problem solving in dental practice

Patient Problems

Patient Problem-Solving with Scripts: A 5-Step Process

Some problems will inevitably arise between your practice and your patients, even though you’ve done everything in your power to avoid such situations. You can’t prevent these issues totally. You can, however, figure out what would be the best way to deal with each scenario and then create patient problem solving scripts to guide you and your staff.

To prepare for non-clinical problems that involve patients, follow these five steps:

At a special team meeting or during a Monthly Business Review, brainstorm patient-related scenarios that may occur. These will be based in part on problems you’ve experienced in the past. There are three main areas in which dental practices are likely to encounter difficulties:

• Scheduling – Problems with scheduling occur frequently (in some practices, daily). Scheduling issues include patients not scheduling their next appointment at checkout, last-minute cancellations, no-shows and patients who show up late for their appointments.
• Collections – Among the most stressful in dental offices, these problems are all too common. List the types of payment issues your staff has to deal with, from the incidental to the serious.
• Negative Comments – Criticism of your practice can come in several forms. Patients may complain to you or members of your staff. You may get negative feedback from patient surveys. Disgruntled patients may attack your reputation online..

Define objectives for resolving each problem . In a given situation, what outcome would be best for all parties? What would you like to see happen? Problem resolution often requires some negotiation and compromise, but you’ll play your role better if you focus on moving toward a reasonable goal.

Plan how to accomplish those objectives. Working together with team members—especially those who will be directly involved in addressing a problem—figure out a fair and reasonable solution and define what conditions must be met and what steps must be taken to achieve it.

Translate that strategy into scripting. With your goals and strategic plan in mind, construct your side of conversations with patients, including variations based on patients’ reactions. These scripts will serve as pathways to the best possible outcomes.

Use script training to prepare everyone. Once your scripts are ready, schedule training sessions in which team members role-play with each other. They’ll learn the problem-solving process that the scripts map out… and also how to follow that process using their own words.

This resource was provided by Levin Group , a leading dental consulting firm that provides dentists innovative management and marketing systems that result in increased patient referrals, production and profitability, while lowering stress. Since 1985, dentists have relied on Levin Group dental consulting to increase production.

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Problem-solving in the Dental Office: Solutions for Dental Hygienists to Consider

Problems within the workplace seem to be a fact of life. While many of us wish that our work worlds were problem-free, the truth is that issues are bound to arise occasionally. When you work in a people-centered field such as dentistry, you work with, meet, and interact with individuals from all walks of life.

The good news is that most of the time ‒ unless you work in a very toxic office ‒ your day will go by without any issues. For those of you who have been lucky enough to work in a stress-free environment, a toxic environment may be characterized as noninclusive, disrespectful, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive. 1 In the dental office environment, for example, this may surface as favortisim for one hygienist over another with the scheduling.

What about unnecessary drama or gossip about co-workers? When drama and gossip are present in the workplace, this can make individuals feel like they do not want to come to work; dreading work could indicate a toxic environment.

Problem-solving abilities are essential skills to have in any workplace. After all, it’s a universal job skill that applies to all positions and all industries. The  World Economic Forum predicts that by 2025, critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity will rank among the most important soft skills to have in the workplace. 2 A few steps to solving issues include: 3

• Identify the problem: An easy way to start is by asking who, what, where, when, why, and how to try and pinpoint the exact issue.
• Brainstorm solutions: Consider every possible way to solve this issue. Write it down, even if you may not think it’s a good solution at first. No idea is a bad idea at this point.
• Evaluate and select the solution choice: Evaluate your different options by looking at the pros and cons of each solution and how each solution would play out (i.e., the end goal if that solution is the chosen solution to implement). Make the best choice for the problem or situation based on your evaluation.
• Implement the chosen solution: Consider what needs to happen here to reach your goal of solving the problem. Is there communication that needs to take place between the different parties involved? Should there be a timeline of events for more difficult problems?

Let’s start with a few examples of problems that may occur in the dental office.

Patient Service Problem

A patient is upset that his dental appointment has not started on time.

If you were a dental hygienist without problem-solving skills, you may just shrug your shoulders and say, “Sorry.” Or you may send this patient to a co-worker, such as an office manager or front office, transferring the problem to someone else to handle. However, let’s look at how this problem could be solved using the steps given above.

• The problem is that our patient is upset. He had a 2 p.m. appointment. It is now 2:05 p.m., and he has not been seated yet.
• Communicating honestly to the patient that you are running behind and what has caused the delay. You apologize for the delay and show empathy and understanding that his time is valuable. You let him know you will seat him in no more than 10 minutes.
• You apologize to the patient and ask if he would like to reschedule or be put on the “short call list” if there’s a cancellation in the upcoming weeks.
• Do nothing. It is what it is.
• Now you must evaluate the three options you came up with and select the best one. Each one has pros and cons. For this example, we will choose the first solution. We know that we will be able to seat this patient in less than 10 minutes. Since he is a recall patient with excellent home care, we believe his appointment will not cause you to run behind schedule even more. Honesty goes a long way in creating trust with our patients. This solution allows you to communicate honestly with your patient and to make up for the frustration with your great chairside manner.
• To solve this problem , we walk up to the front reception area and personally speak with the patient.

Team Member Problem

A fellow co-worker is upset with you because you ran behind schedule, and they must stay late to help close the office.

• The problem is that our co-worker is upset. This individual wanted to leave right at 5 p.m. However, due to running behind because a patient was late for their appointment and the doctor ran late for hygiene exams, you did not finish until 5:30 p.m.
• You apologize to your co-worker and explain that running late was out of our control today. You offer to allow her to leave and finish up in sterilization, take the garbages out, etc., by yourself.
• You brush off the fact that our co-worker is upset and say nothing. Sometimes staying after 5 p.m. is part of the job, and you do not believe this individual should be upset.
• You communicate to your co-worker that you did not mean to run late and explain why it happened; no excuses, just facts. You empathize with her that she is upset, validate her feelings, and pledge to work quickly together to get out soon.
• After evaluating the three options you came up with , you believe the third option is the best. This option allows you to share her frustration for being there past 5 p.m. and devise a solution to work together.
• To solve this problem , you work quickly together to finish up in sterile, take the garbage out, and do what needs to be completed to close the office. In addition, both of you plan to speak with your scheduling team/front office and the doctor if running late consistently happens. The goal here is to evaluate allotted appointment times (i.e., scheduling one hour per patient vs. 40 minutes) and get the office on the same page regarding a late patient policy. For example, if the patient is more than 15 minutes late, only radiographs and/or perio charting and an exam will be done; hygiene treatment will need to be rescheduled. If the doctor is consistently late for hygiene exams, a conversation can be had that perhaps they can do their exam when available instead of only at the completion of hygiene treatment.

When you take the time to understand the issue at hand objectively, you have a better chance of solving the problem. Some of you reading this article may cringe, thinking that this process will require you to engage in conflict. However, when you follow the logical steps of problem-solving, the process is meant to be constructive and not conflict-inducing.

Not every hygienist has an on-site support resource for solving issues. As a professional member of the dental practice team, having these problem-solving abilities is an invaluable skill. However, if you have a skilled team member, such as an office manager, consider reaching out to that individual for assistance if you are worried. Be proactive! Problems left unsolved typically grow larger, which can cause further issues in the future.

Before you leave, check out the Today’s RDH self-study CE courses. All courses are peer-reviewed and non-sponsored to focus solely on high-quality education. Click here now .

Listen to the Today’s RDH Dental Hygiene Podcast Below:

• Liu, J. (2022, March 31). These are the 5 Biggest Signs of a Toxic Workplace. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/31/these-are-the-5-biggest-signs-of-a-toxic-workplace.html
• Whiting, K. (2020, October 21). These are the top 10 job skills of tomorrow – and how long it takes to learn them. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/top-10-work-skills-of-tomorrow-how-long-it-takes-to-learn-them/
• Effective Problem-solving Steps in the Workplace. (2023, March 16). Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/effective-problem-solving-steps

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Dental Practice Team Management: 7 Tips for Resolving Office Conflicts

Effective conflict resolution is an important aspect of dental practice team management. When dental staff are united as one, strong team, this can positively impact the patient experience and contribute to the practice’s growth.

When there’s conflict in the workplace, team members may feel demotivated, productivity drops, relationships deteriorate, stress rises, illness and absenteeism increase, and your dental practice might even lose some of its most valued employees.

Ignoring problems won’t make them go away; in fact, it could make the situation worse. Learning the essentials of conflict resolution is one of the most important priorities of dental practice team management.

Resolving office conflict encourages constructive change in the long term with the added benefits of enhanced workplace communication, employee retention, better team performance, and more effective leadership. An open forum for discussing differences of opinion in the workplace helps team members engage in creative problem-solving and work towards more rewarding future relationships.

It’s also a great opportunity to identify new goals, strengthen interpersonal and work commitments, and open the door to different points of view and fresh perspectives.

Resolve office conflicts in your dental practice with these top tips:

1. Identify the Source of Conflict

Successful dental practice team management relies on first identifying the underlying causes of conflict. It could be interpersonal, organizational, process-related or simply down to a changing work environment and external stressors.

Surveys, focus groups, interviews, and workplace assessments can be helpful in pinpointing specific conflict triggers, as can psychometric tests such as the Myers-Briggs personality assessment .

Conflicting workplace goals and priorities can cause friction between staff. Everyone at your practice needs to be aligned around the same practice goals, and there needs to be a clear understanding of everyone’s responsibilities. If not, it can become a source of tension among staff. For example, if your clinical team wants to get more out of their patient base, then that needs to be clearly communicated to the front office team. The front office team can also directly contribute to driving production from existing patients. If the dentist doesn’t share that goal with the office managers, then they won’t know to prioritize it. That disconnect between teams can cause a rift and create frustration and confusion.

