Students at Case Western Reserve’s dental school are using avatars and virtual reality in Second Life to practice their “patient skills.” The school is utilizing both live and virtual patients to teach students to discuss topics such as medical history intake, treatment options and providing informed consent. Think back to your first time handling a patient (doctor or auxiliary) - it did not come naturally.

One of the hardest things about private practice is learning how to talk to your patients. New clinicians are so worried about getting the diagnosis and treatment correct that not much thought is given to how to tell the patient that they need this work. That’s not a dig - that’s the truth. And it’s understandable. Corporations spend thousands to train their employees and sales force on selling and promoting a product. Typically dentists have no training in sales or presentation skills. Even if the students do not perfect their skills in dental school, they’ll come out realizing the importance of proper, high-quality patient communication.

Are any other schools using similar programs?

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Click here to visit Second Life

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Anita Michelle Reed was charged with the above two counts last week in Mars Hill, NC. She is alleged to have taken over $3,000 in cash and calling in prescriptions of hydrocodone to family and friends. She was no longer employed by the dentists at the time of her arrest. The dentists became suspicious after an internal audit turned up financial discrepancies. Don’t think this can’t happen to you - go run your aging reports and log on to your bank account for a quick check.

Read the news report here

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Medtronic just bought Restore Medical which developed and tested this system. On the medical side, Medtronic is huge - more than able to aggressively market the product to both the medical and dental community. My ENT’s office started to place these earlier this year and my doctor reports good results. The company has been looking for dentists to begin placing the implants.

So what is this system? It’s a series of tiny implants placed in the soft palate to stabilize and stiffen the tissue. It allows the airway to remain open - decreasing snoring and helping patients with obstructive sleep apnea. The patient should not be aware of their presence. The web site explains it much more than I do - complete with a video. Check it out.

Visit the Pillar Procedure Site

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Dr. Dan Fischer, CEO & President of Ultradent, has a corporate blog. Add this to the list of corporations that recognize the value of blogging about company events. Scroll down to his June 10th entry about hygienist Carol Jent’s recent humanitarian mission to China. Impressive efforts, indeed. Kudos to Dr. Fischer for maintaining an informative corporate blog. This may not seem like a big deal but regular net readers can spot a blatantly self-serving blog a mile away.

Read Dr. Fischer’s blog

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