Townie Meeting 2012 – Day 1

A great day at the Townie Meeting.  The morning general session opened with Dr. Howard Farran, the founder of Dentaltown.com.  I’d say he was in “rare form,” but in his case it’s “usual form.”  Provocative, incisive, and uninhibited!   Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Gary DeWood inspired everyone in attendance.

The afternoon offered a variety of “breakout” sessions covering everything from cosmetic dentures, orthodontics, communications, my own presentation on website marketing, and others.

I’m wiped out after speaking.  It’s like coming down from an adrenaline dump.  But, I’m looking forward to having the “day off” tomorrow when I can pick up some great C.E., hang out with friends, and peruse the cool stuff on the exhibit floor.

Questions after the show.

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Townie Meeting 2012 – I’m here!

Just arrived at the Cosmopolitan Hotel / Casino, the newest casino in Las Vegas.  Wow!  Pretty swanky!  My room is big enough to have a party with a dance floor.  No kidding.  Very nice.

The Townie Meeting is one of the best meetings in the country, in my opinion.  This is our 10th annual meeting.  Time flies!

Registration and welcome party tonight.  I’m on stage tomorrow at 4pm.  My topic:  Google-Proof Your Website.  Should be fun!  I’ve got some good stuff!

I will post a running report, at least once a day, on how the meeting is going.  I hope to see a lot of you here!

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Website Marketing Pearl: Help them find what they’re looking for!

While I have a long list of blog topics to write about, I don’t seem to get to them, as I’m often inspired by something that happened recently.  The trick is finding time to write them!

I couldn’t think of a better title for this blog post.  And, what I’m about to write about goes beyond a “pearl.”  This is good stuff that WILL boost your website performance.  Today’s post was inspired by a new patient visit.  She found us by doing a search for information on “bonding” in my town.  As an interesting aside, she happens to be a website copywriter for a living.

Putting all your eggs in one basket.

One of the most common “features” I see in dental websites is a singular “Services” web page.  The dentist’s services are summarized on a single page.   Often, it’s the typical laundry list of services offered in most dental offices.  Sometimes each entry in the list is followed by a short paragraph or description of that service.

As you might have predicted I would say… This is a problem.  It’s a big problem.  More on why it’s a problem to come.  Keep reading. Continue reading

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Posted in Editor's Favorites, Marketing, Websites, What Happened Today | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

ACS Passes the Buck and Blows Me Off

I heard back from the editor of “Cancer,” the ACS journal.  Read it for yourself.  I think I’m going to simply throw in the towel at this point.

Dear Dr.,

Thank you for sharing your concerns with me.

I would like to clarify that this study was not funded by the American Cancer Society. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health R01 grants CA109468, CA109461, CA109745, CA108473, and CA109475 and by the Brain Science Foundation and the Meningioma Mommas. Although the journal Cancer is owned by the American Cancer Society, it is editorially independent from the Society and thus articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions or recommendations of the American Cancer Society. (uh-huh) Continue reading

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The ADA Finally Chimes in About Brain Tumor Study

American Dental Association ≠ Testicular Fortitude

I admit to being surprised that the normally spineless group of eunuchs that make up the ADA leadership stood up to this abjectly flawed study.  Sort of.  The ADA effectively points out the issues with the “study” in the online statement they released.

But, where is the ADA in the mass media on this important topic?  Anyone want to bet whether the ADA actually goes beyond a statement published online?  Will they go on any of the major networks and refute the notion that dental x-rays pose ANY risk?  Will they logically point out that dental x-rays are the LOWEST source of ionizing radiation, compared to ALL medical AND natural background sources?

Here’s me holding my breath:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related posts:
Oy veh! Here we go AGAIN! (x-rays)
American Cancer Society Responds!

American Cancer Society Disavows Brain Tumor Study?
I’ll Go to a Dentist I Can Tell What to Do! (x-rays again)
“Mrs. Smith… This is why we take x-rays.”

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American Cancer Society Disavows Brain Tumor Study?

American Cancer Society replies to my reply.