Sometimes a lack of technology or disjointed solutions or processes contributes to team friction. For example, if your front office is relying on paper-based patient intake forms, this can eat up valuable time due to the manual work involved with maintaining an organized filing system. This time-consuming, but important task can create stress if team members who are responsible for filing paper work aren't following the same process.

Your dental solutions should empower you and your colleagues to make your jobs easier and reduce stress levels. Investing in the right technology can decrease certain office conflicts.

Are you drowning in paper intake forms? RevenueWell Forms simplifies this essential task by digitizing all your patient forms, making it a convenient process for both you and your patients.

2. Create a Private and Safe Place to Talk

Providing a safe, supportive space where staff can engage in open and honest communication will go a long way to reaching mutually acceptable solutions.

This is part and parcel of building a resilient dental practice based on trust and shared goals!

For a space to be truly safe, you need to first negotiate parameters and reach a consensus regarding what is up for discussion and which ground rules apply. Bear in mind that group dialogue only works when participation is voluntary and facilitators are completely transparent about the session’s aims as well as management’s intentions for using the resulting information.

Watch this webinar on how to build a resilient dental practice for more tips on creating a collaborative and supportive work environment for team members.

3. Provide All Parties an Opportunity to State their Concerns

Effective dental office conflict resolution ensures that all participants, regardless of their position, are treated fairly and given an equal opportunity to speak and express their concerns. Since emotions are so often at the root of conflict, it can help to encourage people to recognize what they’re feeling–perhaps anxiety, frustration, fatigue, or disappointment.

Mutual understanding and respect are key components of problem-solving and conflict resolution for dental practice team management. This requires participants to listen actively and with empathy, reserve judgment, and try their best not to act defensively.

4. Understand the Root Source of the Conflict

The real source of conflict might be very different from the narrative surrounding it. Take time to hear both parties out and investigate further if necessary. This isn’t a debating contest, where the person with the most persuasive argument ‘wins.’ It’s about getting a detailed account of the facts, the specifics, and the context in order to arrive at an accurate, objective understanding of the issue.

Avoid judgments based on hearsay or supposition. Find out what was actually seen and heard. If it’s an ongoing issue, request specific examples of the behavior as well as the particular language and tone used.

In the case of a specific incident, ask the employees involved to describe what led up to it, who initiated it, what it entailed, and what the consequences were. Gather information from other staff members who might have witnessed the incident. Be sure to document everything thoroughly, especially if there are allegations of harassment or discrimination.

5. Find Common Ground for a Resolution or Compromise

No matter their individual grievances, one thing everyone’s bound to agree on is the need to resolve the conflict and move forward!

Finding common ground is easier once all the issues are out in the open. Engage with all parties, brainstorm possible resolutions, and invite input for managing the conflict and reaching a mutually agreeable conclusion.

Identifying the underlying motive of each party equips the mediator with the tools they need to reach an acceptable solution. Despite any rationale to the contrary, people’s actions may be driven by one or more unmet needs. Knowing what these are, allows you to approach the problem from a different angle and offers solutions to satisfy everyone involved.

There are times when a compromise is the only avenue available for reaching dental office conflict resolution. Especially so when the objectives of those involved all have equal merit, the greater good of the practice is at stake, or the importance of preserving relationships is paramount.

6. Agree on the Resolution and the Responsibilities of Everyone Involved

The goal of dental practice team management is to create harmony , and that entails reaching an agreement to resolve conflict, as well as outlining a plan of action that details specific roles and responsibilities to ensure the agreement is upheld, and to make sure it does not happen again.

When a compromise is reached and parties simply ‘agree to disagree,’ neither may be completely satisfied with the end result.

Focusing on what’s been achieved and the potential for future positive outcomes increases the chances of resolving the dispute. Get their buy-in on an acceptable solution going forward; one that they can commit to and live with.

7. Evaluate How the Conflict Resolution is Going

Conflict resolution is a dynamic process, requiring ongoing communication and assessment. Make sure you’re prepared to manage any problems that might crop up further down the line, adjust your approach, and take the appropriate steps.

One way to stop conflict before it starts is to ensure that employees are aware of the practice’s code of conduct from the outset.

The occasional reminder as to what constitutes appropriate behavior and what’s expected of them might not go amiss either. While this might sound a little overbearing, remember that when channels of communication are clear, there’s much less chance of misunderstandings and the potential for conflict to arise in the first place.

Effective Conflict Resolution Ensures Stronger Dental Practice Team Management

Effective dental office team management requires the right strategies to manage workplace conflict when it arises.

Consider one or a combination of these approaches:

• Accommodation–endorses a specific point of view for the greater good
• Compromise–encourages each party to make concessions in order to reach a mutually agreeable solution
• Collaboration–represents the best possible scenario, as all parties work together to achieve an outcome that satisfies everyone’s expectations

These tactics are based on honest and transparent communication with everyone involved. When you’ve set up a meeting place that’s private and convenient, try to steer the conversation towards events and specific actions rather than generalizations. Don’t blame; rather reframe the issue to focus on how the individual parties feel. Listening is key, so allow each person to have their say. Wait till they’re finished and then rephrase their concerns and ask for clarification.

Look at the areas of agreement and disagreement, and attempt to get clarity on the remaining differences. Prioritize specific issues that still need work, and develop a plan of action to deal with these areas of conflict.

Finally, start focusing on moving beyond this conflict. Set up regular meetings to monitor if the solutions put in place are working and maintain open lines of communication. If something isn’t working, then take time to reevaluate and come up with a better solution. You’ll see the progress over time, and this will create a stronger team dynamic. A collaborative and communicative team creates a positive and supportive work environment, which can directly impact the patient experience.

Having the right solutions at your fingertips can alleviate certain workplace conflicts and increase job satisfaction. Equip your staff with technology that helps them reduce time spent on admin tasks and simplifies existing processes.

RevenueWell offers end-to-end solutions that empower dental teams to run profitable practices with less effort. Our easy-to-use tools include the Marketing Platform, electronic forms, as well as the RevenueWell Phone system with 100+ powerful features that can be customized to best suit your front desk team and daily operations. Schedule a demo today to see which solutions can work for your practice.

Demetria Wright

Marketing superstar at RevenueWell and proud member of the RevenueWell Nation.

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10 Problem Solving Principles for Dental Practice Success

 My Top 10 Principles of Problem Solving

Problem solving principles are not taught in dental school. Dental school teaches clinical problem solving but FAILS at teaching problem solving for running a professional service business. Today you’ll get the distillation of years of trial and error about how I approach “problems” and how it can impact your business and dental practice success.

Most problems are actually hidden opportunities for growth especially as it relates to business.

Problems are little more than opportunities to re-evaluate what I’ve been doing, how I go about doing it, and with whom I am doing it.

I also use “problems” as part of a growth and guidance system. They are like bread crumbs that lead me into a bigger future. By the way, if you don’t have a bigger future mind-set,that is something you and I should meet to fix as part of any training for you, team or one-on-one consulting. You can schedule a discussion here .

Most of my best thinking, insights, next business moves, practice products, and/or patient focused services have been a direct by products of what others might view as a “problem.”

Due to the nature of subject lines, most reading through this  will be in the midst of a “problem” or will be in the middle of one very soon. It’s inevitable.

And even though “problems” come in all shapes and sizes, here’s how I find the lesson, the message, the opportunity, and the good.

THE FOLLOWING IS MY EXACT MODUS OPERANDI USING PROBLEM SOLVING PRINCIPLES:

Problem Solving Key 1: Identify the facts and do everything possible to not to add any meaning or BIAS to them. This is super important!

Problem Solving Key 2: Since my time is valuable , if it makes sense to solve the problem by writing a check — i.e. pay someone else to solve the problem for me — then I will.

Problem Solving Key 3: I maintain a “next” attitude . Let the local cat drink up any spilled milk. Move on and move on fast are better than agonizing and re-hashing something that is now unchangeable. If it happened in the past, it no longer exists. If it’s over, get over it. Mental energy or time spent thinking about it or talking about it is a complete waste. I suck it up and move on.

Problem Solving Key 4: As Carl Misch oft says, “I ask myself questions.” “What can I add or eliminate that will virtually prevent this from happening again?” FYI – This one question in clinical practice led to hundreds of hassle prevention documents and most recently a member’s only solution that deals with big case fee’s inside the insurance system. It also led to a simple administrative document that removes most of the risk from patient litigation related to any service. FYI2- Both of those things are provided in the #1 case acceptance training program which starts here.

Problem Solving Key 5: I get out of my normal environment . Sometimes this is a simple as leaving my office and house and going to one of the local beaches. At other times, it may mean simply grabbing a room a bit further away out of my normal environment. A day or two spent relaxing and allowing my mind to rest with a note pad and pen handy invariably leads to a new attitude, clarity, and usually THE solution. Most dentists have zero room left in their week to simply think. Major mistake that greatly hinders their ability to arrive at answers.

Problem Solving Key 6: I meditate daily . The clarity that often arises from this simple activity still shocks me.

Problem Solving Key 7: Be healthier. Occasionally I double my workouts from 1 to 2 in a day, further clean up my diet, sleep and/or nap more… and spend as much time outdoors as I can.

Problem Solving Key 8: I keep focus on the moment (NOW) . I don’t dwell on the past or futuristic “what if’s.” While I know this may sound deep to most colleagues but the past and the future are mental constructs, focus your attention on what needs to happen right now and those constructs will take care of themselves.

Problem Solving Key 9: I ask, “What’s the worst thing that can happen and what would be wrong with that?” It’s actually common to fear what is ultimately best for us.

Problem Solving Key 10: I remind myself and express gratitude for the fact that “I’m awesome” and that this is simply system for problem solving puts me in the top 1% of thinkers and do’ers. (Adhere to it and you’ll be the same!).

Want more problem solving principles  help related to niche dental practice success? In case you haven’t read it, one of my latest how-to guides ‘The 39 Key Tenets to Practice Success’ provides the highest level of problem solving content for those desiring to perform more niche services. You can pick up a copy at a slightly less than Amazon.com price here .

