With 2014 coming to an end it’s a great time to assess where you are in terms of your business goals. Analysing your productivity, profitability and cost efficiency is vital if you want to succeed in the year to come.

Productivity

One of the first areas to look at is your productivity. This time of year provides the perfect opportunity to conduct staff appraisals, which will allow you to assess where any weak links may lie but to also understand the aspirations of each individual. You may have a member of staff who would like to expand their skills to reach a higher level of job satisfaction. By talking to individuals you will be able to work together to find the perfect balance of skill mix that works well for your team but also for your practice moving forward. This may involve an initial outlay through paying for courses but in the long term you will reap the rewards that come from having a well-trained team who appreciate your investment in them and will repay you through loyalty.

Profitability

Understanding your finances is the key to pushing your business forward in the year to come. Without a detailed understanding of your profits and losses, you cannot start contemplating whether to spend on staff training or promotions. You need to know where your business is financially before you begin the appraisal process, this will give you a benchmark for pay rises and bonuses as well as other costs that may need consideration.

Cost efficiency

Productivity is not solely dependent on people, the surroundings also come into play. For example, if your workspace doesn’t have the right flow it can have a negative impact on your staff and patients. The set up of the practice is vital, if it isn’t quite right it can make working practices clumsy and awkward and will affect the efficiency of your work. Aesthetics should also be considered, too. Does your surgery impress throughout? Spending money on new furniture and cabinetry may feel excessive but balancing the initial outlay with the benefits of an efficient workflow and a beautiful practice that patients and staff will appreciate, can be a clever move for a long-term investment.

Tavom UK has supplied dental cabinets and medical furniture to the medical and dental industry for more than 35 years and has extensive experience in dental surgery design. The company understands the dental profession and provides beautiful and functional workspaces using high quality products.

The time is right to take stock of your positioning, in terms of finances and business aims, in order to ensure you’re on the right track towards reaching your goals. Investing in key areas of your business now can help you push forward and achieve success in the year ahead.

To see how Tavom UK can transform your dental practice, please call 0870 752 1121 or visit the Tavom UK website www.tavomuk.com

Dental professionals with links to Rotary International are being urged to encourage their club to support the dental charity Bridge2Aid in its mission to ease dental pain and suffering in East Africa.

Speakers from Bridge2Aid would welcome the opportunity to talk about the charity’s work of providing emergency dental training for health workers in remote communities. Dental pain in rural Tanzania doesn’t just hurt – it’s destructive and is a threat to lives and livelihoods.

Bridge2Aid is very excited to be working on a Rotary Global Grant with one of its advisors, Dr Iain Corran, a member of Bakewell Rotary Club in Derbyshire.

B2A’s operations director, Shaenna Loughnane, said: “We hope to encourage Rotary Clubs to support us with a commitment to fundraising around £500 in the 2015-2016 Rotary financial year. Our grant is being sponsored by Bakewell Rotary Club and is being supported in Tanzania by Bahari Rotary Club.

“We already have a number of Rotary Clubs on board, which is fantastic. The grant will fund the extension of our Emergency Dental Programmes to Lindi, in the south east of Tanzania, one of the poorest areas of the country. In July 2016, we will train six Health Professionals and provide sustainable access to vital emergency dental treatment for more than 60,000 people.”

To introduce B2A to your local Rotary group or to arrange a talk, please contact Andie Wilson on 07970 633230 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The periodontal health of your patients is a priority when performing any treatment modality. Whether providing orthodontic appliances, endodontic procedures or cosmetic elements such as whitening, the health of the soft tissue can determine the longevity of results achieved and ultimately the success of treatment.

This is no more true than when placing dental implants. In order to ensure long-term stability of implants, as well as the patient’s health, their periodontal condition must be assessed carefully and treated where necessary before implant treatment is even considered. Scrupulous oral hygiene must also be emphasised as part of the postoperative patient instructions, reducing their risk of developing peri-implant mucositis or the more advanced peri-implantitis.

Currently, it is thought that peri-implant mucositis affects just under 50% of patients with implants between 9-14 years after placement,[i] although due to its reversible nature, its prevalence is thought to be underestimated.

Tackling the issues surrounding periodontal disease and providing a platform from which to update your knowledge, the PerioLounge will once again return to The Dentistry Show, designed in collaboration with the British Society of Periodontology (BSP). Leading professionals in the field will explore various different areas associated with periodontal health, offering practical advice and guidance to ensure that you deliver the highest possible standard of care to all your patients.

Discussing the effects of periodontal health specifically with regards to dental implants will be Dr Amit Patel, Specialist in Periodontics. Currently practising at Birmingham Dental Specialist, Dr Patel also runs an intensive training course at the Birmingham Dental Hospital on Periodontal and Soft Tissue Aesthetic Considerations in Implant Dentistry.

