Is it time for a Dental Health-centered Summit meeting?
Tom Risbrudt, DDS, FAGD
Tom Risbrudt asked this stimulating question in the ISOC Discussion Forum. He also provided many well thought out points for ISOC members to consider about a Summit meeting. I am posting his discussion forum post as an article because I think it deserves serious consideration by all dentists who practice in the health-centered relational way (or plan to). When you finish reading Tom's article, please go to the discussion forum and share your thoughts on the validity of a Health-centered Summit meeting. Do you think it is time? Would you (and your staff) attend? Also please share any additional ideas about a Summit meeting.
Is it time for a Dental Health-centered Summit meeting? Tom Risbrudt, DDS, FAGD I don't know how many of you out there ever heard Bob Barkley when he was alive. If you did, you didn't soon forget it. Bob put the wheels on the health-centered, relational style of practice and literally turned the profession on its ear. Lynn has a lot of his material on ISOC. If you're not familiar with it, I encourage you to check it out. Don't know how many of you ever experienced a Rocky Mountain Rendezvous meeting, sponsored by the Bob Barkley Foundation back in the day. Chances are, you wouldn't soon forget one of those meetings either. Very encouraging environment of like-minded folks, AND a lot of fun!! I think "it's time" for a summit-type meeting of the Faithful, hereafter referred to as HCPs. (Health-Centered Practices) I'm putting this out on the discussion forum, "running it up the flag pole", as it were, to find out how the ISOC readership is feeling about this idea. So here goes: We're talking concept here, so cut me a little slack. I confess to being a visionary, so when it comes to the practical application of this idea, I'm sure there are thoughts out there, but hear me out: The Faithful HCPs are hanging on out there, in varying degrees. Then there are those who are on the ragged edge of burn-out that either need an encouraging boost or may be seeking another approach to practice. There may be some who are prospering, and have figured out ways to do so that are worth sharing with a group of like-minded individuals. I envision a lot of synergy happening! One thing is for sure: Given the economy and the whack up side of the head it delivers, more dentists may be feeling their careers vapid both materially and spiritually. They seem to seek when times are in flux, and surely they are in flux!! They need a WHY to keep on keeping on! Some encouragement and some nuts and bolts ideas about how to keep themselves afloat and prospering, not just subsisting during this VERY challenging time! We would need to encourage and attract both groups, HCPs and Burn-outs in my view. WHO: HCPs, Burn-outs and Staff. Between the mailing addresses of Lynn and his Board members' organizations, and the collective readership of ISOC networking together, I would think we could spread the word out there and generate some enthusiasm for this idea among a dirth of like-minded people!! This mode of practice is under assault and erosion by third parties out there who are confusing the well-intended practitioners about what patients really want. Granted, our audience is smaller, more niche marketed to be sure, but they are wonderful people with whom to work! Just a guess, for instance, but I'll wager most of us would like to know how to attract MORE of this kind of person to our respective practices, right? This Summit is for the dentists and staff who count their spiritual rewards right along with their material rewards in practice. WHAT: A Ted.com format with a myriad of short, hard-hitting presentations the first day, leading to more focused, in-depth presentations on the second or third day. Particularly the behavioral stuff to be able to communicate sincere empathy and understanding of patients REAL problems. Emphasis on practical solutions for real problems encountered by the HCP. PRESENTERS who come to mind, for instance: Bill Brown, Lynn Carlisle, Bob Frazer, Doug Young, Mike Schuster, Mary Osborne, Greg Tarantola, Rich Green, etc. etc. How about someone from the Pankey Institute, Kois Institute, Dawson Center, Scottsdale Center, Spear Center, Seattle Study Clubs, etc.?? Since this would be coincidentally a marketing opportunity, their willingness to be available would be encouraged? Don't you think they certainly have some valid ideas, since they are working with a lot of like-minded people? MANAGING OCCLUSIONS is the very heart of this style of practice: I'll wager that most of the prospective attendees have paid the price in terms of continuing education to master the clinical part. Ah, but it's the "behavioral riddle" that has most of us vexed!! There's nothing more frustrating than recognizing these problems in our patients mouths, and failing to help them own their problem. We've paid the price of learning how to make their dental future more comfortable, esthetic and predictable, yet they are not enthusiastically moving ahead with treatment. Personally, I have embraced Motivational Interviewing in my practice. It's a way of being with people in a most counter-intuitive way that has positively impacted my business. The research evolved in England through work with addictions, smoking cessation, and diabetes to affect favorable positive behavioral change. What we learned was to slow down and spend more quality time with patients, resulting in more comprehensive care