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Solving the Biggest Problem in your Dental Practice

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Actually…none of the above.

And I’m not saying this from some detached, academic point of view. This is real.

My position at MGE has afforded me a unique, real-world perspective on the dental industry. I started with MGE in 2009 not long out of college (The University of South Florida…go Bulls!). I immediately went into the New Client Services Division, (which I now manage). During these past seven years, I’ve supervised the delivery of close to 500 MGE introductory seminars across the United States and Canada. These seminars are for non-MGE clients and address any number of subjects ( you can find out more here ).

In the course of my travels, I’ve met and spoken with tens of thousands of dentists, with practices in just about any condition you could think of: incredibly successful, average, “plateaued” (i.e. growth had stopped) and of course practices that were actively shrinking.

Many of these dentists were at a “crossroads” type of a moment – either take the first step to making real changes in their practice or maintain the status quo.

With a lot of these folks eventually becoming clients, I’ve had a “front row seat” to their progress and growth. It’s also happened where I’ve seen doctors attending more than one of our seminars in their area. It’s given me a real “before and after” look so to speak. It’s also given me profound insight into what makes the average dentist successful or unsuccessful; along with what it actually takes to make tangible changes in office production and profitability.

Which leads me to the answer to the question I posed earlier:

What’s the biggest barrier to a successful practice: The doctor themselves!

More specifically, the doctor’s viewpoint or mindset about their practice, staff, patients, and what they can or cannot control.

You could say this is more of a “human” thing than just a “dentist” thing. We all tend to build the walls to our own cage.

When I’m speaking to a lot of these doctors the first time, what do I see and hear? Many are convinced that the issues plaguing their practice are due to outside forces, i.e. the economy, patients not having enough money to afford treatment, or “low dental IQ,”…the list goes on.

And here’s where this becomes a problem: because they believe it, it becomes, to one degree or another, reality.

I’ve spoken with many doctors who, prior to one of our seminars, didn’t even present an entire treatment plan in the first place because they’ve already got it worked out in their heads that the patient won’t be able to afford it and/or will be scared away if they were told everything they needed!

What changed? Not the economy and not the patient’s “Dental IQ.”

The doctor changed.

With all of this in mind, no matter what condition your practice is in, the first that thing needs to change for any growth to occur is you .

Don’t assume beforehand that a patient won’t accept treatment.

Don’t assume that your staff aren’t going to comply or implement that new system you introduced.

Don’t settle for a bunch of cancellations and no-shows because “that’s just the way things are.”

At MGE, we have solutions for case acceptance, scheduling, staff management, organization, etc. They work. They’ve worked for thousands of dentists. But I tell you what, nothing will work for you until you decide that things can and will go better and start doing something about it.

Assume that things will go well.

Assume that your patients are smart and will make the right decision once they really understand their treatment plan and have had it explained properly.

Assume that your staff wants what’s best for your practice and will work hard and comply if properly motivated.

Assume that the schedule will go off without a hitch, because you and the staff have planned well and will follow through with it.

And then do what it takes to make it happen.

And of course, if you need help, you can always come talk to me at one of our free seminars around the US and Canada. See the upcoming seminar calendar here .

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5 Responses to “Solving the Biggest Problem in your Dental Practice”

to give a patient a good customer service it have to be a teem work from the office. started from desk and ending with check out .

solving problem in the dental practice is no nesesary is from the bigining we make and effor to do our job good right with love compation and thinking our patientients are our family. they will go out happy and they will like to com back to see us one more time.

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Solving modern problems for the practice

Today’s dental practices tackle new issues, such as COVID-19, technology, and more.

It’s no secret that dental practices are not perfect. Some practices had issues before the shutdown for coronavirus disease 2019, while other issues are emerging as practices reopen. However, these are not the same problems dentists had 15, 10, or even 5 years ago. These are the modern kind.

What’s the Problem?

Technology brought in to resolve issues is often a source of modern problems. For example, software innovations have revolutionized numerous challenges in a practice. However, as Jeremy Krell, DMD, MBA, head of marketing at Simplifeye and vice president of business development for Supply Clinic, points out, these platforms do not always work together, resulting in fragmented solutions that don’t talk to each other, so the practice must run multiple platforms at any given time.

“It’s very laborious,” Krell says. “It’s not seamless.”

COVID-19 has made streamlining the payment process a priority for practices, according to Krell. A patient might make several stops at the front desk to check in with insurance, confirm coverage, pay bills, and other business.

“It’s a very high-contact situation, which is both a bad consumer experience and, in the world of COVID-19, far from contact-free,” Krell says. Having a synchronized retail payment process could help reduce face-to-face contact.

COVID-19 also affects practices’ cash flow, according to Robert Patrick, president of Vyne, a health care technology company. Optimizing business operations is critical to owning a dental practice, Patrick says. Not being able to consistently identify a patient’s responsibility prevents the patient from paying in advance. This also delivers an uncertain patient experience, which is not in line with patient expectations.

“We are in an Amazon, cost-comparison world. The patient just agreeing to whatever treatment the dentist might say the patient needs is an interaction that is evolving,” Patrick says. “Being as accurate and confident about the patient’s responsibility will help the patient be more comfortable.”

Dentists’ expectations of themselves have evolved, as well. Ken Wright, DDS, and Robert Wertke, DMD, work together in a private practice in Barrington, Illinois. As education platforms and communications improve, it raises the dentists’ expectations of what they feel they’re capable of, Wright says. Doing more also increases dentists’ need for technology and the modern problems that come with it.“

You have less time to not only bring them up to speed on what they need as a patient, but also to gain their trust and help them understand what their oral health picture looks like.” — Robert Wertke, DMD

One of the problems I’ve had is you pick a particular route, and invariably there’s an upgrade or a software patch or an equipment need, and all these things don’t always coordinate at the same time,” Wright says. “You can see the goal, but then getting to the goal and staying in the groove is becoming exceedingly difficult.”

Patients expect fast results and expect to dedicate less time to the process, Wertke adds. Furthermore, patients may have preconceived notions about what they want from using online searches without understanding dentistry’s nuances.

“So, you have less time to not only bring them up to speed on what they need as a patient but also to gain their trust and help them understand what their oral health picture looks like,” Wertke says.

Looking at the bigger picture, the industry itself can be problematic, according to Scott Drucker, DMD, MS, cofounder and president of Supply Clinic. In the past, practices have relied on sales representatives for new product information, something that may be keeping practices from adapting to an e-commerce model. Now, he says, dissemination of information is faster via the internet.

“There is an inherent, misaligned incentive when the sales representative makes a commission off of the supplies sold. Put simply, a lower cost of supplies translates to a lower sales rep commission,” Drucker says.

The pandemic necessitated reducing the number of people in a practice at any given time. It also brought to light some broken parts of the supply chain, especially the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE). Drucker believes these factors will encourage practices to find new ways to buy supplies.

“We are going to see this huge surge in the direction of online shopping behavior,” Drucker says.

The method used to purchase supplies isn’t the only significant change caused by COVID-19. Working chairside looks different, too, as patients are hypersensitive about hygiene, according to Edward Shellard, DMD, chief dental officer at Carestream Dental. Patients are demanding that practices go above and beyond their usual strict infection control protocols with enhanced PPE. In addition, as practices reopen, dentists have a backlog of patients who put off preventative care.

“We need to be prepared to see patients with issues that may have started small, but grew over the course of the quarantine,” Shellard says.

Patients also expect the same level of comfort and convenience that digital technology affords them in their everyday lives, Shellard says. Carestream Dental’s 2019 Global Digital Dentistry Survey found that 2 out of 3 patients would consider switching to a practice that uses more advanced technology. 1

COVID-19 also brought to the forefront the challenges many dentists face with the business side of the practice. A number of dentists struggle with maintaining a healthy bottom line, and in many cases may not have the business expertise or the time to optimize it, says Dan Traub, vice president of product at Method Procurement. Additionally, some dentists may not know the opportunities available for savings, as many aren’t leveraging modern technology and best practices when they’re buying goods and services. Traub says it often happens because they have not put suppliers through a competitive process, often favoring a supplier relationship over their own financial interests.

There is an inherent, misaligned incentive when the sales representative makes a commission off of the supplies sold. A lower cost of supplies translates to a lower commission.” —Scott Drucker, DMD, MS President, Supply Clinic

“As a business owner, you want to foster good relationships with suppliers. Those are valuable partnerships, which often bring other services to the table,” Traub says. “But the caution is that you must maintain awareness of the pricing they offer you relative to the market. Not surprisingly, prices tend to creep up over time. You have to be aware of what that is doing to your bottom line and hold suppliers accountable.”

The pandemic also revealed the importance of secure access to patient data for dentists working from home. David Gane, DDS, a general dentist in Vancouver, British Columbia, and CEO of Apteryx Imaging, says access to patient image data is crucial. However, recent ransomware and highly publicized malware cyberattacks of dental offices have made patients wary of having their personal health information (PHI) stolen, and practices are concerned about getting locked out of their data and the potential HIPAA violation that follows.

On the clinical side, Gane says missing caries on radiographs is not uncommon, with an error rate as high as 20% in some busy practices. Also, oral cancers and other cancerous lesions are on the rise, not only because of alcohol and tobacco use, but also because of the human papillomavirus, and can be overlooked.

“It’s incumbent on dentists today to screen for dental diseases using adjunctive devices that enhance visualization,” Gane says.

Possible Solutions

The good news is many products, services, software, technologies, and more are available to fix these challenges.

Krell says Simplifeye wraps four major services together like “a virtual front desk or virtual practice in a box.” It also addresses the fragmentation prevalent in dental practice software.

“It provides a live chat that talks to its scheduling feature and talks to its telehealth feature and talks to its payments feature. Now you have this 4-pronged solution that all ties back to one central place,” Krell says.

