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ADA Community Brief This Issue: Younger Dentists Are More Connected
Younger Dentists Are More Connected More technology, more connectivity, more of the time—those are the findings of the ADA’s 2006 Technology Survey. Dentists as a whole are focusing more on technology in both their professional and personal lives, but the youngest dentists—those 35 years-old and younger— show the highest levels of interest and participation in almost every technology category. Just how important is the internet? Over 59% of the young dentists described the internet as “very important in professional life on a daily basis,” compared to only 38% for the profession as a whole. While most dentists are connected to the internet, 8-13% does not have internet access at all in their homes, and approximately 10% of dentists use a dial-up modem at home. If you look just at young dentists, 100% of survey respondents have high-speed internet connections in their homes. They are more likely to use the internet frequently than dentists as a whole. Though significant numbers of dentists said that they used the internet once a day or once a week, 80% of younger dentists said they checked the internet several times per day. And while online, younger dentists do more of almost everything than their older colleagues, from checking e-mail to professional research to participating in online continuing education. One reason younger dentists access the internet so frequently is the number and quality of their internet connections in the office. When it comes to using the internet in the dental office, almost 24% of all dentists surveyed reported either no internet or a dial-up modem in the office. But among the younger dentists, 100% reported a high-speed internet connection for use in their offices. Younger dentists were more likely to maintain paperless offices and to employ teams who use computers for more administrative functions, from submitting claims to maintaining records to scheduling patients. And younger dentists are more likely to maintain a computer work station in the operatory for use by clinical care providers. Continuing the trend, younger dentists are more likely than the profession as a whole to have a practice website. Younger dentists also tend to use sophisticated technology in their practices, from digital x-rays to fiber optic handpieces. One exception is the use of early caries detection devices. Established dentists are more likely to use these devices than are new dentists, perhaps due to the relatively higher cost of this technology. So what does the future hold for dental practice management? As younger dentists establish themselves in the dental workforce, they are bringing an affinity for technology with them. If the trends discovered in the 2006 Technology Survey continue into the future, the next generation of dentists is poised to make the dental offices of the future increasingly digital, connected and technologically sophisticated. Information excerpted from the 2006 Dental Technology Survey Report. Find Out More/Place an Order Good News for Dentists about Living Longer If you’re a Boomer, a Millennial or somewhere in between, you’ll likely live longer than the members of previous generations. But do you also know that you may live a healthier and longer life because you are a dentist? According to a study completed in 2007 by Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, which underwrites and administers the ADA Insurance Plans, the mortality of dentists and spouses insured under the ADA Term Life Plan is about half the mortality of the general insured population. Several factors may contribute to this result, says Tom Kacirek, FSA, MAAA, a Great-West Life actuary. “Our individual underwriting of each applicant favorably impacts mortality results because we make sure that everyone covered under the policy falls within an acceptable range of risk. In addition, the ADA Term Life Plan benefits from a generally healthier pool of applicants. We can say this because a larger percentage of dentists qualify for the Preferred (best) risk class than we would expect to be the case for the general insured population using the same underwriting criteria, based on a 2002 study by the Society of Actuaries.” As to why dentists tend to be healthier, Kacirek observes, “Because dentists are in the medical field, they may be more aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Access to care is another likely factor. Dentists earn higher incomes than the average population, which gives them the means to obtain the health care they need.” Longer, healthier lives translate into lower life insurance costs, too. As an example, 25 years ago, a 45-year-old dentist with a Standard risk classification paid $34.45 annually in net premiums for each $25,000 of ADA Term Life coverage, including waiver of premium and accidental death benefits. In 2007, a 45-year-old dentist with the same Standard risk classification paid $24.97 for the same coverage—a 28 percent reduction compared with 1983. A 45-year-old dentist who qualified for the Plan’s Preferred rates in 2007 paid just $17.39 per $25,000 of coverage—50 percent less than a healthy 45-year-old paid in 1983. The bottom line: If you’ve been meaning to buy life insurance, or add to the coverage you already have, the cost may be the lowest in generations. In addition, there could be significant advantages to being insured as part of a select pool of your peers. To get information specific to your needs, call an ADA Plan Specialist at 888-463-4545, or find rate quotes and other information online at www.ada.insurance.org. Editor’s note: This article does not constitute legal or financial advice. Please seek professional input appropriate to your situation. Find Out More Respect Cultural Differences in Your Patient Base Our world is