being accomplished. In varying degrees, I see snippets of it among many successful practitioners these days. I see it as the "missing link" behaviorally, as do many of my Pankey colleagues. The operative word is "counter-intuitive"--we were never trained to fully engage patients in conversations that are meaningful in terms of their future health. I'm sure there others out there, like Bob Frazer, Doug Young, Bill Brown, Paul Homily, etc. who have their respective takes on human behavior as well. With patients there's always the "technical riddle" and the "behavioral riddle", as Rich Green would say, to solve. I'll wager that most of the prospective audience is quite competent at the technical, but lacking in the behavioral. Seems to me that Rocky Mountain Rendezvous used to direct most of its collective energy at the behavioral, as I recall. Addressing Creative Marketing: Particularly social media effectively. Web site development, blogs, Facebook marketing, Twitter, etc. It's a whole new ballgame out there these days. I'm up to my eyeballs in it. And that's NOT to say we'll forget about our existing patient base as referral sources--it's just that more and more people are using the forementioned avenues for getting information, and they are part of your existing patient base!! How about a collective "brain-storming" session where participants are given an opportunity to share their most effective marketing/promotion idea? 5-10 minutes with an open mike and a moderator. On the Technical Side: Techniques for managing broken down occlusions creatively and phasing quality treatment at a manageable rate for patients who are financially challenged. Then addressing the finances creatively as well. How to fee out that kind of dentistry? How to finance it?? Again, there is a dirth of talent on your board alone to address that. Corporate Sponsorship: Let's not rule it out. Invisalign, Kois, Spear, Dawson, CareCredit, 3M, BiteFx, etc., to offset the costs of the meeting?? (How many of you have seen BiteFx? A KILLER graphics program for engaging patients in understanding complex TMJ/TMD issues.) Maybe someone is connected enough to get someone like Simon Sinek, author of START WITH WHY as a headliner. He or someone like him is probably very expensive, but you never know until you ask. Rocky Mountain Rendezvous had some wonderful headliners in the past. Where's another Avrom King or Bob Barkley when we really need them?? Bob Barkley's vision and focus is every bit as valid, if not more so, today than it was back during the RMR days. If we could pull this off I think all hands would wind up with a win/win situation: New friends, new prospects, new clients, fresh ideas!! My wife and I are still connected to some of our RMR friends 30 years later!! WHEN?: Summertime like RMR used to be, so families can come. A resort setting. Dental families will be taking a vacation anyway, even in tough times, so why not make part of it tax-deductible? Activities could be a la carte, so families can pick and choose according to their respective budgets. Are you still connected to Keystone Resort, Lynn?? GREAT venue for a meeting!! In the alternative, make it someplace central, like Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City without families to lower the cost. Or, hey, maybe a video conference/webinar?? By now, you get my drift: the details will get handled if this idea has merit. Are you looking around, like me, and wondering: "Whoa!! What's happened to my profession??" Just like people are looking around at the political landscape and wondering: "Whoa!! What's happened to my country??" There are many small camps out there, giving it their all to encourage this niche in the marketplace. Could we check our respective egos at the door and come together in ONE PLACE for the good of our profession and this style of practice that we hold close to our hearts? Could we collect our respective energies one more time to make something of this significant magnitude happen?? Does the flame of Bob Barkley's memory still flicker in the hearts of the committed?? Is it worth fanning from a dying spark into a full blown bonfire again? I sincerely hope so!! I await your responses!! Tom Risbrudt, DDS, FAGD
San Clemente, California
ISOC members, please go to the discussion forum to share your ideas and thoughts: Is It Time for a Health-Centered Summit meeting? If you are not an ISOC member, please share your thoughts here:
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Will those of you who commented to the discussion forum please contact me at: thrdds@aol.com ?? It is becoming apparent that there is interest among younger dentists for this kind of a meeting. We would like to create a website and use social media to direct people to it. Let's keep this idea alive--our profession deserves it!!
Tom is an original member of ISOC. He has been a major supporter of and contributor to ISOC. He is among the pioneers of the health-centered relational way of practicing dentistry. He has practiced dentistry in San Clemente, California since 1966. He participated in one of the first capitation programs as an associate in the 60's. He has had a "18-wheeler" practice hurtling out of control down the road with 50-75 new patients a month and a huge staff" to a small top-level health-centered dental practice. Tom is a visiting faculty member at The Pankey Institute. Dr. Thomas H. Risbrudt, DDS - Excellence in Dentistry - San Clemente, CA
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