Simplifeye also addresses the need for a retail health care experience with Payments. Patients can pay online with payment information stored by the credit card processor Stripe. Payment information is digitized and tokenized with payment plans you can customize. There are no merchant fees for providers.

“It takes away additional stops at the front desk and modernizes the payments system,” Krell says.

Being accurate and confident from a business standpoint requires better tools for revenue cycle management. NEA Powered by Vyne and its HITRUST CSF Certified FastAttach, a dental clearinghouse and dental claims and attachment solution, can decrease the reimbursement cycle significantly and create cash flow for small business owners. With connections to all the major payers in dentistry, Patrick says users can be confident no matter what payer it is, and they will receive improved reimbursement response. The system works with many different practice management solutions.

“It gives our practices centralized, easy workflow to interact with,” Patrick says.

Also, Vyne Connect, a secure email solution, helps practices communicate securely with anyone through encrypted email.

“It gives practices the ability to share PHI with referring doctors and the ability to communicate with patients securely,” Patrick says.

Supply Clinic is Drucker’s answer to the need for a comprehensive and intuitive e-commerce solution for dental practices. It is a marketplace platform in which multiple sellers can list their offerings for the same products. The platform allows for transparent pricing. Buyers can pull up a single product page for the SKU and see who sells it, price, shipping locations, and approximate shipping times. Practices can also purchase products from multiple sellers in a single shopping cart and checkout.

“Our goal is to make available as much information as possible to the customer so that they can make an informed purchase decision,” Drucker says.

Digital technology provides essential data dental professionals need to make better decisions for their patients. Shellard says general practitioners can use a compact, easy-to-use system for 3D imaging, such as the CS 8100 3D extraoral imaging system. 3D imaging allows dentists to offer more procedures, such as implants, in-house.

Shellard also likes the CS 9600 CBCT system, which uses the latest smart technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce the need for retakes and make recall appointments more efficient. Advanced software algorithms called CS MAR decrease the scatter caused by metal artifacts, so dentists make more confident diagnoses, improving patient outcomes. Intraoral scanners such as the CS 3600 or CS 3700 increase comfort for patients and allow dentists to plan implants, restorations, or clear aligners virtually.

“Clinical can also merge with practice management thanks to new teledentistry options that practices can add to their hosted management solutions,” Shellard says.

Wright and Wertke use the Planmeca ProMax 3D Plus, which checks their boxes for support and seamless integration, plus patient education opportunities. It also relieves diagnostic dilemmas they may have had in the past with 2D images.

“With the CBCT, I see things I would never have seen or contemplated,” Wright says. “It’s phenomenal technology.”

Using integrated technology, Wertke says, dentists can establish an information-gathering first appointment. Using imaging technology, dentists can show patients what they see, and educate them on their overall oral health and related treatment plans. To a certain extent, Wertke says, patients can diagnose themselves.

“It is one thing for me to say they have three or four cavities and other things going on in their mouth. It’s another for me to put it on a screen and let them look,” Wertke says.

Method Procurement is a subscription software provider that has built its purchasing system around the comprehensive needs of a dental practice. It features a cost-comparison tool that allows users to shop from different suppliers. Additionally, the tool provides approval and budgeting support, inventory management, and tight tracking of all steps in the buying and paying cycle. Traub, who has worked in procurement for nearly 20 years for all types of industries, says a fundamental core of the platform is the catalog, which has 400,000 dental products from 2,000 suppliers.

“If you want to know who sells a particular bonding agent, we have that in the platform, along with pricing and, in many cases, the stock availability," Traub says.

“The catalog that we’ve assembled also includes a private label product cross-reference, which we believe is the first in the industry.”

Traub says the mission of Method Procurement is to educate the industry about procurement as the key to improved financial results for practices of any size. The techniques embedded in the tool frequently produce remarkable savings, Traub says. Traub wants dentists to recognize that procurement is a process in need of standardization and deserving of their attention.

Make sure what you’re purchasing can integrate into a larger workflow so you can build the solution set that meets your needs.” —Edward Shellard, DMD Carestream Dental

“Our solution helps practices finally be proactive about managing non-payroll expenses, a problem we see frequently discussed but rarely addressed,” Traub says. “We’re taking proven techniques from other industries, and we are helping to push the dental industry forward and modernize their approach to these challenges.”

XVWeb, a true cloud subscription imaging service, provides a full imaging application that provides direct capture from most imaging devices and provides 24/7 accessibility to data from any web-enabled device.

“Many practices appreciate how it integrates with most practice management software, reduces hardware footprint and related [information technology] costs, and includes updates and support,” Gane says.

XVWeb also facilitates HIPAA-compliant image sharing and manages backup and security.

“Interestingly, of the millions of patient records exposed in medical and dental imaging breaches during the first half of last year, none were cloud-based,” Gane says.

Apteryx also is incorporating machine learning and AI for decision support into the XVWeb product. Gane says they chose decision support because dentists have a high level of agreement variability on caries diagnoses for many reasons, and because caries detection inherent in bite-wing radiographs is low.

“The AI, in my mind, is best at providing decision support to draw attention to enamel and dentin that could be carious and let dentists make the final diagnosis as they’ve always done,” Gane says.

The VELscope VX Oral Assessment System from Apteryx uses a filtered blue-spectrum light to stimulate natural fluorescence to enhance visualization and help detect abnormal mucosal tissue early.

“Healthy tissue fluoresces a bright green, and tissues that appears as dark regions could be indicative of a problem,” Gane says.

Choosing a Solutions Partner

When it comes to choosing a solutions partner, there are many considerations for a dentist.

“I would encourage dentists to think about what’s going to work [well] with the other systems that you have running, what can be implemented overnight, and what your staff is going to use,” Krell says. “You have to put that level of realism around your choice.”

Choosing a technology company that is well-established, keen on maintaining the product line, and invested in research and development is also essential, Wright says.

“It’s a big investment,” Wright says, regarding choosing Planmeca for his CBCT technology. “You want to have them as a partner for a long time.”

“My advice to people buying technology,” Gane adds, “is it’s better to overpay for something that works than to pay anything for something that doesn’t work or isn’t proven. We need tools that really work and work well.”

“Choose systems that fit you and don’t force you to change your workflow to adapt to them,” Shellard says regarding choosing solutions for the practice. “Make sure whatever you’re purchasing, whether it’s software, a scanner, or a 2D/3D imaging system, can integrate into a larger workflow so you can choose and build the solution set that meets your practice’s needs today and in the future.”

Drucker feels it is essential for all practices to consider new ways to purchase supplies.

“Everybody right now has maximum quantities allowable for certain supplies,” Drucker says. “So, my general piece of advice is to expand your network of companies through which you can buy supplies.”

“There are other providers out there that can buy office supplies and so forth,” Traub says. “But they are not going to have a deep understanding of dental distributors, dental suppliers, and the dental supplies themselves. That sets [Method Procurement] apart.”

Patrick says it is essential for dentists to understand where they are getting their money and how it affects the revenue cycle management of their office.

“My overall advice would be to become an educated consumer,” Patrick says. “If you’re an educated consumer with these services, it will help you make a better decision for your business.”

1. The Need for Digital Dentistry Education. Carestream Dental. Published February 2020. Accessed June 2020. https://www.carestreamdental.com/globalassets/microsites/digital-dentistry/assets/the-need-for-digital-dentistry-education.pdf

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• Book Review
• Published: 28 February 2004

Endodontics. Problem -Solving in Clinical Practice

• W Saunders  

British Dental Journal volume  196 ,  page 238 ( 2004 ) Cite this article

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• J. S. Rhodes &
• H. E. Pitt Ford

There is now a myriad of textbooks on endodontics that have been designed for the general dental practitioner. This is another in a long line but nevertheless provides a very readable and informative guide to modern endodontic practice. All the authors are well respected in their professional fields and the senior author has an enviable reputation for producing textbooks of high quality. Improving clinical endodontic care is addressed in a logical sequence with an emphasis placed on proper diagnosis and treatment planning. The two most alluring features of this book are the quality of the illustrative material and the 'easy to read' style of the text. The latter is not burdened by philosophical arguments or academic minutia but there is plenty of information that will help the practitioner to perform better. The text for each chapter is in short paragraphs that are assimilated easily. The quality of the illustrations is superb - the photographs are of a very high standard and the book is profusely illustrated with a number of figures on every page.

The book is in 12 chapters and begins with a thorough discourse on history, diagnosis and treatment planning and the second chapter is concerned with root canal anatomy. These provide a sound basis for the succeeding chapters on treatment. The third chapter, on preparation prior to endodontics, is important and a clinical imperative that is often overlooked in other textbooks. The chapter on isolation that follows demonstrates clearly the purpose of this book. After reading this chapter all the knowledge has been given to allow the busy practitioner to use rubber dam routinely. Many hints and tips are given to facilitate easy isolation of the operating field. Chapter 5 describes root canal preparation. All the principles of access and preparation are described. With so many techniques and instruments available it would be difficult to cover all in this book but the authors give popular examples of hand and rotary preparation techniques. The chapters on irrigation and medication, and obturation are lucid and whilst not exhaustive are very helpful. Further chapters on root canal retreatment, restoration of the root filled tooth, complex endodontic problems, endodontic management of permanent teeth in children and endodontic emergencies complete the knowledge base.

Overall, this book is a first class production, the reading of which will inevitably lead to improved care for patients.

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Fostering globally competent dental students through virtual team-working, problem-solving and person-centred multi-disciplinary care planning

Yuna kanamori.

a Oral Diagnosis and General Dentistry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

b Dental Education Development, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

c Institute of Global Affairs, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Richard Foxton

d Centre of Dental Education, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, King's College London, London, UK

Janelle Moross

Yuriko komagamine.

e Gerodontology and Oral Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Koji Mizutani

f Periodontology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Keiichi Hosaka

g Regenerative Dental Medicine, Tokushima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima, Japan

Manabu Kanazawa

h Digital Dentistry, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Takashi Hatayama

i Cariology and Operative Dentistry, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Wataru Komada

j Masticatory Function and Health Science, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Ikuo Yonemitsu

k Orthodontic Science, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Masako Akiyama

l Research Administration Division, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Paramaporn Chiewpattanakul Kaewmanee

m Department of Stomatology, Faculty of Dentistry, Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand

Nathawut Kaewsutha

n Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand

Hiroshi Nitta

o General Dentistry, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Noriyuki Wakabayashi

p Advanced Prosthodontics, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Ikuko Morio

Background/purpose.