“Undiagnosed periodontal disease is a very common reason for the increasing amount of litigation in dentistry, and is also a contributing factor in the failure of a range of treatments – particularly implants,” he says. “Not all practitioners providing implants seem to be adequately trained – some do not habitually probe implants during follow up appointments, for example, and this is simply a lack of understanding.

“My session at The Dentistry Show will cover exactly what should be done in order to encourage success of each and every implant case. Treatment planning is key to preventing potential problems, as clinicians can prepare effectively. Following strict protocols during this stage will not only help practitioners avoid any periodontal problems, but also effectively treat those that do occur.

“A full assessment should be completed in order to identify any predispositions the patient may have, and the treatment plan should involve eliminating as many as possible for enhanced treatment provision and reduced risk of implant failure. The same information can be used to maintain implants once placed, encouraging faster healing and long-lasting results. It is worth mentioning also that in the modern profession, implants are of course only recommended when no other, less invasive alternatives are available. After all, teeth can last a lifetime, implants can’t, and to make sure our patients make a good investment we need to get it right first time. I hope to raise awareness of how periodontal disease can affect the longevity and stability of implants, and offer some relatively simple techniques to help delegates treat the disease.”

Dr Patel also encourages teamwork and close collaboration between the dental team in order to further increase the chances of successful treatment.

“Dental implants, like all areas of modern dentistry, involve the whole dental team, so a collaborative approach should be taken every time. Especially with regards to postoperative follow up care, it is important that any professional seeing the patient can recognise symptoms of disease, including the dental hygienist and nurse. As such, my session at The Dentistry Show will be suitable for all members to attend.”

Aside from the BSP PerioLounge, The Dentistry Show 2015 will present a wide selection of other educational and networking opportunities. With a focus on all areas of the profession, the new EndoLounge will host a line-up of leading speakers in the field of endodontics. Delivered in partnership with the British Endodontic Society (BES), the two-day lecture programme will provide indispensible hints and tips to help you broaden your skills.

The Short-Term-Orthodontic Lounge will also return in 2015, as well as an array of live clinical demonstrations and hands-on workshops. Conference Theatres dedicated to each member of the dental team will host further sessions covering all areas of clinical treatment, career progression and business guidance, with free verifiable CPD available throughout.

And adding to the excitement even more, the brand new Launchpad UK will ensure you have access to the very latest products, technologies and materials to hit the UK market. With the event’s new dates of Friday 17^th and Saturday 18^th April, it will follow the 2015 IDS, ensuring you are at the very cutting-edge of the industry’s innovations.

So whether you wish to advance your clinical skills, are looking to take the next step in your career or hope to source the best technology and equipment for your practice, The Dentistry Show 2015 has it all. Book your free delegate pass online today!

The Dentistry Show and DTS 2015 - Friday 17^th and Saturday 18^th April, NEC in Birmingham. For further details visit www.thedentistryshow.co.uk,

call 020 7348 5269 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

As a small business, setting your key performance indicators (KPIs) can be a great way to understand business strengths and weaknesses in order to help drive your practice forward. Once you have this and your data collection has begun, the next step is to analyse and understand it.

However, simply working out a set of averages and using them as a guide point is dangerous territory. Take the current concerns with regards to children’s oral health in the UK. According the long-term statistics, dental health among children has, on average, been improving over the last 30 years,[1] which is great. However, a huge 27% of five-year-olds[2] and 12% of three-year-olds[3] (that’s hundreds and thousands of children) still have tooth decay. This shows that you will only get the insights you need to make informed decisions by correctly interpreting the information you have collected.

Keep your integrity

The integrity of your data is vital. According to Experian Data Quality, 9% of revenue is wasted as a result of poor quality information.[4]’Cleaning’ your information is worthwhile in order to ensure that what you have is always the most up to date facts. When you consider that every day in the UK, 1,600 people sadly die and 18,000 move house,1 it goes to show how easily the information you have on file can quickly become out-dated.

It is also important that you ask the right questions in order to collect the relevant data. If, for example, you want to assess how well your marketing is working then you need to know exactly how that patient found you. Did a friend or family member refer them? Did they find you on the internet? If so, you need to know what they were searching for and why in order to ensure the integrity of the data you record. If they went online looking for ‘a dental practice in London’, then it was your listing in Google perhaps that brought them to your page. If however they had seen your practice advertised elsewhere, and then proceeded to search specifically for you, then it is noteworthy that your initial advertising worked.

Analyse this

Without employing the expensive services of a business data analyst it can be tricky to know where to begin. This is where having the right technology can be of huge benefit. The CS R4+ practice management software from Carestream Dental, for example, has built in features such as R4 Springboard which will not only help to gather the data you need, but also correctly analyse it in real-time for an accurate overall picture.

Having the right tools at your fingertips can make data collection and interpretation easier and less time consuming, allowing you to focus your attention on the things that matter.

For more information on from Carestream Dental,

please call 0800 169 9692 or visit www.carestreamdental.co.uk