Editor's Note By: Carol Murphy, Executive Editor

As I write this column, the DentalTown online community (www.dentaltown.com) numbers 19,256 registered users. The tremendous growth of the community has necessitated a complete change in our message board software. It has taken a long time to find new software that was as user-friendly as our previous UBB boards and still would provide room for continual growth and upgrades.

There are many new features, I’m sure you’ll really like using. Replacing ‘Today’s Active Topics’ is a button called ‘Posted Today.’ In addition to easy access to the daily posts, you will now be able to view the top 50 most active message boards currently on the DentalTown website by clicking the ‘Most Active’ button.

One of my new favorite features is being able to scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and view a brand new feature called Statistics and Active Users. Within this section you can find out how many other Townies are logged on at the same time you are, the number of new posts made that day and the absolutely amazing number of total posts on the boards. You also have several options to obtain a notification of replies to your individual posts. You can choose to have an email sent to your own personal email account (such as Yahoo, Hotmail, or your own domain) indicating a reply has been made, or you can choose to have a message sent to your online inbox within the message boards (similar to private messaging).

This month our corporate spotlight is on CAESY Education Systems. The company, started by Bob Rondeau, DMD and his wife, Liz, came about as a result of a challenge they were experiencing in their own practice educating patients. After reading about this company’s educational products and future plans, visit DentalTown’s message boards for information on how fellow colleagues are integrating the CAESY education system into their practices.

Here is what Townie, Tim Tishler (Toothdoc) from Northbrook, IL posted about his experience with the CAESY system: “CAESY and your intraoral camera should go hand in hand. I can't imagine practicing without either one. I've had CAESY for almost 2 years and have it playing in each op from the time we get into the office in the morning, to the time we leave at night. There is no question that it sells more dentistry, not to mention how much endless time it saves you and your staff everyday. Definitely a thumbs up for CAESY!”

Be sure to read Part II of Townie Rod Kurthy, DMD’s ‘Amazing Bleaching Technique’. If you have any questions, you can email Rod directly at drrodger@cox.net, or better yet, get on the message boards and join in the discussion. Hope to see you online soon!