I just got another email from ACS replying to my reply to their reply.   Does it seem to you they are now disavowing responsibility for publishing the dental x-ray / brain tumor study?  Here’s the email:

————————————————————————–

Dear Dr.,

Thank you for your patience while our staff further researched your concerns about the recent study on dental x-rays causing brain tumors in the Cancer Journal. My staff informed me that Cancer publishes content independently of the American Cancer Society. This study underwent a peer review and was accepted by our editors.  So that your concerns can be properly addressed, please direct your feedback to the Editorial Office below:

Carissa Gilman, Managing Editor

[CANCER, CANCER Cytopathology] Editorial Office American Cancer Society 250 Williams St NW Atlanta, GA 30303-1002 Fax #: (404) 551-5650 Phone #:  (404) 327-6411

Email:  canceredoff@cancer.org

Thank you for contacting your American Cancer Society.

Ken
Online Cancer Information Specialist

————————————————————————–

Pass the buck, eh?  Nice try, ACS!  But, OK…. I’ll play!  Here’s what I sent to the Managing Editor: Continue reading

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American Cancer Society Responds!

ACS reports dental x-rays linked to brain tumors

Yesterday I penned a missive to the American Cancer Society about their report linking dental x-rays to brain tumors.  You can see that letter by clicking here.

Tonight, I got a reply:

Dear Doctor,

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with the American Cancer Society about the recent study published in the April 10th issue in our journal Cancer.   Continue reading

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Oy veh! Here we go AGAIN! (x-rays)

Just when I thought the world could not get more stupid… they raised the bar of willful ignorance, AGAIN.  And, again!

The headline all over the news today:  “Dental x-rays tied to brain tumors!”

They cite a “study” published in the journal, “Cancer,” (produced by the American Cancer Society) that concludes that routine diagnostic dental x-rays may cause meningiomas (a common brain tumor).

If you look deeper at the “study,” you’ll see that they compiled their “data” by asking the subjects in the study to RECALL what kind of x-rays and how many they had… over their lifetime!  The ages of the participants is 20 – 79.  So, they are being asked to recall the minutia (how many and what kind of x-rays were taken) of dental appointments that happened as many as 70 years ago!  The notion of calling this “data” is truly laughable.  Worse… to PUBLISH it as “science” is irresponsible and reckless.

Multiple anecdotes, especially ones that depend on the subjects’ recollection of their childhood x-ray history, do not make data!

Watch this Today Show interview with Dr. Nancy Snyderman (who has now entered the race for dumbest doctor on TV, running neck and neck with Dr. Oz).  At the 1:25 mark, my mouth was agape.  See if your masseters, medial pterygoids, and temporalis muscles don’t instantly go slack when you hear what she said.  Stunning stupidity!  Video after the jump… Continue reading

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Treatment Plan Presentation – Big vs. Small

Over the years I’ve done my share of “big case” dentistry.  And, I’m often asked how I get the “big cases.”  Yet, I also understand many dentists have no interest in doing big cases.  For today’s installment, I’m going to skip the rather broad topic of attracting “big case dentistry” and get to the actual presentation to the patient.  Specifically, I’ll show you how I present it in written form.

All practice management software (PMS) conveniently lets you punch in a treatment plan.  Then it spits it out in an itemized format on paper.  This is fine for small treatment plans that involve basic restorative treatment for a few teeth.  But, for extensive restorative and prosthetic treatment plans, I believe it’s a huge mistake.  Why?  Read on… Continue reading

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Posted in Case Presentation, Editor's Favorites, Practice Management | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments

Google Analytics – in Real Time!

Google Analytics is a free service that can give you a plethora of data on how folks are finding and using your website.  I highly recommend you have it installed on your website.  This is done by embedding some tracking code in your website.  It’s important to note that this code should be placed on EVERY PAGE of your website.  Ask your web master to do this for you.

Why do I need Analytics?

I won’t go into every feature of Analytics at this point.  But, among the data points you can distill from Analytics are: Continue reading

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Posted in Websites | Tagged , | 5 Comments