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@sylviesturrock Who needs a coach and why? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger Coaching – Consultant – Guru – Business Manger Whatever label it’s given I’m just aware that all Principals are chief cook and bottle washers in dentistry – they have ALL the responsibility – building, materials, services, marketing, team, associates, patients, problems, finances, H&S, legislation, designer, motivator, ideas maker, the list endless PLUS they have to do dentistry, it’s a unique industry where the Director is also the Manager and team leader and an Operator to create the product that the business creates the actual DENTISTRY as well. – is it any wonder they need a hand.

• there’s a lot of stigma with coaching and consultancy in dentistry – it’s almost seen as a weakness to actually ask for help in some people’s eyes!
• I am staggered that any dental practices still don’t have a manager at least!
• I wish more dentists would use some help before the problems get too big! I meet many clients who have problem x,y and Z and can I sort it out please – it would be so much easier to meet them just as they begin their dental business and create systems and protocols from the outset – together with visions of where they want to be rather than just opening the door and seeing what happens!

Dentists always begin their career in someone else’s business, following someone else’s rules and spend a lot of thought and time on how when they own their own practice it will all be so different.

Once they do own their own practice – it’s totally different and they do what they think is correct – mostly without any business knowledge at all

@sylviesturrock What do you do as a dental coach with Samera? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger There are numerous ways that Samera can help ALL dental practices – I know I can walk into any existing business and help in some way or another – I’ve yet to find one functioning to its fullest potential – that has a 100% happy team, or is generating just the right amount of revenue.

The main areas that Samera can help with are

• Ultimate Financial Control – a system for running the financial aspects of your practice that focuses on the critical success factors of each individual business giving full financial support from a dedicated account manager
• Setting up in Practice – From location choices, to finding a site to raising finances, to building a brand, marketing strategies to putting together a team – we can help! We run workshops; seminars and hand hold you throughout the process.
• The Ultimate Practice Management Course – In 12 workshops learn all the skills needed to run a successful dental business – open to anyone involved in the running of a dental practice.

• @RichardCharon Why do you train dentists and dental teams? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger If RA is being introduced as new service to the practice it is vital that all team members fully understand what it is, how it works, its excellent safety record and have seen it used with their own eyes so that they are in a position to explain and educate their patients from a position of knowledge and in depth understanding.

Why do I continue to train dentists? Because I receive testimonials like this from Dr Anne O’Donnell who travelled to Newbury with two dental nurses from Wexford in Ireland in 2006.

“…thank you for a superb day on Saturday. I have attended lots of courses but I would have to say that your course was one of the best because of your philosophy and approach to dentistry and patients. I would hope that I have a similar approach but unfortunately haven’t had the added benefit of Ra for the last 22 years but will have for the remainder of my career!!! As I said to you on Saturday you are a true ambassador for the profession and it would be nice if more of our profession emulated you”. There are many more testimonials here

@RichardCharon What is the main feedback you get from dentists once they begin to deliver RA to their patients? #theapexshow

Here is one reply from Dr. Peter Mounce

I am using RA and I have to say that it is a super addition to my practice and it has probably given me more professional fulfilment to help patients through treatment with RA , than even high end ( I aspire ) cosmetic work . It is such a useful tool to have and I agree with you that it is our duty to make provision of treatment as pleasant as possible for our patients.

• @RichardCharon Why do dentists come to you for RA training? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger My web 2.0 presence – facebook, Twitter etc. I am not paid by any company but I do have a good working relationship with my suppliers, RA Medical Services and they do pass on information about my courses to dentists who approach them.

• @RichardCharon What equipment do you need to deliver RA? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger One of the biggest changes since I first began to use RA is the requirement for an active scavenging system, to vent all exhaled gases to the outside. There are several options for delivery heads including digital press button versions with a wipe clean surface or over which a peel of cover can be place.

• @RichardCharon How do patients respond when given the option to have RA? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger The simplest answer is to look at one or two of the patients stories on-line.

• @RichardCharon Can any dentist deliver RA? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger The DSTG (Dental Sedation Teachers Group) and SAAD were advocating 2 years ago, that all dentists that offer any kind of conscious sedation should have to pass a Standard Sedation Certificate. This SSC would prove competency. However those plans have been shelved due to lack of funding at present. It may or may not come about in future. As things stand there is an advisory level of experience, under supervision, which new graduates are expected to attain before going it alone BUT it is acknowledged that more experienced practitioners may not be required to do this. All the information is contained in the DoH paper Conscious Sedation in the Provision of Dental Care 2003 which I believe is due to be updated at the end of this year, In Scotland their own version was updated in 2006.

The bottom line at present is that a dentist has to satisfy themselves that they have received sufficient or appropriate training. That’s it. The requirement is 5 case assessments and 10 administrations, adults and children, mixed restorative and oral surgery (extractions). Finding supervision for the GDP can be difficult if no-one else in the practice is using RA. I am on the mentors list for both DSTG and SAAD and this can be arranged privately.

• @RichardCharon What was your training in RA like? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger Requirements for CPD have changed greatly since then, just as they are now regarding requirements for competency. Still I had only recently completed GA training as an undergraduate and in my first practice in my first 6 months post- qualification, we did a GA session every week with a visiting anaesthetist. Now RA is very different from GA but I felt familiar with unconscious and recovering patients. So the move to RA was both reassuringly safer and did not require an anaesthetist.

1. @RichardCharon How did you come to hear of RA and adopt it & then teach it? #theapexshow

@mkritzinger I went on a course, loved the idea, approached my boss who said he did not want to buy the kit. So I bought the equipment anyway and have taken it with me ever since.

In terms of the courses, I started with “getting published”- an on-line ode to RA published on Smile-on.com in 2001. “In praise of RA”. They then published a second item following up on that.

In 2003 I sat down and devised a course in my own style based on all required teaching. I have only ever advertised the course once. I have had great feedback from delegates since then so continue to run them.

Now, I had been a member BAAD since 1994 and had been exposed to stunning and inspirational presentations from some of the world’s best in the field of aesthetic dentistry.

Now I would not claim to be anywhere near the same league as some of these greats BUT I was inspired to produce a course that would be presented quite differently for those to be found in the Ivory Towers of Academia or on a section 63 NHS course. In particular the courses were based in a general practice (mine) rather than in a hospital setting.

When I ran that one and only ad, for my course in Dentistry magazine, Ellis Paul, editor of Private Dentistry, picked up on the advertorial style of the ad and commissioned, what turned into a 2-part article for Private Dentistry magazine in the summer of 2004. This was reprinted in FMCs Dentistry in December 2004.

I have had an item published by Dental Nursing magazine in 2007. Subtitled ‘A team view’, in which one of our dental nurses, our hygienist and practice manager (my wife) all contributed their thoughts. More recently I have contributed items on the subject in the Dental Angels newsletter and for Dentinal Tubules.