Letters to the publisher

Thank you for your time and best wishes.
Sincerely,
Steven Crain, DDS

Greetings Steven,
I know you can get an OSHA training kit from the ADA’s catalog at www.ADA.org, but I don’t think it’s available on CD. You can also go the the OSHA website at www.osha.gov and find the regulations there. Please post this question on the message boards at www.dentaltown.com, maybe one of the townies has another source of information. Have a great day!
Howard

“Leadership is an art...”
I wanted to thank you again for the tour of your office. I’m the fellow who drove from Eastland Texas to San Diego and stopped by to visit a couple of weeks ago. You have assembled a great set of people to enjoy life with. Everyone was high enough in self-esteem to retain his or her individuality and be on the same team. With that many people doing so well, I’m impressed. Hats off! Leadership is an art, and you do it quite well. I’ve just finished your 30-day MBA course (it took me a year) but I give it an A. It pointed me toward a good point of view and some good books. I’ve seen you speak 7 times (mostly at The Richards Report) and I always come away glad I saw you. You are the best voice in dentistry as far as I’m concerned. I grew up 25 miles from Earl Estep, whom I met at a poker game when I was 14, and it had a HELL of an influence on my career choice (and I’ve read all his stuff and have talked to him a few times), but you have taken teeth to a new level! THANKS for all you do Howard, from one good ole Catholic Boy to another, THANKS AGAIN!
Chip Rice

Greetings Chip,
Thanks so much for the kind words! Your ears must have been burning because I was lecturing at the Greater New York meeting on Monday and ran into Joe Blaes DDS. I told him you stopped by Today’s Dental on your way back from his course, that you really enjoyed his course, and learned a lot from it. He remembered you clear as a bell because you drove the whole way since your wife didn’t want to fly, and then she didn’t even want to drive. We are living in some crazy times! I stopped by ground zero after the convention! It reunited my anger stage all over again! Anyway, it was great to hear from you and thanks again for the kind note!
Howard

Congratulations to the winner of the October giveaway—a Polaroid Camera
Here is the response from the lucky winner:

My luck is changing

It sure was a surprise to hear from you on Friday. I can honestly say I have not won anything in the last 27 years. Maybe my luck is changing.
Thanks again and I’m looking forward to using my new camera.
Matthew Gandolfo D.M.D.

Overhead percentage guidelines
Do you happen to have the general guidelines for overhead percentages handy such as staff salary, rent, lab and other operating expenses?
Len Ciuffreda

Greetings Len,
You have an excellent question. This is exactly why I developed the message boards at www.dentaltown.com. Instead of waiting to go to a lecture, www.dentaltown.com is the fastest, surest way to get unbiased, real world information, from a large selection of real world dentists. So log on and post this question. You already have e-mail and an Internet web site, so you are more than ready! It would be very interesting to see how my percentages vary with others. Every dentist has a different business model from the high end cost exquisite, to the very low end cost leadership.
But in answer to your question, I am reading verbatim from my October 31, 2001 Statement of Income, for our Today's Dental family practice in Phoenix Arizona.