O’Neill, CEO of Smiles Dental, said: “We wanted to become involved with JHA because we felt that our two companies had much in common and that the partnership would strengthen both businesses.
“JHA is a strong and well respected company with dental excellence at the heart of its offering. Our hope is that we can use our experience and expertise to work with the team at JHA and continue to grow.
“We’re now focused on identifying how we can make our combined organisations an efficient, profitable company which is well placed to face the challenging conditions of today’s market and which people continue to enjoy working for.”

I wish Emmet & the people from Smiles well but I am concerned about the constant juggling of the corporate market in the UK where stability can hardly be said to be the order of the day. Time will tell what happens, but my view of buy outs / takeovers (whatever you want to call it) was formed by watching the way UK Estate Agencies went in the late 80’s and early 90’s – but hey what do I know? James Hull (the business) has attracted speculation since its inception just take a look at the financial pages.