: Development and acquisition of communication, logical thinking, team-building, critical appraisal, critical thinking and person-centred multi-disciplinary care planning must be considered as skill sets and global core competencies for a dental professional. Therefore, an international online study course to foster undergraduate dental students’ skill sets in these areas was established and this study aimed to report the perceptions of participants.

Materials and methods

An international online course consisting of three levels pertaining to the school year was delivered to dental undergraduates of Japan and Thailand from September to December in 2021. An online questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain feedback from the participants and assess the implementation of the course.

In total, 64 responses were obtained from students who participated in all the assigned online sessions and completed the questionnaire (a response rate of 88%). More than 95% of students from each level felt that the programme increased their motivation to study clinical dentistry, and was beneficial for their future and made them appreciate the importance of participating in international exchange. The ratio of favourable respondents was more than 90% with a 95% confidence interval.

Fostering globally competent dental students is important and the acquisition of necessary skill sets could be enhanced through international virtual team-working, problem-solving and person-centred multi-disciplinary care planning activities. These are beneficial for undergraduate dental student training so that they graduate with a broader global perspective and an appreciation of the importance of delivering person-centred culturally sensitive dental care.

Introduction

International collaboration, exchange and networking are great strategies for meeting the ever-changing global needs and their introduction into an undergraduate dental curriculum would broaden student skill sets and prepare them as professionals for the increasing globalization of dentistry. 1 Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery of face to face lectures and tutorials has, in many countries, moved online and one of the impacts on dental education in Asian countries has been the need for dental educators to learn new IT skills. 2 Moreover, restrictions placed on international travel encouraged higher education institutions around the world to create online opportunities for students to engage with their compatriots in different countries without the need for them to leave their homes and has been termed “internationalization at home” whereby activities are provided “on-campus”. 3 , 4 This mode of delivery does not necessarily negatively impact student experience as recent research has shown that in the area of medical and dental education, “on-campus” provision could achieve internationalization in a student's home when access was provided to an online programme designed to encourage international peer networking and collaboration. 4 Moreover, this online programme was reported to be a more equitable and socially acceptable way of enabling students to participate in international exchange and was also found to improve the cultural competency of both medical and dental pre-clinical students. 4

Global networking and cultural competency are indispensable skill sets for healthcare professionals to deliver person-centred culturally sensitive care. 5 , 6 Respecting a patient's culture and achieving a high level of cultural sensitivity may positively influence patient adherence to treatment and ultimately their health outcome and has been referred to as patient-centred culturally sensitive health care. 6 More recently, the concept of person-centred care has been proposed and takes into account not only the patient rights but also those of the care team looking after patients and the importance of the patient–staff relationship. 7 While it is now accepted that dental students must be taught culturally sensitive care, there is little consensus on how this can be achieved. 5 , 10 Moreover, it has been pointed out that cultural competency should be studied not only in the clinical years of an undergraduate dental programme but also across the curriculum. 8 , 9

In order to deliver culturally sensitive dental care, dental students should be taught multiple skill sets such as communication skills, being non-judgmental and open to whatever patients might want to talk about. 10 Linked to this is the fact that students need to develop skills that enable them to separate observations they might make during a patient encounter and learn to continually question the interpretation of these findings. 10 Therefore, employing pedagogical methods to nurture such skills via international online opportunities might be a promising strategy. Another particular pedagogical practice that might help students learn to question the interpretation of observations is the use of a problem-solving technique. Using problem-solving skills and collaborating in real-time on a clinical case might help dental students residing in different countries, appreciate the need to acquire and develop communication, logical thinking, virtual team-building, critical appraisal, and critical thinking abilities and to understand the importance of adopting a person-centred approach to plan multi-disciplinary care. Be it in a clinical or research field, such skill sets should be considered global core competencies for dental professionals who wish to develop a global mind-set.

However, during undergraduate training, opportunities to plan a patient's care with these aspects in mind are sometimes scarce, particularly those which might require a multi-disciplinary approach. Therefore, there is a need to increase the exposure of undergraduates to multi-disciplinary clinical cases in such a way that they are encouraged to adopt a critical perspective and at the same time expose them to cross-cultural competency and global team-working.

Thus, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) developed an online international study programme, which aims to expose undergraduate dental students to cultural exchange, team-building, problem-solving, logical and critical thinking skills training. Moreover, opportunities are provided for real-time international collaboration on multi-disciplinary dental care planning, which takes into consideration the patient's culture thereby helping the students develop person-centred culturally sensitive care planning skills with a “global mind-set”. 11

The purpose of this article is therefore to report the perceptions of undergraduate dental students from one Japanese dental school and one Thai dental school who attended the online study sessions, which were developed to foster soft skills for global competency and introduce the basics of person-centred culturally sensitive care planning.

This study was approved by the Dental Research Ethics Committee of TMDU (No. D2021-049).

Study population

Undergraduate dental students from dental schools in Japan and Thailand who registered for the online sessions were invited to complete questionnaires. The answers of those who joined all the assigned online sessions were considered for this study. A maximum of 73 responses could be obtained. Participation was voluntary and consent was obtained via the online questionnaire.

Online study programme ( Fig. 1 )

Course outline.

The online study programme 11 was held from September to December, 2021, and consisted of 3 levels: Level 1 (L1) was aimed at pre-clinical undergraduate dental students at the beginning of their training and provided cultural exchange opportunities. During the first exchange, students introduced their cultures, explored cultural norms and shared practices that were acceptable in their countries. In preparation for a second exchange, on-demand coursework on dental terminology and knowledge acquisition was provided beforehand. During the second exchange, the students were introduced to a dental topic through attendance at an interactive lecture and then explored the topic in depth by engaging in team-building, group discussion and problem-solving exercises using methods including the KJ method for groups to generate an idea and reach a consensus. 12

Level 2 (L2) was aimed at undergraduate dental students in the latter stage of their pre-clinical training or initial phase of clinical training and provided more learning opportunities and exchange on clinically-related topics. Interactive lectures on the relationship between periodontology and systemic diseases, information gathering and essential writing techniques, were delivered and then the students were divided into smaller groups to collaborate in real-time using Google Docs on a related scientific writing activity requiring the use of literature searching, critical appraisal and critical thinking skills. Each group was then encouraged to work together to write a short article on a topic related to periodontology and systemic diseases in order to practice and reinforce these skills.

In level 3 (L3), undergraduate dental students who had begun clinical training, participated in online group discussions on multi-disciplinary treatment planning with dental professionals in different countries. Both the students, dental professionals and faculty staff then engaged in real-time discussion and planning of a multi-disciplinary clinical-case to formulate possible care plans, which took into consideration the patient's culture. Knowledge sharing between the dental professionals and dental students could take place when links were made between possible stages of treatment enabling understanding on how a multi-disciplinary care plan might be structured. All online live sessions were provided via a web conferencing system (Zoom Video Communications, Inc (ZM; San Jose, CL, USA)).

Students were asked to join the level, which corresponded to their school year, and the course was planned to take place throughout the undergraduate programme. Starting the course at level 1 was recommended not only because of the knowledge level of the steps but also for students to network with their colleagues throughout the undergraduate years and beyond. However, as this year was the first year of the programme, undergraduate students in the higher years were able to join the levels aimed at the lower years.

Questionnaire to evaluate the programme

Self-administered questionnaires using Microsoft Forms (Microsoft 365), were used to capture the students’ perceptions of each level of the programme and they were e-mailed a link at the conclusion of each level. The questionnaires were distributed in October and December 2021 and January 2022.

Questions 1 to 3 asked the students what they thought about the “level”, “duration” and “number” of the sessions. Question 4 asked the students whether they had attended a similar course before or not. Questions 5 to 10 asked the students what they thought about the themes discussed, usefulness of the course, its impact on their motivation for learning English and clinical dentistry, their realization of the importance in participating in international exchange and whether the course should be continued in the future. For these questions, a 6-point Likert scale was used (strongly disagree, disagree, somewhat disagree, somewhat agree, agree, strongly agree). For question 11, the students were encouraged to write free comments.

Statistical analysis

The data were expressed as percentages of each question by levels. For Q5-10, we summed the answers of students and divided them into favourable (somewhat agree, agree and strongly agree) or unfavourable (strongly disagree, disagree and somewhat disagree) answers, and the favourable rates were presented as proportions with 95% confidence intervals (Clopper-Pearson methods). The statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (version 26.0. IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

Altogether, 64 responses were obtained with a response rate of 88%. In L1, 49 students registered and 11 Japanese and 30 Thai students completed all the assigned online sessions and questionnaires, giving response rates of 92% and 81% respectively. 17 students registered for L2 (5 Japanese and 12 Thai) and all of them joined the assigned online sessions and answered the questionnaire giving a response rate of 100%. Of the 7 who registered for L3 (4 Japanese and 3 Thai), 4 Japanese and 2 Thai students completed both the online session and questionnaire, giving response rates of 100% and 67%, respectively. Some students took more than one level in 2021, and so they answered the questionnaire for each level they attended. More than 90% of the responses in each level were positive for questions 5–10 ( Figure 2 , Figure 3 ), and over half of the respondents felt that the course “level”, “duration” and “number” were appropriate and gave favourable answers ( Table 1 ). The results of the interval estimation for the ratio of favourable respondents at each question were 0.981 (95%C.I., 0.933–0.998) (Q5), 0.990 (95%C.I., 0.948–1.000) (Q6), 0.971 (95%C.I., 0.919–0.994) (Q7), 0.981 (95%C.I., 0.933–0.998) (Q8), 0.990 (95%C.I., 0.948–1.000) (Q9, 10) respectively. Their free comments are shown in Table 2 .

