Monday 28 January 2013

Dentist charged with dumping waste


Dentist charged with dumping waste
By DrBicuspid Staff
September 5, 2008 -- A Pennsylvania dentist has been charged with the Jersey Shore's most serious beach-dumping case in two decades, according to an Associated Press story.
Authorities said that Thomas McFarland Jr., D.D.S., took his motorboat to Townsend Inlet near Avalon on August 22 and dumped a bag full of some 300 dental-type needles, along with 180 cotton swabs and other materials from his Wynnewood, PA, office.
According to police affidavits, Dr. McFarland admitted tossing the material from his boat. Needles and other medical materials began washing up August 22 on the northernmost beaches of Avalon.
The debris forced beach closings in Avalon throughout the week leading up to Labor Day weekend. In all, more than 200 syringes were picked up.

Plastics chemical harms brain function in monkeys


Plastics chemical harms brain function in monkeys
By Reuters Health
September 5, 2008 -- NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Sep 5 - Scientists reported this week new evidence that low doses of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), widely used to make plastic food and drinking containers, can impair brain function in primates, extending the findings of previous research conducted in rats.
Whether the amount of BPA that leaches out of containers into food and beverages represents an environmental risk is a subject of controversy.
"Our primate model indicates that BPA could negatively affect brain function in humans," study investigator Tibor Hajszan said in a press release from the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.
Hajszan and colleagues examined the influence of continuous exposure to BPA at a daily dose representing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's current reference safe daily limit (50 micrograms per kilogram) in young adult African green monkeys.
According to a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, BPA completely abolished the formation of some nerve connections in two key regions of the brain -- the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
These findings have "profound implications," the investigators maintain, given the critical role of these nerve connections in cognition and mood.
"Based on these findings, we think the EPA may wish to consider lowering its 'safe daily limit' for human BPA consumption," Hajszan said.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 2, 2008.
Last Updated: 2008-09-05 15:14:07 -0400 (Reuters Health)
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Create a list of prospective patients


Create a list of prospective patients
By Richard Geller
September 4, 2008 -- Editor's note: As part of an occasional DrBicuspid.com series featuring advice from dental consultants, marketing expert Richard Geller offers a key concept for successful advertising.
There is nothing harder than recruiting a new patient from scratch. It's like cold calling -- does a salesman have a snowball's chance in an autoclave to chat with you simply by dropping by your office once? I doubt it.
Richard Geller has advised thousands of dentists on practice marketing and case acceptance, and has written a book on the same topic. He helped launch the first popular intraoral video camera.
But that's exactly what most docs do in their efforts to get new patients. So what's the alternative? Create a list and learn to work it.
In my earlier articles, I've talked about techniques for creating a list.
Step 1 is to create something you can give away for free, such as a CD, book, or report.
Step 2 is to advertise your freebie on the Web, on postcards, in newspapers, and on the radio.
Step 3 is to create a list of prospective patients.
Prospects will call to get their freebie. Have your front desk chat with them, and some of those prospects will become patients right away. The secret is a warm conversation; your front desk has to make friends with the prospect. If they don't, you have wasted your advertising money.
If your front desk is too busy to chat, consider outsourcing routine business such as making and confirming appointments. Your goal is to have your front desk spend 15 minutes with each new caller.
Step 4 is to create a list. The bulk of the people who call in response to your ads won't want an appointment just yet. (Shame on them.) So send them their freebie and follow up with them from time to time via e-mail.
You can gather e-mail addresses from prospects by offering to send them regular e-mails about dental health. Tell them the messages will be entertaining and informative. Dictate material to a writer who can polish your words. Make sure the messages are original, reflect your personality, and aren't dry and corporate. Then have an outside firm or writer start e-mailing the people on your list.
I have taken a list of 50 patients and gotten five or 10 good patient leads out of them. But the first e-mail doesn't do it. It may be the 10th or 20th.
Step 5 is to make an offer like a $59 first visit to seal the deal and get a good response.
After you do this type of marketing for a while, the new patients generated from your list will add huge value to your practice -- value that increases the price you can get if you ever sell.
And you won't have to keep spending money all the time cold calling new dental patient prospects.
For more information on advertising, I suggest you visit www.cases4dentists.com and watch a video I have made.