ZNO Robotics has launched a robotic office solution for the practice. This is said to be the first functional robot brought into the dental or orthodontic space.

ZNO has partnered with Thinking Robots, a robotic software company based in Boston, to develop a software solution to run on the Temi robot platform. ZNO’s Office Robotic Solution includes Temi the Robot and ZNO software.

ZNO is capable of performing basic functions, including greeting patients, escorting patients into the operatory, carrying instruments to sterilization, and playing educational videos and music. It is also designed to automatically recharge at the end of the day.

The company is beginning beta testing in December 2021, with special discounted pricing for beta participants.

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ZNO Robotics is launching a robot solution specifically for dental and orthodontic practices.

ZNO Robotics Launches Office Solution for Practices

Stan Goff is the Managing Editor of Dental Products Report, Dental Lab Products and Modern Hygienist. He has covered the dental industry since 1999 and can be reached at sgoff@mjhlifesciences.com.  

Here’s another look at 5 of the top technique articles published in Dental Products Report® this past year. For more clinical how-tos, go to dentalproductsreport.com.

Top 5 Technique Articles

Naomi Cooper is President of Minoa Marketing and CEO and co-founder of Doctor Distillery, which is now part of Genly. Naomi is a respected dental marketing executive, strategist, consultant, author, speaker and industry opinion leader. With over 16 years in the dental industry, she has helped leading companies across the dental industry consistently create tangible results for their marketing efforts aimed at the dental professional. Naomi also blogs regularly at www.minoamarketing.com. For more information about Doctor Distillery, email naomi@doctordistillery.com or visit www.doctordistillery.com. 

More than ever, a professionally designed website is the face of your dental practice. This is where most of your new prospective patients will get their first impression of the overall feel of your office, your team, the services you offer, and whether your practice is a fit for them and their family.

With mobile devices driving 61% of visits to US websites in 2020

, your website has to be optimized for the mobile browsing experience, with the practice’s name, address, location map, parking tips, phone number, and email address front and center and easily accessible on the home page, so people immediately understand who you are, precisely where you are located, and how to get in touch.

It’s also essential to have descriptions of dental services offered, not written in “dentalese.” That means those explanations are written in easy-to-understand layman’s terms—which may not be clinically “correct” or complete.

Make sure your website features current, professionally taken photos and friendly bios of you and your team members front and center. Your photos and bios must first and foremost demonstrate how welcoming and caring your team is.

Remember that your professional competence is assumed by most patients based on the fact that you graduated from dental school; most patients simply aren’t impressed by fancy professional designations or copious amounts of continuing education, rather, they are interested in your sense of purpose and professionalism as well as your team’s level of humanity and kindness.

Patient testimonials on the website are also—like it or not—an essential ingredient to patient engagement; existing patients publicly vouching for their personal experience in your dental chair helps those who don’t know you make the decision to choose you.

If your practice doesn’t have a social media footprint in 2022, it may as well not exist to many patients under the age of 50. Social media is not only a primary way to attract new patients, but it is also a key method of communication for existing patients, especially millennials (the oldest of whom are now in their early 40s) and GenXers, who are mostly in their 40s and early 50s (with some approaching their 60s). Show off your team and your emphasis on patient care and customer service, as well as your practice’s technological savvy with succinct, casually written messages, images, graphics and relaxed, informal short-form videos, whether via Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. Note: If you don’t have true social media expertise in house, don’t be afraid to farm it out.

3. Bring On The Digital Communication (and Forms)

Did you know that most people no longer check their voice mail—and that even email has become passé for many of your patients? If your front desk is still calling to confirm appointments and/or emailing appointment reminders, it’s certain that many of your patients are not being communicated with the way they prefer. Text messaging is by far the most efficient and effective way to reach out to patients about scheduling, and in the era of PayPal and Venmo, can even be used to follow up on past due payments. And digital forms streamline both the new patient intake process and health history updates for existing patients. COVID-19 may very well have propelled the world forward by 5 to 10 years in less than 18 months: Today, a paperless environment is no longer an unexpected novelty; it’s now one of the primary ways patients evaluate your technological savvy as well as your practice’s dedication to infection control in general—and to COVID-19 protocols in particular.

4. Your Dental Team Members Can Be Your Best
Marketers (or not)

Do you consider your team members a part of your practice marketing strategy? If not, it might be time to reexamine this crucial piece of the puzzle.

Consider your answers to the following questions:

Whom do patients encounter when they first enter the practice? Is that greeter the friendliest, most welcoming person alive? Or more like a bouncer?