Questionnaire survey results of the L1.

Questionnaire survey results of the L2 and L3.

Questionnaire survey results of Q1-4 from all the levels.

Free comments from the participants. The students were encouraged to give suggestions such as good points, points for improvement, requests for future sessions, thoughts, and impressions of the course. Those originally written in Japanese were translated into English by the authors. English language was slightly revised to convey the meanings. Faculty and university names were changed into “Thai university” “Japanese university” and “Faculty members”.

The delivery of dental education has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and stimulated educators in dental schools to think creatively about how teaching is delivered. As a result, many institutions throughout the world have been faced with the challenge of both students and staff needing to rapidly adapt to online learning and therefore sharing these experiences among the dental community is worthwhile. 13 This article reports on the experiences of students who participated in an online education programme through the use of online questionnaires to evaluate the overall satisfaction and effectiveness of this new programme. In this study, more than 95% of the participating students, felt that the programmes were beneficial and realized the importance of participating in international exchange during their undergraduate training ( Figure 2 , Figure 3 ). Starting the course at level 1 was recommended not only to match knowledge requirements, but also to network/build relationships with colleagues throughout the undergraduate years, if they then take Levels 2 and 3, which is an important concept and possible with online connectivity. Dental education has always been influenced by technological advances. These have also provided global networking opportunities, which are sometimes difficult to become accustomed to initially, but have been reported to deliver very beneficial outcomes. 1 , 14 , 15 , 16 While traditional teaching methods cannot be replaced in their entirety by virtual teaching, online platforms can be genuinely worthwhile for providing an arena to facilitate global dental education networking. 1 , 14 , 17 , 18

Sometimes it is challenging for faculty staff to share their expert knowledge with dental students in a way that might facilitate learning and scaffold knowledge acquisition and understanding. Several problem-solving methods have been introduced and we adapted some of these to facilitate their use online. 12 , 19 , 20 Online collaboration using software applications such as Google Docs and video-conferencing applications such as Zoom can now be undertaken in real-time and therefore help facilitate virtual team-working. 2 , 21 Our results showed that communication, logical thinking, and virtual team-building could be developed and practiced to a certain degree of satisfaction during this course.

Cultural competency has been reported to describe ways of improving the accessibility and effectiveness of healthcare services for people who come from racial and ethnic minorities and can result in a tailoring of care to meet patients' needs. 5 Higher education institutions with diverse student populations are now considering cultural competency as a necessary and essential skill for staff involved with student activities. 22 It has also been reported that cultural competency should now be termed transformative cultural responsiveness, which has been defined as a continuous process where learning is actively occurring and leads to an ability to respond effectively to challenges and opportunities presented by culturally diverse people and communities. 22 Cultural competency is also continuously evolving into different concepts, one of these being the concept of cultural humility. 23 This is considered a dynamic process whereby the healthcare worker seeks to understand patients' cultural differences or similarities while treating them with dignity and respect; this skill can be applied to person-centred care. 23 Person-centred care requires healthcare professionals to consider each patient as unique and trying their best to put their patients’ needs first. 23

Students attending L1 of the programme reported that “It was good and interesting to be able to get to know cultures of our countries from each other.” and “the cultural exchange part of the session was very interesting” ( Table 2 ) . These findings therefore appeared to indicate that attending the programme could assist in attaining transformative cultural responsiveness and better prepared them for not only managing the dental care of patients from different backgrounds but also for working with their colleagues and hospital staff from diverse backgrounds. Providing dental care for patients should be “culturally sensitive” and the term “patient-centred culturally sensitive” healthcare has been described as providing care, which is relevant to what the patient requires and expects. 6 If a clinician lacks cultural sensitivity then they may not be able to communicate effectively. 6 While it is now accepted that dental schools must prepare their students to deliver culturally sensitive care to diverse patient populations, there is no widespread agreement on the best way of doing this, 10 and it has been reported that countries such as Japan, need to educate their students more in this area. 24

Moreover, it has been reported in countries such as the UK, that dental students lack skills in planning and providing complex treatments upon graduation. 25 L2 and L3 of the online programme provided students from different countries opportunities to discuss with senior faculty staff, medical conditions, which could affect dental care and participate in the planning of complex dental treatment, which required a multi-disciplinary approach. L2 was designed to prepare students for delivering evidence-based dentistry and so elements required to understand the hierarchy of scientific evidence were included. Instructors carefully guided undergraduate students on how to read for example, a literature review, to help them avoid leaping from presented facts and to understand cause-and-effect relationships. However, as the discussion of L3 was led by and conducted with dental professionals, the content might have been challenging for the undergraduates, which may have been reflected in their answer that 33% of them considered the session was “too difficult” ( Table 1 ). Nevertheless, all the respondents of L3 evaluated the session positively, and the ratios of the respondents of L3 who chose “strongly agree” were noteworthy: more than 65% of them chose “strongly agree” in Q6-8, especially Q7 where 83% of them selected “strongly agree” in increasing their motivation to learn dental English ( Fig. 3 ). Free comments from the students such as “I really like to have a discussion like this. This actually gave me lots of things I never know from my ordinary class” showed that they appreciated and enjoyed this exercise and that attending this programme had been beneficial for their education. Therefore, even though the content was slightly challenging, which is the reality of the treatment planning, this session may have provided positive motivation for the participants. These findings indicate that this programme might be a model for facilitating person-centred culturally sensitive dental care.

This study required the inclusion of more countries to increase its global perspective. However, fostering globally competent dental students is now considered important and the acquisition of necessary skills could be enhanced through the international programme described in this report. Further investigations such as longitudinal evaluation and actual skill acquisition are necessary for more detailed understanding on how dental undergraduates can be trained to be culturally competent and to be able to deliver person-centred care. However, within the limitations of this study, the creation of this educational course and its implementation was beneficial for graduating undergraduates with a broader global perspective and an appreciation of the importance of delivering person-centred culturally sensitive dental care.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article.

Solving dental problems in general practice

Affiliation.

• 1 [email protected]
• PMID: 19350070

Background: Dentistry is a small component of the undergraduate medical curriculum, however many patients with oral disease seek advice from their doctor. Problems include dental pain, abscesses, avulsed teeth and fractured jaws. Some patients associate the concept of dental treatment with negative emotions (ie. fear), and doctors are generally seen as caring professionals who might provide reassurance and guidance.

Objective: Solving dental problems often requires operative treatment which doctors cannot provide. Options may seem limited to antibiotics and analgesics, however neither treatment may be effective, and antibiotic treatment may be inappropriate. This article aims to provide practical advice to doctors regarding patients with dental problems.

Discussion: Common dental problems such as acute pain, bleeding tooth sockets, and trauma are rarely life threatening but are time consuming for the medical practitioner and require immediate solutions. Suggestions for diagnosis and early management are offered.

• Antibiotic Prophylaxis
• Dental Care*
• Diphosphonates / adverse effects
• Edema / etiology
• Edema / therapy
• Family Practice / statistics & numerical data*
• Gingival Hemorrhage / therapy
• Jaw Diseases / chemically induced
• Oral Surgical Procedures / adverse effects
• Osteonecrosis / chemically induced
• Pain Management
• Postoperative Complications
• Surgical Wound Infection / therapy
• Tooth Diseases* / diagnosis
• Tooth Diseases* / therapy
• Diphosphonates

• Member Login

How (and Why) to Prepare for Tough Questions When Selling or Hiring

What kind of impression does your practice make?

Whether you’re selling or hiring, your success hinges on what potential buyers or hires think about your practice. And that impression often goes beyond the initial curb appeal. ( See: 5 Easy Ways to Boost Your Practice’s Curb Appeal .)

When dentists are looking to join a new practice, whether as an owner or associate, they’re wise to look beyond that first impression. In fact, a smart candidate will take the time to dig deeper to see how well the practice runs. After all, the practice could become their professional home!

Think about buying a home. Even if the house is professionally landscaped and freshly painted, you’re going to look at the details and ask questions. In fact, you probably hire a professional to help you investigate all the house’s systems. How old is the furnace? Does the roof have any signs of damage? Are there hints of foundation problems? You ask all these questions to ensure that the home you’re about to invest in will be right for you – comfortable and secure, with no messy surprises.

Someone joining a practice should do the same thing. By investigating how well the practice runs, they can ensure that the practice they’re investing their time and/or money in will be right for them – comfortable and secure, with no messy surprises.

Great candidates ask tough questions

If someone asks tough questions, don’t be offended or put off. Rather, realize that the candidate is trying to ensure that the practice is right for them – and that they share your vision of success. If they take the job and discover that outdated collections policies delay their payments by months, they will not be happy. Nor do they want to discover that they have a different vision of how the dental team should work together.

A candidate who asks tough questions or wants to see the details is typically more invested in the practice’s success than one who accepts things at face value. By doing their due diligence, the candidate is ensuring that they can succeed in the practice – and contribute to the practice’s overall success.

So if you’re preparing to sell or hire, pay attention to the details and be prepared to answer candidates’ questions. Better yet, use the examples below to showcase how great your practice really is! Doing so can infuse a candidate with the confidence they need to accept your offer.

Document strong policies to indicate that the practice is well run

While a potential buyer will absolutely ask about the practice’s collections policies, smart associates will too. After all, they want to know how they will get paid. Make sure your policies are clearly documented. As an owner, you should ask yourself:

• When was the last time I reviewed the collections policies? Do they account for all our current payers? If there are high rates of rejection, consider making changes.
• Which plans are accepted? When did I last review this?
• When did I last update the fee schedules? (Check out the ADA’s Survey of Dental Fees , free to members.)

Take some time to review all your policies. Work with your business manager, CPA, or other team members to make any necessary updates. An owner who can show current, thoughtful policies is more likely to be taken seriously by potential buyers and associates.

