Nobody Told Me That! A Dental Podcast with Teresa Duncan

Our conversation focuses on publishing an article - even if you've never written before! Hear the inside scoop on how editors make their decisions. Even if you don't want to write, find out why you see certain ads next to an article. After you listen, why not give it a try?

Mentioned resources:

Dentistry IQ/Dental Economics

Progressive Dentist

Dr. Bicuspid

Dentaltown

Dental Entrepreneurial Women (DEW) Life

Dental Entrepreneur

Dentistry Today

Dental Products Report

Thanks for letting me tell you about the most common inquiries I receive. Today’s episode is a virtual amalgam (see what I did there?) of many insurance issues.

1. Non-covered services: what difference does it make if a plan is self-funded? I give you a quick description so it will click when you see one in the wild. The ADA did a webinar on this if you want more information: https://success.ada.org/en/dental-benefits/self-funded-erisa-dental-plans-what-you-need-to-know-webinar
2. Spotted at a recent insurance meeting: a Humana Medicare Advantage that has a very, very odd way of applying the yearly benefit. Be on the lookout for this plan – hope you don’t run into it. Biggest takeaway? Creative cost containment measures will continue to pop up.
3. An appreciation benefit from carriers? Cool! Paid to you? Even better! But it belongs to the patient. WHAT? Let’s explore this more so you’ll know what to do when you see it.
4. Submitting secondary explanation of benefits (EOBs): you don’t need to photocopy in 99% of the cases. Keep the cash flow going by sending the claims – and the primary EOB - electronically.
5. Patients usually have two evaluations per year, right? What happens when they need three? Let’s talk that through. I give you some conversation examples – use them, please!
6. What type of call breaks my heart the most? Let me share why we need to listen to the very faint warning bells that ring from time to time.
7. The link for the 2020 Coding Update is live! Grab your spot for my yearly webinar that reviews the coding changes and what you need to know about them.

Hope these are helpful for you! I’ve seen many of you on the road lately and have been blessed with great feedback on the podcast. Let me hear your suggestions/critiques etc – I do this for you! I will always appreciate a good rating on Apple, Google Pods or your current podcast provider. Until the next ep, cheers!

----

Teresa’s Website- https://www.odysseymgmt.com/ (sign up for my newsletter!)

Teresa’s Book - http://odysseymgmt.corecommerce.com/Book/ (use ‘newsletter’ for $3 off)

---

Teresa’s educational offerings are supported by CareCredit and Weave.

2:10 Dental implants longevity, what we know now vs what we knew then. Shout out to the Dental Hacks and their guest Dr. Frank Spear for the knowledge. Catch that ep here: Dental Hacks episode

16:30 Side conversation: If you’re wearing a tail are you in Portland? And if so, we tell you why you should travel with a lint roller.

19:00 Keep Portland Weird. Don’t ask, just do it.

21:05 Let’s talk breasts now. Breast implants and dentistry, specifically. Did you know there is a pre-medication recommendation now? Kevin really tuned in here.

28:00 area - Have you looked at your medical history forms lately? Here’s what you may need to change.

31:30 CBD and your patients. You can’t assume it’s only stoners. CBD appeals to all classes/genders etc. Teresa’s rule in life applies here: Don’t be a test case.

33 Marijuana is more acceptable now and legal in several states. Let’s treat it appropriately on our health history form.

43 Teresa spoke at Gillette Stadium recently. Yes, home of the Patriots! Check out her instagram highlights.

47 Miscellaneous: Talking to your Lyft/Uber driver - yay or nay? Also, Kevin discussed dental team members with a side hustle. Does it affect their performance? Maybe, maybe not. Link to his podcast with that discussion is below.

Thanks for listening!

Resources from the show:

CDA's paper on Consumption of Cannabis and Effects on Periodontal Oral Health

PDF: https://www.cda.org/Portals/0/journal/journal_092017.pdf

ADA's page on cannabis: https://www.ada.org/en/member-center/oral-health-topics/cannabis

Pre-medication information for breast implants: https://www.perioimplantadvisory.com/clinical-tips/article/16412203/antibiotic-prophylaxis-for-patients-with-breast-implants-prior-to-dental-procedures

ADA's page on premedication: https://www.ada.org/en/member-center/oral-health-topics/antibiotic-prophylaxis

Kevin’s podcast on dental assistants with a side hustle: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-64-dental-assistants-side-hustle-walking-fine/id1338558591?i=1000437630572

After some chatter about Dentrix’s Business of Dentistry event, we get into why our health histories are really only surface level information. What if you were a bit more inquisitive in asking the ‘why’ of their health and medications?

Going paperless is unavoidable in today’s modern practice. Dayna walks us through expectations – spoiler alert: there’s still some paper. Our patients expect us to be modernized and portals and forms are their first interaction with us. How is your office presenting itself?

Dayna then dives deep into health history forms and how we can sometimes screw it up. BUT she talks about how we can improve the process so that if your records are subpoenaed or reviewed you won’t feel like a bundle of nerves.

Towards the end we talk about intra-office communication and how that’s essential now. We’ve moved past Post-it notes!

--------------------------------

Dayna’s latest NEA webinar can be found here: https://nea-fast.com/webinar-recordings/

The episode from A Tale of Two Hygienists that discusses dental emergencies from an EMT point of view.

You can reach her via these channels:

Twitter: @mynovonee

Facebook: MyNovonee

Web: Novonee

Email: [email protected]

Teresa’s Website- https://www.odysseymgmt.com/ (sign up for my newsletter!)

Teresa’s Book - http://odysseymgmt.corecommerce.com/Book/ (use ‘newsletter’ for $3 off)

Teresa is partly supported by Weave Communications and their Practice Growth Summit. Register for it and receive unlimited access to videos given by leading dental educators (CE too!). It’s not Weave stuff – it’s business stuff:

https://try.getweave.com/weave-practice-growth-summit/

**If you like the show then I’d appreciate a good rating. Tell your friends 😊 Even podcasters ask for referrals! **

Teledentistry is all the rage right now. With COVID-19 keeping us from physically seeing patients, many dentists are now interested in how to make contact virtually. We pretended that Kevin was an attendee in one of my classes and my job was to teach him the basics and FAQ about teledentistry. I covered:

• What is 'teledentistry'? What do I need to get started?
• The billing codes and the ADA's new guidance in this area
• Why teledentistry should be part of your customer service arsenal

Other topics included retaining teams and how the staffing landscape is going to be different when this all settles. We hope it's helpful!

UPDATE: A Delta representative reached out to let me know that D0170 and D0171 will not be mapped to D0140.

Resources from the show:

• ADA's COVID-19 Coding and Billing Guidance
• Dr. Spera's site using the Doxy program
• OperaDDS COVID-19 Teledentistry Kit
• MouthWatch's TeleDent
• The TeleDentists
• Doxy

Connect with Kevin on his IG page and at DrBicuspid.com

**If you like the show then I’d appreciate a good rating. Tell your friends. Even podcasters ask for referrals!**

Teresa’s Website- https://www.odysseymgmt.com/ (sign up for my newsletter!)

Teresa’s Book Moving Your Patients to Yes! Easy Insurance Conversations

http://odysseymgmt.corecommerce.com/Book/ (use ‘newsletter’ for $3 off)

---

FYI: Teresa’s educational classes are often sponsored by CareCredit and Weave.