I Can't Believe I am Admitting This!!!!!

True Story! I had already shared this on my Facebook page, but I thought it made a good story for a blog and a chance for you all to get to know me better!

Last week, I had the opportunity to lead an all day dentistry CE event for the Northern San Joaquin Veterinary Medical Association at the Modesto Junior College.  Thank you, Tim McDaniel, CVT and Dr Frankie Bonifacio for inviting me and providing such incredible hospitality.  But, travelling always carries its own challenges and this time was no different.

I landed after a nice, long flight to San Francisco. I fetched my luggage and made my way to the airbus that took me to the rental cars. I signed in and I was led to a lovely, young lady with a clip board. She informed me that all of the compact cars were taken but that she would upgrade me at no further charge to a larger car. No biggie! OK. 

So, we were wandering through the garage and I was in a bit of a hurry. She started naming off the available cars and in my head I think; "Sweetheart...I could care less which car." So, I saw this lovely blue car and blue is my favorite color...done (that's how smart people make decisions). So she took me over to the blue Kia Optima. We inspected the car for damage, I signed and she left me with the perky statement..."The keys should already be in the car".

Well, there were these two "key like" looking things in the console. They had buttons that looked like open lock, lock lock, open trunk and blare horn. But there is no metal key thing sticking out.

I sat there for what seemed like 30 minutes looking at this "key thing" thinking...how do I make the key pop out. Something has to go in the ignition. I looked for other keys. Nothing except a good tour of the car. Do I look like an idiot and ask that sweet 20 some year old blonde girl that has already engaged 3 other customers who have happily crossed over the grated speed bump to their happy California adventures? Are you kidding! No way! Any unexpressed "Y" chromosomes wandering though me, completely forbid my asking this kid that could be a child of mine (except for the rockin' body and blonde hair). 

So, I deduce "Maybe it's Bluetooth".  So, I confidently waved this "key thing" in the vicinity of the dash board....nothing. I pushed all the buttons...doors locked and unlocked, trunk popped open and I scared the bejeezus out of a 90 year old man walking in front of this blue piece of brilliant metal when I pushed the horn button. Still nothing.

Finally, I needed to check out the ignition. Wait..let me find my glasses. There...wait! A button says "ENGINE START STOP". 

It looks like a button. I push it. All of the lights go on but no engine sounds. "Push it again!", the left side of my brain says. Now the car gleefully bids me fair well. I pushed it again...lights went on and it showed me a lovely branch of a blossoming cherry tree and all the gauges move...but no engine sounds. I pushed it again..."Good bye". 

Five cars were inspected and are on their way and now that blonde chick keeps checking me out in the car...to which I smile and act as though I am completely under control, taking a call on my cell before I am on my merry way. Reality...I am embarrassed and warning: Do not come anywhere near me right now or you may be the next thing planted in the San Joaquin Valley.

Finally....through the completely dysfunctional self talk:
Vickie...you make a decision about which car to drive based on the color BLUE!
Vickie...you idiot.
Vickie... if you ask that child for help, she is going to tell all her friends about the 50 some year old moron and it will be on Facebook and that will get 1 million "likes" and someone you know will share it on PetED's wall! You will be found out and everyone will know you are a knucklehead.

Then...by Grace....a piece of random information I hadn't really assimilated when inspecting the car floated from the lovely right side of my brain into a folder in the left side of my brain and in my mind I saw an image from the back of the car saying........
Hybrid. 

I push that ignition button one more time...the car goes through its happy salutations and I hear nothing....nothing. But, I put the car in gear and it moves effortlessly forward. An electric car. OMG! What a simpleton! But, I smile to myself and think...my friends are going to love this. 

You know, dear readers....I shake my head when the "kids" at work don't know who Harvey Korman and Tim Conway are....but at least they would have been on the highway 40 spectacular, sunny minutes before me!

Are We REALLY Educating our Clients?

After decades of client interactions with those that have provided expensive dentistry for their pets, I began to notice a pattern in statements made by these clients.  When they came in for their post extraction rechecks, they were asking the same thing; "How did this happen?  How did Diogee's mouth get so bad that he required 12 extractions?" I would then explain periodontal disease and the care necessary to keep oral health in check, and their eyes often glaze over.  That look says it all; "I can't brush my pet's teeth and it is so expensive."  Frustration ensues!

A light went on for me and I realized they do not know how to train their pets to have their teeth brushed and they do not know what products to purchase.  I have also come to know that our clients do not know how to properly choose a chew toy, how often dentistry is required, the importance of dentistry, what a dental diet is and most have no idea that animals do not overtly demonstrate pain unless it is acute, but that they experience it the same as we do none-the-less.  