Define team members’ roles and interactions

Even tiny practices need a basic employee manual that spells out each team member’s responsibilities. After all, roles can vary between practices. In one practice, dental assistants may provide the doctor with four-handed assistance from start to finish, while in others they may place and polish restorations themselves.

Incoming dentists may be used to dental assistants performing all the functions allowed by their state’s dental practice act, and be surprised if they don’t. Remember, the way the staff perform their jobs greatly affects day-to-day work for the dentist. A disconnect could lead to frustration.

Need help creating or updating an employee manual? See the ADA Practical Guide to Creating and Updating an Employee Policy Manual .

Create a plan for expansion or transition

Have you thought through how the new dentist will be incorporated into your practice? Having a plan – and talking about it during the interview process – can make or break a successful transition. Again, an incoming dentist wants to know that they will be set up to succeed when they join your practice.

Ideally, you should think through these points before you begin your search. But it’s never too late. Develop a plan that answers these questions:

• How will they get patients? Will you re-allocate existing patients, or will they need to recruit? If the latter, will you support that effort with marketing or other resources?
• What will their production targets be? Consider setting a schedule to review and adjust these targets as needed, perhaps after three or six months.
• Which operatories will the new dentist work from? Will they have designated staff?

Involve your current staff in your plan. Make sure they understand that they are crucial to the practice’s success. Their cooperation can help the new dentist start strong. Clearly articulate how you intend to allocate treatments. Ensure that they know why you are hiring this particular person so they can share that confidence with patients.

Our What Went Wrong: The Practice Wasn’t Ready for an Associate post details more ways that you can prepare your practice for a new dentist.

Prepare for a successful transition

Whether you’re selling or hiring, it’s worth investing some time to put your practice in the best light possible. Try to envision your practice as a new dentist and be honest with yourself: Are things organized? Does the practice run smoothly? What policy or process changes might improve the practice’s overall success? Your long-standing team may also have valuable suggestions!

Then, as you approach your transition, create your free ADA Practice Transitions profile. We recently expanded our dentist matching platform to serve dentists nationwide, and can help you find the right dentist for your practice. And when you sign up, you gain access to an ADA Advisor who can guide you through every step, from reviewing your profile to helping you and the new dentist find a rhythm, well after they join your practice.

Patient Problems

Patient Problem-Solving with Scripts: A 5-Step Process

Some problems will inevitably arise between your practice and your patients, even though you’ve done everything in your power to avoid such situations. You can’t prevent these issues totally. You can, however, figure out what would be the best way to deal with each scenario and then create patient problem solving scripts to guide you and your team.

To prepare for non-clinical problems that involve patients, follow these five steps:

1. Draw up a list of possible issues.

At a special team meeting or during a Monthly Business Review, brainstorm patient-related scenarios that may occur. These will be based in part on problems you’ve experienced in the past. There are three main areas in which dental practices are likely to encounter difficulties:

• Scheduling - Problems with scheduling occur frequently (in some practices, daily). Scheduling issues include patients not scheduling their next appointment at checkout, last-minute cancellations, no-shows and patients who show up late for their appointments.
• Collections - Among the most stressful in dental offices, these problems are all too common. List the types of payment issues your team has to deal with, from the incidental to the serious.
• Negative Comments - Criticism of your practice can come in several forms. Patients may complain to you or members of your team. You may get negative feedback from patient surveys. Disgruntled patients may attack your reputation online.

2. Define objectives for resolving each problem.

In a given situation, what outcome would be best for all parties? What would you like to see happen? Problem resolution often requires some negotiation and compromise, but you’ll play your role better if you focus on moving toward a reasonable goal.

3. Plan how to accomplish those objectives.

Working together with team members—especially those who will be directly involved in addressing a problem—figure out a fair and reasonable solution and define what conditions must be met and what steps must be taken to achieve it.

4. Translate that strategy into scripting.

With your goals and strategic plan in mind, construct your side of conversations with patients, including variations based on patients’ reactions. These scripts will serve as pathways to the best possible outcomes.

5. Use script training to prepare everyone.

Once your scripts are ready, schedule training sessions in which team members role-play with each other. They’ll learn the problem-solving process that the scripts map out… and also how to follow that process using their own words.

Go through this process and, when a problem arises, you and your team will know immediately what to say and do. Problem situations will be far less stressful, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you did your best to resolve the issue and preserve the mutually-beneficial relationship between patient and practice.

This resource was provided by Levin Group , a leading dental consulting firm that provides dentists innovative management and marketing systems that result in increased patient referrals, production and profitability, while lowering stress. Since 1985, dentists have relied on Levin Group dental consulting to increase production.

Top 100+ SQL Interview Questions and Practice Exercises

• jobs and career
• sql practice
• sql interview questions

Table of Contents

Review Your SQL Knowledge

Practice regularly, familiarize yourself with the testing platform, prepare for different types of questions, additional tips, explore 55+ general sql interview questions, practice, practice, practice, …, sql cheat sheet, data analysis in sql, window functions, common table expressions, advanced sql, good luck with your interview.

Are you gearing up for a SQL interview? This article is packed with over 100 SQL interview questions and practical exercises, organized by topic, to help you prepare thoroughly and approach your interview with confidence.

SQL is essential for many jobs, like data analysis, data science, software engineering, data engineering, testing, and many others. Preparing well for a SQL interview is crucial, no matter what role you're aiming for.

Searching for a new job can be really stressful, whether you're choosing to switch, have been laid off, or are looking for your first job. That's why being well-prepared is essential.

In this article, I've gathered over 100 SQL interview questions and exercises. These questions are spread across various articles published at LearnSQL.com. I have organized the articles by topic. Feel free to explore only the topics related to your specific job. I've also included tips to help you prepare for your interview.

SQL Interview Preparation Tips

Start preparing for your SQL interview well in advance. Once you're invited to an interview (Congratulations!), ask your recruiter what to expect and what is the format of the interview. For the SQL part you can usually expect coding exercises on an automated testing platform, a take-home assignment, or a whiteboard session.

The key to performing well in a SQL interview is practice. You'll likely be nervous, so the more familiar you are with SQL, the more instinctive your responses will become. Practice a variety of SQL problems so that querying becomes second nature to you.

If your interview involves using a specific coding platform, try to get comfortable with it beforehand. Many platforms offer a demo or practice session, so take advantage of this feature to familiarize yourself with the interface. This familiarity can help reduce stress and improve your performance during the actual interview.

• Coding Platform Questions: Whether during the interview or as a take-home task, make sure you understand the typical questions and problems that might appear on these platforms. Practice solving similar problems under timed conditions.
• Whiteboard Interviews: Be ready to write code in pseudocode and discuss your thought process. Focus on explaining the concepts and logic behind your solutions more than the exact syntax, which demonstrates a deeper understanding of the problem-solving process.
• Review Key SQL Concepts: Make sure you're comfortable with all fundamental SQL operations such as joins, subqueries, window functions, and aggregation. Also, review more advanced topics if the job role demands it.
• Mock Interviews: Consider doing mock interviews with friends or mentors to simulate the interview environment. This practice can help you manage time and stress effectively.
• Rest Well: Ensure you're well-rested before the interview day; a clear mind will help you think and perform better.

By incorporating these strategies into your preparation, you can approach your SQL interview with confidence and increase your chances of success.

Begin by refreshing your SQL knowledge, particularly if you haven't used it in a while. In this section we have collected some resources to assist you.

Our "SQL Basics" course is perfect for beginners or anyone needing a brief review. It covers both basic and intermediate SQL topics. In this course, you will actively write SQL code in various exercises, which will help you grow more confident in your SQL skills as you advance.

After you have refreshed the basics, check out these articles filled with SQL interview questions to help you prepare:

• Complete SQL Practice for Interviews — includes 16 SQL interview questions with practical exercises.
• 16 SQL Interview Questions for Business Analysts — SQL interview questions tailored for analysts.
• 8 Common Entry Level SQL Developer Interview Questions — great for beginners.
• Top 15 SQL Interview Questions in 2021 — a compilation of recent and relevant questions.

After refreshing your SQL skills, it’s important to keep practicing. Interviews can be stressful, and even straightforward topics can become challenging under pressure. The more you practice, the more confidently you can handle questions and problem-solving during an interview.

Here are some practice resources we recommend:

• SQL Practice track – This series includes 10 comprehensive SQL practice courses to sharpen your skills, perfect for those looking for hands-on practice. Key courses in this track include:
• SQL Practice Set – Provides a range of exercises across various SQL topics and databases.
• SQL Practice: A Store – Specifically designed for data analysts, this course offers practical SQL tasks using a database from an online store.
• SQL Practice: Blog & Traffic Data – Perfect for marketers and data analysts, this course focuses on analyzing traffic data from a pet store blog.
• SQL Practice Databases – Gathers a variety of datasets for you to practice with. With no guided exercises, you are encouraged to explore the data, formulate your own questions, and find the answers yourself.

You can find many SQL practice materials and premium resources in Your Guide to SQL Practice at LearnSQL.com .

Lastly, we recommend our SQL Basics Cheat Sheet . It is a quick reference guide that covers basic SQL syntax. Keep it handy as you review your SQL knowledge and practice your skills.

Explore 50+ Specific SQL Topic Interview Questions

After you have refreshed your basic SQL knowledge, you might notice certain topics that are trickier for you or more relevant to your specific job role. In this section we've compiled resources that help you prepare for interview questions on specific SQL topics.

JOINs are a fundamental SQL construction used to combine data from multiple tables. They are also an essential topic at any SQL interview.

In our article The Top 10 SQL JOIN Interview Questions with Answers we've gathered the 10 most common questions about SQL JOINs that you might encounter in interviews. For each question we give you a detailed answer that will highlight what the interviewer is looking for in each question.