fast becoming a global marketplace. Americans are doing business across cultures with people from increasingly diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. As a dentist you likely have a diverse patient base, especially if you practice in certain geographic regions of the country. The Census Bureau estimates that by 2040, ethnic minorities will represent more than half of the U.S. population. In 2000, 70% of the U.S. population was Caucasian, 13% was Hispanic, 12% African American, 4% Asian, and 2% was two or more races. By 2050, 53% of our population will be Caucasian, 23% Hispanic, 14% African American and 10% Asian. African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans are now the “majority minority” groups. The American workplace is changing and so too must dentists if they are to effectively work with diverse office staff and patient populations. Today’s dentists develop long-term patient relationships and create work environments that respect and celebrate cultural differences. This will build your practice and help your staff function more effectively as a team. Understanding the nuances of various cultures also helps to promote compliance with your dental treatment plans. Since all staff members will be interacting with patients from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, it is important that every team member understand some basic cultural differences in communication style. You may wish to hold informal seminars with your office staff to focus on issues related to patient communication. A seminar can help reinforce the importance of recognizing cultural differences and how these differences impact the care you provide to patients. Staff may learn from one another as they share information and experiences about working with different patients. It’s also helpful to hire staff that reflects your patient base. These staff members can be excellent sources of information about various ethnic and religious groups. In turn, your patients may feel more comfortable in your dental practice when they see staff members who belong to their ethnic or religious group. Health professionals in all specialties would benefit from increasing their understanding of different cultures to help eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care, according to the September 7, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a survey of more than 2,000 medical residents, while 96% knew it was important to address cross-cultural issues in providing care, many thought they were not prepared to do so in certain areas. One in four said they were not prepared to deal with patients who had health beliefs at odds with Western medicine or those who were new immigrants. Twenty percent said they were ill-equipped to address cases where religious beliefs affected care. The report also found that 24% cited a lack of skills to identify relevant cultural customs that impact care. Excerpt from the publication Multicultural Communications in the Dental Office, available through the ADA Catalog. Find Out More/Place an Order "The Culturally Competent Dental Practice," www.ada.org/goto/seminars, call x2908 Hot Button Resources and Opportunities for New Dentists Organized dentistry can be confusing. So many resources and so much information, how can a new practitioner know what's available to help, or how to get involved? The ADA Committee on the New Dentist (CND) can help. As a standing committee of the ADA Board of Trustees, the CND works to help integrate new dentists (those out of dental school less than ten years) into organized dentistry. On the leadership side, the CND provides the ADA with insight into the perspectives, trends, needs and interests of new practitioners. On the resource side, the CND has publications, an annual CE conference, and a Network of over 200 state and local new dentist committees to help new dentists get involved and become aware of all the benefits of membership. Find Out More Check This Out: Ideas from the ADA Library Staff Generational labels such as Boomers, Millenials, GenX and others can become confusing. Wikipedia has an entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations with a chart that provides an overview of the groupings of different American generations. And, here are two recent articles in the dental literature about multigenerational staff: Stanley KB, Age to age: insight into managing a multigenerational staff Winland RD, Working together Contact the library by phone or e-mail if you’d like copies of these articles. Find Out More: 211 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 6th Floor To view the 130 courses in the ADA's online library, go to www.adaceonline.org. Products with Glass Ionomer Compared The current issue of the ADA Professional Product Review™ (PPR. Vol. 3, Issue 1, Winter 2008) evaluates and compares three dental product categories—each of which has products that contain glass ionomer as a component. “These products make up a complex spectrum of materials, often with resins as a major structural component,” said Dr. David Sarrett, editor of the PPR. “I think readers will find it helpful to review the major advantages and relative importance of each material for a particular clinical application.” For a complete description of the test methods, visit www.ada.org/goto/ppr. The PPR is a quarterly publication sent to ADA member dentists with a copy of The Journal of the American Dental Association. The newsletter is free to ADA members and available by subscription to non-members. Find Out More What differences in the approach to dental care and hygiene do you notice in your practice related to patient generational groups? Previous Issue’s Survey: What resources do you think are needed to help dentists implement Evidence Based Dentistry (EBD) at the point of care?
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