Open wide with greater confidence as statutory registration kicks in Dental patients can now open wide with greater confidence following statutory registration of dental nurses and dental technicians with the GDC. Compulsory registration for dental nurses and dental technicians kicked in at midnight (30 July 2008). Existing dental nurses and dental technicians have had two years to register with the GDC and as the clock struck 12 and the deadline passed 36,225 dental nurses and 6381 dental technicians were registered in the UK. Another estimated 5000 applications are still to be processed. The newly registered professionals join dentists, clinical dental technicians, dental hygienists, dental therapists and orthodontic therapists on the GDC's registers to bring the total number of registrants to 83,910, excluding those still to be processed. GDC chief executive and registrar Duncan Rudkin said: "We've introduced registration for dental nurses and dental technicians to improve patient protection. Now when you go to the dentist, all members of the team who play a part in the care you receive should be registered with us and have made a commitment to meet the high standards we set. Our registers are open to all and are available on our website."

News item posted @ 31 October 2008 31 October 2008 09:00

3 keys to selling dentistry -- and why they work By: Richard Geller Editor's note: Richard Geller's column, Marketing Madness, appears regularly on the DrBicuspid.com advice and opinion page, Word of Mouth. You may think you create desire when you sell dentistry, but all you really do is match your dentistry with the "wants" each patient already possesses. The desire itself already exists. The desire to be healthy, to be attractive, to get ahead in life. Even a very old person has these desires. There are two major desires, what I call "überdesires." You may know them as greed and fear. I refer to them as desire for gain and avoidance of pain. Of the two, which do you suppose is more of an immediate driver to action? If you answered "gain," you need to go back three spaces and pay $25 to the bank. Desire for gain is not as strong as avoidance of pain. We are all more scared of losing what we have than we are motivated to seek out something we do not (yet) have. Many, many people do not go to the dentist even though they have the money to do so. So why don't they go? Is it because they do not believe in the benefits of dentistry? Or is it because they are scared? You already know the answer to that one. So how do you use the avoidance of pain -- the fact that many people are scared -- to get more patients in your chair? The 3 keys What you do is address the fear head-on. You do this in many ways, but there are three major things you should do: Avoid using scary words and phrases. Words can be emotionally loaded. Words create pictures in the patient's mind. Your words trigger these pictures, and the pictures cause the patient to experience powerful feelings. So, avoid words such as "injection" or "x-ray." Instead, begin using "get you numb" or "take a picture of that" in your conversations. There are lots of positive words and phrases you can use, but by simply avoiding scary ones, you will be way ahead. (I wrote another Marketing Madness column on this topic alone; to read it, click here.) Talk about fear. Don't pretend it doesn't exist. You don't have to use the word "fear." It's better that you don't. But talk about it. I like the phrase "hate the dentist" because people relate to this very much, even those who religiously get their dental needs met. Tell lots of stories. Tell a new patient about other patients who hated the dentist and how scary it was for them. Then talk about how they are now. Sure they don't like to go to the dentist, who does? But they have a great smile and new-found confidence. So there you go: three simple -- but effective -- keys to selling dentistry. Make sure you get my underground best-selling classic in its third edition, How to Get Patients to Want the Dentistry They Need, completely free at this time, by visiting www.Cases4Dentists.com. Copyright © 2009 DrBicuspid.com

News item posted @ 10 February 2008 10 February 2008 14:30

Targets for dentistry will not be met for six years SCOTLAND is short of more than 100 dentists this year and will fail to reach the target for another six years. An Executive report on the future of dental practices in Scotland found the number of trained dentists is rising. But the model used to predict future numbers suggests an additional 120 dentists are required in 2006 and there will not be enough to satisfy public demand until 2012. Andrew Lamb, the British Dental Association's director for Scotland, said the shortage could get worse. "Unless urgent action is taken to resolve the issue about the way dentists' commitment to the NHS is measured, our concern is that many more patients could lose access to NHS dentistry," he said. Lewis Macdonald, the deputy health minister, said the shortage of dentists is being addressed. • The latest workforce statistics also show the number of agency nursing and midwifery staff in the NHS has increased by almost 5 per cent to 1.32 million hours at a cost of more than £26 million. Related Links the Scotsman

News item posted @ 21 February 2006 21 February 2006 20:00

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Dental Staff Direct goes online! Yes, DSD (Dental Staff Direct) has an online Presence! Bookmark this page and visit regularly for more news! For now, here are a few links to some of our favourite sites Related Links Google

News item posted @ 01 January 2006 01 January 2006 00:00

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