I'm a PC, but...

I'm a PC, but I love Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak's concepts of the personal computer.  While my business applications and home personal computer are all PCs, I own a myriad of Apple products., Ipods (6 in fact), and an Ipad.

We love browsing the Apple store for the latest and greatest in innovations.

Steve Jobs will be missed by millions, but mostly we will all miss what he may have thought of 10 or 20 years from now as technology caught up with his visions. ( perfect example of this is George Lucas waiting so many years and having to create his own tech in order to continue the Star Wars series, because 1970's tech wasn't where we are now)

I'm a PC but, I'm gonna miss Apple's core!

"You can Help Prevent Forest Fires"-Smokey the Bear

At a recent meeting of our Hygiene department we discussed being more proactive in our patient care approach.  Perhaps we can help our patients do a better job preventing cavities, and reduce our need for searching for them later.  Probably the most important conversation we have in our office with people is about home care.  We work with our patients, and help them find things they can do regularly to maintain the health of the mouth. We try to set attainable goals with them so that both our patients and ourselves won’t be disappointed, and hopefully this will help with their compliance.

Most people brush regularly (or so they say), so if we can use this behavior, and modify it to a more powerful tool, it is a win/win situation.  We try to make Brushing and Flossing more effective by adding in adjunctive therapies, such as: Prescription strength toothpastes in various modalities (for dry mouth, sensitivity, and enamel protection), Chlorhexidine Gluconate Oral Rinse 0.12%, topical paste with bio-available calcium and phosphate, and many others.

Effectiveness of these products comes from proper introduction and expectations of the products along with patient compliance.  Throwing too many items at once at a patient won’t make them use all these items, but introduced in a slow methodical and comprehensive approach has been observed by us to be effective.  Baby steps before running.  These simple steps have us believing the perhaps we can help prevent dental decay, thus reducing the amount of routine restorative procedures and the frequency need of radiographs.

We are working towards a cavity free society; we just need our patients to help us in this journey.   We only see a person a few times a year, and we have a limited time to get our message across, so we need to be effective and informative in explaining why and what we are suggesting for them.  After all, the other 360ish days their teeth are their own responsibility.  We just want to help.  Just  Sayin'.

QR Nation

OK, so who knows what a QR code is?  Those of you involved in Social Media do, but what about the rest of the general public.  People recognize them, but don't know what they are.  They are Quick Response codes,or the funny looking  square  bar codes that are popping up all over the place.

You can find them in all areas of our life:

Magazines
Supermarket packaging
online
promotional items

even in our Dental office.

We borrowed the idea from Dr Jason Lipscomb, of Social Media Dentists, and have a QR sign in each of our operatories that will link your smart phone/device directly to our Facebook page, so that more of our patients can be 'likes', and participate in what we are doing. 




While many people in our rural area don't have smart phones and question what the black and white squares are for (this I expected), I was surprised by the number of QR  symbols I saw at Comic Con and how few people seemed to know what to do with the information.

They were everywhere.  I found them on walls, banners, posters, even on a coaster in a restaurant.

They were used to get free goods, tickets for events, links to movie trailers, even a QR code scavenger hunt to win prizes.

Just this morning in my office I showed a patient how to connect to our Facebook page with the QR app on her phone.

It is no longer just good enough to be aware of ones surroundings, but now our surrounding s can take us to even more places than ever before.

Just Sayin'

Hiatus Over

For those of you that actually missed my Blog, here I am again.  For the rest of you, I'm back anyway.

Life  was getting in the way of living.  Too many obligations and responsibilities this summer interrupted my available time to sit down and type.  I think I'm getting back on track.


My goal to blog while I was at Comic Con with my son, never occurred.  i sent some tweets and the occasional Facebook update, but no real blogging.  For those of you unfamiliar with Comic Con, it is an extraordinary event with over 125,000 people mulling about the San Diego Convention Center.  Not just comic books, but TV, movies, media, books, Science fiction, fantasy, a tribute to the creative arts and popular culture.

If there is one thing that one takes away from this experience is patience.  Waiting in line at Disney is simply practice for the immense lines at this event.  Not just the thousands of people in them but the length of time they take.  It is a great place to meet people with similar interests, not unlike going to a convention based upon your profession, such as a Dental Conference (for me that is), but really do we all want to wait?  Apparently people don't mind if it is for things they 'want'.

One of my pet peeves is waiting, I am an on time person, I hate to wait.  I don't like to wait and I don't make my patients wait.  Unless there is an emergency appointment in my schedule, I will be on time.  We are in control, there is no saying, It was beyond my control.  We,re the ones who schedule the appointments, we have the control to keep things moving.

My thoughts for next year's Comic Con are a new pair of sneakers (running shoes for the younger crowd), and perhaps a collapsible folding chair to occasionally sit on rather than the concrete ground.

Just Sayin'

Midway to Where?

While sitting in Chicago Midway Airport, I’m wondering midway to where?  We are heading from Connecticut to California, and admitted my geography is not perfect but this isn’t midway. Part way perhaps.

While McD and other fast food chains thrive in a airport environment, these ‘smaller’ regional airports need to learn from the big guys, people need to eat.  If you have a two hour layover a sit down restaurant might be preferred over the quickie chains.

People, even travelers want service.  Whatever you do service with a smile.  A warm friendly setting is the true heart of any business’s success. 

As a service professional in a position where ‘no one supposedly likes to go’ we pride ourselves on our ‘customer services’.  We go out of our way for our patients, pillows, blankets, xm radio, et cetera. 

Just Sayin’ Safe travels everyone.

I have an App for that

There's an App for that.

This unusual phrase has become a very common sentence in our societal conversations.  Cell phones are a great means of communication, whether it be by voice or text.  But now they are the new swiss army knife in your pocket.

Admittedly, my phone doesn't have 2 different screw drivers (it has other drivers), a bottle opener, a scissor or a blade, but it has APPs.

Apps or applications are the ability to take a phone where phones have never gone before and they include:

Games: Angry Birds in particular
Flash Light
Strobe light  (in colors) for that disco mood
Camera
Camcorder
barcode scanner
air hockey
restaurant menus (with the calorie count, I'll never eat  again)
etc...
and my favorite...

The lightsaber!!

It allows me to relive 1977, and battle alongside Obi Wan against Darth Vader.

ok, so email, web access, and facebook and twitter are cool, but they are no match for the imagination of that 15 year old of years ago with a lightsaber in his pocket.

Just Sayin'

strong start

We all start out with the greatest of intentions....

When I started this blog a  few months ago i was posting it daily, including a few weekend days.  Now I am posting a few times a week.  It is not because I can't think of anything to write (ok, well sometimes that is true, but I have reserve ideas outlined), and not that life is less interesting. 

Actually life is very interesting and busy.  Now that the nice weather has arrived and we have more hours of sunshine, it seems like my task list never ends.  And this includes finding time to sit and write.  I am trying to spend quality time with my family and sitting at a keyboard isn't always the right answer.

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. 

A simple phrase, but very true.  This goes for family, friends, co-workers, employees and employers.  We use this philosophy in our office daily, but it applies everywhere.   When we 'yell' at our kids, don we all say I'm yelling because I care.

We recently hired a new dentist, who starts next week.  I am looking forward to her 'strong start', and her continued steady course in our practice family.  I am sure our patients (our family) will welcome her with open arms once they see the caring person that she is. (you can read about her on our website www.GriswoldDental.net ).

May we all enjoy the time we spend with our various 'families', and start strong and end strong.

Just Sayin'