That made me ask, what else do they not know?  Do they know that halitosis is NOT normal?  Do they know that often a fractured tooth is painful even if they are wagging their tails or purring?  Do they know what steps the practice takes to safe guard their pet during anesthesia?  Do they know that we will only continue the procedure if the anesthetist feels it is safe?

I then understood why the clients are all saying the same thing.  They have not been educated and they feel like it is all out of their control.  It is sort of how I feel when I pick my car up from the service station.  I write a big check.  I don't really understand what was done and I thought by changing my oil and getting my transmission checked, I had done what I was supposed to do to make sure my transportation is reliable. Frustration ensues!  And, does that experience make me apt to swing by for wiper blades or will I stop by Walmart for them?  Walmart!  And, if a friend shared that they got service elsewhere cheaper, am I apt to switch?  Unfortunately, YES! And, aren't these experiences similar?

What are you doing in practice to make sure all of these questions are addressed? Are you using brochures? Do you actually hand them out?  Have you developed your website enough?  And, if you have, have you tracked the success or does it just cost money and make you feel better?  Do you brush your own pet's teeth everyday and if not, how can you teach a client how to do so?

Very commonly, practices today use the word wellness on their websites, but are we providing wellness if we are not educating our clients?  Is it even possible to provide all of that information within the confines of a 20 minute appointment?  I have found that it is not, especially since most clients do not bring their pets in specifically for oral assessments.  Dentistry needs are most commonly discovered during the examination for some unrelated problem that needs to be addressed first!

So, a challenge for you all out there:  If you believe your clients deserve oral health education, maybe it is time for you or one of your staff members step up and create an educational experience for your clients.  This is something that I have done at the practice at which I work clinically.  Once a month, I stay to provide a FREE dentistry seminar for our client base.  The clients are invited by staff members for a variety of reasons; new puppy or kitten owners, owners that are reticent to provide recommended care, or owners that presented to the practice for an unrelated issue but dentistry needs were identified.

Has this been successful?  Absolutely.  For me, this experience takes about an hour and a half.  I schedule the event at 7 pm on varying weeknights.  My initial expectation was as I am sure yours is; they would be antsy and eager to get out the door.  But, that is not my experience.  With questions, the clients keep me an additional hour.  They are thirsty for this knowledge and any animal knowledge. It is no coincidence that the Animal Planet is one of the most popular cable stations available.

I have found it helps your attendance to provide a 10% off discount for attending. The discount is the initial motivator!  And, make no mistake, I do understand that there is NOT a wide profit margin on dental services.  But, what the practice gets in return is an educated owner.  That owner understands the wisdom of providing home care and the financial and medical benefit of frequent professional care and shorter, safer anesthetic experiences.  That discount is recouped many times over by the increased care that the owner now provides.  

There are so many benefits to this program:

• owners get the "tools" to maintain health and comfort for their pets
• owners provide more frequent care
• actual prophys are added to the dentistry schedule more frequently
• the increased numbers of prophys means less stressful dental/anesthetic experiences for the staff
• it gives the client a "behind the scenes" understanding of the support provided by the dentistry/anesthetic staff
• it bonds the client to the practice in a huge way

Finally, for me personally, I know that the practice has provided a system of education and ultimately we supported wellness when it comes to dentistry.

Is this tried and true?  I have provided this seminar once a month for over 5 years.  I also have been subcontracted to provide this seminar for another practice monthly for about 3 years now.  I have had attendance numbers ranking anywhere from 12-40 clients per month.

For me this program is a win-win.  The practice wins in many ways; a booked dentistry schedule, less stressful cases, better practice health and ultimately we rest knowing we are providing wellness services for our patients.

The client wins by understanding their pet's needs, their dentistry bills are more manageable and the pet wins by having better overall health and comfort.   Isn't that what we all went into this profession anyway, to help  pets because they can not help themselves.  This is an awesome opportunity to fulfill that mission!

If you would like to create an experience like this for your practice, feel free to email me (Gr8vettek@aol.com) for an outline of topics you can use.  All you have to add is your own energy, passion and love.

To the Heart of the Matter

To me this is the saddest of cases!

A very nice man brought his 8 year old, female spayed, King Charles Spaniel to our practice. The history was that he previously lost a King Charles to cardiac issues, a problem that commonly effects this breed.  That experienced devastated him and he vowed to do everything in his power to avoid cardiac issues in this next dog if at all possible.

We had been providing care for this dog for a number of years and early on the veterinarian heard an innocent systolic click when listening to the heart.  It was mentioned and this client  sought a cardiac consult and an echocardiogram immediately and spend upwards of $400 on that evaluation annually by a cardiologist.  All was well.  He wanted the best for his baby and he went to any lengths to provide that.

