By: Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD,
Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine

Between the years 1900 to 2000, America went from Henry Ford’s Model A to the space shuttle. America’s real gross national product grew 10 fold and real income per person tripled. Another way of saying real income tripled is to say Americans can now purchase three times as many goods and services.

America’s growth from 1929–1969 was 3.3% per year. This growth is believed to be from:

1. 1.3% from an expansion of our population and labor force. The greatest honor anyone could ever bestow upon any country is to immigrate to that country.
2. 0.5% was from the expansion of capital for tools, machinery, plants and factories called capital accumulation. Think 300 rpm NiTis, quick setting materials like, light-cured composite; ultrasonic scalers; digital x-rays; faster cutting burs, like Dr. Scott Perkins’ new Samurai burs; computers in the front office and every operatory; and Motorola walkie-talkies for each staff member to communicate with one another and stop running around.
3. 1.5% was from an increase in the education and skills of the labor force creating new technology and innovations, which increased our productivity. Think free online CE on www.DentalTown.com with the best courses around. Check out the following:
• “Practical Oral Surgery for the General Dentist: Surgical Extractions” by Jay B. Reznick, DMD, MD
• “Excellence in Cast Gold” by Dr. Michael Hrankowski
• “Class II Posterior Composites” by Marshall White, DMD
• “Practical Oral Surgery for the General Dentist: Medical Evaluation of the Oral Surgery Patient” by Jay B. Reznick, DMD, MD
• “Treating Spacing and Crowding Problems with Invisalign”
• “Dental Insurance: Coding and Language to Help Patients Receive and Understand Their Benefits” by Carol Tekavec, RDH

Henry Ford’s gift to America was not the Model A; it was a new model to increase productivity––the assembly line. The only way to make the entire world twice as rich is to make each person twice as productive. I hope Townies become more productive by becoming more educated and by adopting the latest new innovations and technologies. If every dentist and hygienist could double their productivity, earthlings would have twice as many dental goods and services.

To increase production at our Today’s Dental family practice in Phoenix, we have gone digital even further by implementing digital signatures for our patient consent forms, medical history forms, questionnaires and treatment plans. We did this with a new program called “DentForms” by MedicTalk, Inc.

To bring this new technology into the practice, we first installed e-pads to digitally capture the patient’s signature in all eight of our operatories and front office workstations.

Second, we installed the software on our fileserver and on each workstation. Installation of the program is very easy and phone support was fantastic!

Now, here’s how it works. We loaded all of our forms into the DentForms program (this is customizable for your own office). It is very easy to do and the program is very user friendly. (If you want a copy of our 80 forms just send me an e-mail at Forms@DentalTown.com.)

From the operatory the assistant/hygienist highlights a patient in SoftDent and clicks on an icon in the lower right hand corner of the screen to bring up the DentForms software. The patient’s information is automatically merged into DentForms from SoftDent. From the main screen choose the form the patient needs to sign. Have the patient read it and sign on the e-pad. (We have copies of our consent forms laminated in each operatory in case patients have trouble reading the form on our monitors. After reading the laminated copy, have the patient sign the form on your screen.) All of these forms can be printed if needed and of course are saved for future viewing. There is also a place on each form for the doctor/hygienist to sign and a witness signature if needed.

Medical history update forms are also signed in the same way. Depending on the practice management software your practice uses, there may be a link between the medical history form in the program and the e-pad.

You may create questionnaires in DentForms as well. An example of the questions we use for emergency patients is in the accompanying box. We use two different questionnaires, one for new patients and one for emergency patients. Again, this is all customizable for your practice. Take an existing questionnaire and edit or create your own. The questions appear on the screen one at a time, as she answers the first question, she clicks on “OK,” which brings up the next question. The questions can be programmed to be yes/no answers, multiple choice or free-hand typing answers. Once through the questionnaire the last prompt is to print the results and/or have the patient sign. This is done prior to the doctor’s examination, so all information is ready and available.

Our check-out station uses the e-pad for digital signatures on treatment plans. The SoftDent treatment plan will merge to MedicTalk and the form can be signed with the e-pad. Check to see if your practice management software has the capability for this feature. New patient forms can also be signed at the front desk, eliminating the need for scanning and shredding.

The digital signature has proven to be a huge time saver for both the front and back office. For more information on DentForms go to www.MedicTalk.com.