If you want to practice SQL JOINs, we recommend our interactive SQL JOINs course . It focuses on exercises specifically about SQL JOINs and contains 93 practice exercises to help you get confidence in your joining skills.

Additionally, we recommend Your Complete Guide to SQL JOINs , a comprehensive article that covers the basic knowledge of SQL JOINs, with additional articles and other resources on our platform.

The GROUP BY clause, paired with aggregate functions, is fundamental in SQL for calculating statistics like counts, averages, and sums from your data. This topic is essential for any SQL interview.

Our article Top 9 SQL GROUP BY Interview Questions provides a collection of the most frequently asked interview questions about GROUP BY . Each question includes a detailed answer, making sure you're prepared to discuss these topics during an interview.

If you are looking for an intermediate-level practice of GROUP BY topics, we recommend our Creating Basic SQL Reports course. It offers 100 exercises that focus on nuances of GROUP BY that can be asked about during an interview. It’s a hands-on course where you write your own SQL queries to help you better understand the issues and commit them to memory.

Furthermore, our article GROUP BY and Aggregate Functions: A Complete Overview gives a thorough explanation of GROUP BY and aggregate functions. This comprehensive guide is an excellent resource to round out your study, ensuring you have a robust understanding of how these functions work and how they can be applied in various scenarios.

We know that many of our users work specifically in the domain of data analysis. For these users, we have prepared an article 25 SQL Interview Questions for Data Analysts , which collects common SQL interview questions that can be asked for a role of data analyst. The article covers intermediate and advanced topics, like CTEs or window functions.

Window functions are an advanced SQL topic. Window functions are particularly useful when writing complex reports in SQL. For this reason, they are essential in data analysis and will come up in any data analysis interview.

Our article Top 10 SQL Window Functions Interview Questions contains the most common interview questions you might encounter regarding window functions. Each question has a detailed answer and links to further resources to help you dive deeper into each topic.

For those looking to refresh their knowledge through practice, we recommend our specialized courses:

• Window Functions – Covers the entire syntax of SQL window functions through interactive, hands-on exercises, making it ideal for those new to window functions or needing a refresher.
• Window Functions Practice Set - Aimed at those already familiar with window functions, this course provides additional practice to help refine your skills and prepare for more complex interview questions.

Additionally, we recommend our Window Functions Cheat Sheet , a handy quick reference guide for window functions. For a more thorough review, SQL Window Functions Guide is a comprehensive article that covers the basics of window functions with links to additional resources.

Common Table Expressions, or CTEs, is another advanced topic crucial for SQL interviews. CTEs help you organize and manage long and complex queries, make writing complex reports easier, and help you query hierarchical structures through recursive queries.

Our article Top 5 SQL CTE Interview Questions compiles essential CTE-related questions you're likely to face in interviews.in an article. Each question in the article is paired with a detailed answer to help you understand what is the most important in each response.

We also recommend our interactive Recursive Queries course that covers the syntax of CTEs through practice. The course is designed to teach the syntax and use of CTEs, including recursive CTEs, through hands-on exercises.

Finally, check out these articles to help you get ready for an advanced SQL interview:

• How to Prepare for an Advanced SQL Interview
• Top 27 Advanced SQL Interview Questions with Answers
• 15 Tricky SQL Interview Questions for Experienced Users

We also suggest our Advanced SQL Practice track, which is an online series of SQL practice courses designed for advanced users.

In this article we have gathered over 100 SQL interview questions and 20 additional resources compiled here to ensure you're thoroughly prepared. To further enhance your preparation, we recommend our All Forever SQL Package . It provides access to all our current and future courses in a single purchase, making it an excellent investment for your ongoing SQL education and interview readiness.

Sign up for free at LearnSQL.com and explore our SQL courses offer . Each month, we offer one of our courses—typically a practical, hands-on course—for free . This gives you a perfect opportunity to try out our resources without any commitment and see how they can help you succeed in your SQL interview. Take advantage of these offers to boost your confidence and sharpen your SQL skills effectively.

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Patient Problems

Patient Problem-Solving with Scripts: A 5-Step Process

Some problems will inevitably arise between your practice and your patients, even though you’ve done everything in your power to avoid such situations. You can’t prevent these issues totally. You can, however, figure out what would be the best way to deal with each scenario and then create patient problem solving scripts to guide you and your staff.

To prepare for non-clinical problems that involve patients, follow these five steps:

At a special team meeting or during a Monthly Business Review, brainstorm patient-related scenarios that may occur. These will be based in part on problems you’ve experienced in the past. There are three main areas in which dental practices are likely to encounter difficulties:

• Scheduling – Problems with scheduling occur frequently (in some practices, daily). Scheduling issues include patients not scheduling their next appointment at checkout, last-minute cancellations, no-shows and patients who show up late for their appointments.
• Collections – Among the most stressful in dental offices, these problems are all too common. List the types of payment issues your staff has to deal with, from the incidental to the serious.
• Negative Comments – Criticism of your practice can come in several forms. Patients may complain to you or members of your staff. You may get negative feedback from patient surveys. Disgruntled patients may attack your reputation online..

Define objectives for resolving each problem . In a given situation, what outcome would be best for all parties? What would you like to see happen? Problem resolution often requires some negotiation and compromise, but you’ll play your role better if you focus on moving toward a reasonable goal.

Plan how to accomplish those objectives. Working together with team members—especially those who will be directly involved in addressing a problem—figure out a fair and reasonable solution and define what conditions must be met and what steps must be taken to achieve it.

Translate that strategy into scripting. With your goals and strategic plan in mind, construct your side of conversations with patients, including variations based on patients’ reactions. These scripts will serve as pathways to the best possible outcomes.

Use script training to prepare everyone. Once your scripts are ready, schedule training sessions in which team members role-play with each other. They’ll learn the problem-solving process that the scripts map out… and also how to follow that process using their own words.

This resource was provided by Levin Group , a leading dental consulting firm that provides dentists innovative management and marketing systems that result in increased patient referrals, production and profitability, while lowering stress. Since 1985, dentists have relied on Levin Group dental consulting to increase production.

Class 6 Geography MCQ PDF Book | 6th Grade Geography MCQ Questions and Answers PDF

Quiz questions chapter 1-7 & practice tests with answers key (class 6 geography textbook notes, mcqs & study guide), publisher description.

The Class 6 Geography Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ Quiz) with Answers PDF (Grade 6 Geography MCQ PDF Download): Quiz Questions Chapter 1-7 & Practice Tests with Answers Key (Geography Textbook MCQs, Notes & Study Guide) includes revision guide for problem solving with hundreds of solved MCQs. Class 6 Geography MCQ with Answers PDF book covers basic concepts, analytical and practical assessment tests. "Class 6 Geography MCQ" PDF book helps to practice test questions from exam prep notes. The Class 6 Geography MCQs with Answers PDF eBook includes revision guide with verbal, quantitative, and analytical past papers, solved MCQs. Class 6 Geography Multiple Choice Questions and Answers (MCQs) PDF : Free download chapter 1, a book covers solved quiz questions and answers on chapters: Agriculture, climate and natural vegetation, earth landforms, facts about earth, geography map skills, introduction to geography, weather and climate workbook for middle school exam's papers. Class 6 Geography Quiz Questions and Answers PDF download, free eBook’s sample covers beginner's solved questions, textbook's study notes to practice tests. The book Class 6 Geography MCQs Chapter 1-7 PDF includes middle school question papers to review practice tests for exams. Class 6 Geography Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) with Answers PDF digital edition eBook, a study guide with textbook chapters' tests for NEET/Jobs/Entry Level competitive exam. 6th Grade Geography Practice Tests Chapter 1-7 PDF covers problems solving in self-assessment workbook from geography textbook and practical eBook chapter-wise as: Chapter 1: Agriculture MCQs Chapter 2: Climate and Natural Vegetation MCQs Chapter 3: Earth Landforms MCQs Chapter 4: Facts about Earth MCQs Chapter 5: Geography Map Skills MCQs Chapter 6: Introduction to Geography MCQs Chapter 7: Weather and Climate MCQs Practice "Agriculture MCQ" PDF, book's chapter 1 test to solve MCQ questions: Purposes of agriculture, types of agriculture, and what is agriculture. Practice "Climate and Natural Vegetation MCQ" PDF, book's chapter 2 test to solve MCQ questions: Coniferous forest, earth main ecosystems, natural vegetation, temperate grasslands, tropical grasslands, tropical rainforest biome, and tropical rainforests destruction. Practice "Earth Landforms MCQ" PDF, book's chapter 3 test to solve MCQ questions: Types of landforms. Practice "Facts about Earth MCQ" PDF, book's chapter 4 test to solve MCQ questions: Land mass, oceans and continents, planet mercury, solar system, and universe. Practice "Geography Map Skills MCQ" PDF, book's chapter 5 test to solve MCQ questions: Finding direction, finding location, map scales, map symbols, maps and directions, and types of maps. Practice "Introduction to Geography MCQ" PDF, book's chapter 6 test to solve MCQ questions: What is geography. Practice "Weather and Climate MCQ" PDF, book's chapter 7 test to solve MCQ questions: Air temperature, climate changes, earth atmosphere, elements of weather, equatorial climate, factors affecting climate, equator, major climate types, polar climate region, polar climates, temperate climate, tropical climate, units of measure, water vapors, weather and climate, and weather forecast.

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Welcome to the daily solving of our PROBLEM OF THE DAY with Yash Dwivedi. We will discuss the entire problem step-by-step and work towards developing an optimized solution. This will not only help you brush up on your concepts of Bit Manipulation but also build up problem-solving skills. Given a binary representation in the form of a string( s ) of a number n, the task is to find a binary representation of n+1.

Note : Output binary string should not contain leading zeros .

Input: s = "10" Output: 11 Explanation: "10" is the binary representation of 2 and binary representation of 3 is "11"

Give the problem a try before going through the video. All the best!!! Problem Link: https://practice.geeksforgeeks.org/problems/binary-representation-of-next-number3648/1