We recommended dentistry for his dog and this brought up a whole host of fears about anesthesia. He was afraid he may lose his dog.  We tried to assure him that with frequent professional care, we could provide the shortest and ultimately safest anesthetic experiences for his sweet baby.  We showed him how we have state-of-the-art monitors and that we have a dedicated anesthetist for the procedure.

He said he would consider this carefully.  

What he did, in an attempt to safe guard his beloved was to seek a second opinion.  He went to another practice.  They witnessed his concern and they offered to provide anesthesia-free dentistry and told him that that would be ultimately safest.  He provided this level of care for his dog twice.  The second time, they told him that they got most of the work done but that Nala was not allowing all of it.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago.  This client came in for his annual exam.  He related to our veterinarian that his baby was dropping food and was eating very carefully.  This very compliant, gentle dog allowed us to show him that there were multiple mobile teeth and that his baby needed to have a deep cleaning and full mouth radiographs.  

Once we anesthetized this patient and obtained a full set of diagnostic X-rays, we identified 27 teeth that we needed to be extracted because of either greater than 50% bone loss or tooth root abscessation.  This man was horrified.  The work was provided and the pet is doing wonderfully.

What breaks my heart is that this man wanted the best for his dog.  He was not stingy with his money in relation to this dog.  He was misled that providing anesthesia-free dentistry would provide the same care for the dog as we would provide with the aid and expense of anesthesia.  In the long run, this King Charles Spaniel experienced long term periodontal infection and we know that that can negatively affect the heart...the organ he was so worried about in the first place.

Good morning!  I woke up this morning and there was a notification on my PetED Facebook page.  The notification was informing me that someone that I have not met, "liked" the page.  Such a nice feeling. So, I was having my cup of "wake-the-heck up" and found myself staring at PetED's logo and day dreaming.

While in Las Vegas at the Western States Veterinary Conference, I gave a technician one of my cards after we chatted for a bit about dentistry and X-rays at the Technician Fair.  She politely took the card and innocently asked; "If you teach dentistry, why didn't you design a logo around that and why the briefcase?"  So, I thought I would share how I responded about the PetED logo.

First of all, the name of the company; PetED.  It is true that at this point, most of the business is centered around veterinary dentistry.  I am the president and that is my clinical specialty and main focus.  However, I envision a company that has a much larger scope. Having been invited into almost 50 practices to teach dentistry, I am aware that some practices have areas other than dentistry that they would appreciate help expanding or further developing.  One of the common issues that comes up whenever I teach dentistry is anesthesia.  Once practices start doing full mouth radiographs and finding additional pathology, the patients are under general anesthesia longer.  That often necessitates a good look at the practices' anesthetic protocols and practices.  

That led me to know that I wanted the company to be the resource for any of their educational and training needs.  I can't be an expert in all disciplines. Fully embracing that fact, PetED has technicians that I have had the honor and pleasure of getting to know, that are considered experts in other disciplines that can be scheduled to consult for the company.

Why the briefcase?  Well, that is to show that PetED trainers come with materials for you to keep as references when we leave your practice.  If I train technicians how to perform regional nerve blocks, I leave you with pre-calculated dosage charts.  If I teach intraoral radiographs, I leave the practice with a CD of images that show the proper position for each image.  

The briefcase also shows that we are mobile.  We pack up and come to you (although we do have a wet lab site).  The practice could be in our geographic area or we frequently travel to other states as needed.  PetED is not limited to any geographic area. As a matter of fact, I am scheduled to speak to a group in Modesto, California in a few weeks.

The paw prints are pretty self-explanatory.  This is a small animal veterinary resource (although PetED does have access to one of the leading equine technicians in the country).  

The colors?  I wanted to be memorable and that yellow jumps out at you, hopefully catching your attention.  I want you to think of PetED and our trainers when you see that yellow and blue.

And why cartoon-type imaging?  I intentionally chose images and a font that invokes a feeling of fun!  Practice life can get intense but the educational experience does not have to be.  PetED is serious about the materials and the information shared but the trainers PetED has chosen are intentionally ones that are respected but share the information in comfortable and relaxed way.  When a PetED experience is schedule, I want the staff to want to be present that day.  Education should be something to look forward to instead of something to avoid.

Well, as I look out the window and see the very early March buds on some of the trees, I marvel at the miracle of Spring.  This is a time of hope and rebirth.  The seed of PetED was planted in the fall and through the darkness of winter there was a lot of underground work done in preparation for its birth.  My hope is that the PetED trainers will be able to plant the seeds of understanding and inspiration to revitalize how you experience this profession you so passionately sought.

Have a spectacular day!

Vickie