When a prospective or new patient calls your practice, what are the first
words they hear? Do team members know they are expected to provide Ritz-Carlton–level customer service? Are team members trained to provide this level of customer service? Do team members know how to handle/manage conflict? Do team members know your monthly new patient goal? Do team members know how to ask for referrals/online reviews? Do team members refer their family and friends to the practice?

, Bryan Laskin, DDS, extolls the virtues of patient-centric technology as a marketing tool for the dental practice. What is patient-centric technology? Anything that saves patients time or reduces their pain. Whether that’s offering CAD/CAM restorations milled right in the practice, obviating the need for a temporary and a second visit; using the newest, smallest digital sensors that are more comfortable in your patients’ mouths; or using lasers that reduce the need for needles, drills, and sutures, the idea is that dentists should focus on technology that not only levels up their clinical game, but also provides a clear patient benefit.

1. Enge E. Mobile vs. desktop usage in 2020. Perficient. March 23, 2021. Accessed Nov. 1, 20201. https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-desktop-usage

To attract new patients and retain existing ones, there is a seemingly endless list of marketing tactics for dentists to pursue. Here are 5 essential ingredients that are crucial to a successful dental practice marketing strategy. With this cheat sheet in hand, dentists can break through the clutter and drive practice growth in 2022.

Top 5 Ways to Make Your Practice a Patient Magnet

® articles list included a few very popular articles dealing with a global pandemic. While we may not be totally out of the woods in terms of dealing with COVID-19 and its variants, this year’s top read, most received articles indicate somewhat of a return to normalcy in the industry. The honorees here include some fun articles and slideshows addressing things like braces being cool, artwork featuring teeth, and famous Americans many didn’t realize were dentists.

But the top articles this year also featured pieces on products and techniques, the best and worst places to work as a dentist in 2021, roundups on milling machines and x-ray sensors, and a cover story offering “Technique Touch-Ups” and clinical tips.

These articles generated the most views over the last year. 
To make sure you never miss a great piece, subscribe to the 
Dental Products Report eNewsletter at dentalproductsreport.com. 

Top 10 Restorative Products for 2021

 section of our website is filled with content designed to help dentists financially, whether to stay on track during challenging times, to plan for retirement, and even to prepare to sell your practice or to consider joining a dental service organization (DSO). This year’s top 10 list of articles addresses several important topics, including practice valuations during a pandemic, steps to prevent profits from leaking, capitalizing on industry optimism, and dealing with a divorce and its effects on a practice valuation.

Here’s another look at 10 of the top Dentist’s Money Digest® articles published in the past year. For more financial content, go to dentalproductsreport.com/finance.

Top 10 Dentist's Money Digest Articles

Kristin Hohman has served as Associate Editor of Dental Products report since 2019. She has a background in journalism and digital content. Kristin can be reached at khohman@mjhlifesciences.com.

Technology has been one of the most notable areas of advancement in modern dentistry. A continuous cycle of new and emerging technologies has enabled clinicians to offer single-day dentistry, reduce pain and increase patient comfort, and perform procedures with more precision than ever before.

Throughout 2021, practices continued to adjust to a world where the risk of COVID-19 was potentially around every corner. Yet technological growth never wavered. This year, the industry saw advancements in x-ray technology, intraoral scanners, and curing lights, to name a few. These technologies and more make up our top 10 technology products of 2021.

Top 10 Technology Products of 2021

The editors of Dental Products Report share a look at the top 10 innovative technology products that went on the market within the last year.

constantly innovating and automating the way clinicians treat patients, how dental practices operate, and how they work and communicate with dental labs. These 6 software products—there was a tie for the fifth slot—released in the past year offer breakthroughs in patient engagement, treatment planning, digital design, imaging, diagnosis, and artificial intelligence automation.

A look at the 6 new software applications that drew the most attention from the Dental Products Report® audience throughout the past year.

Top 6 Software Products 

hygienist juggles many demands throughout a regular workday. With keeping infection control pra

ctices top of mind (especially in the era of COVID-19), educating patients on the importance of oral health, and even paying attention to patients’ emotional states or anxieties, the work is nonstop. Maybe that is why some hygienists turned to our more lighthearted content over the course of the year—a chance to unwind after a long day. While still focusing on infection control and professional development, some of this year’s top-performing Modern Hygienist® content came in the form of slideshows on an array of topics, including animal teeth facts, TikTok trends, and Guinness World Records.

Top 5 Home Care Products

The editors of Dental Products Report share another look at 5 of the most impactful home care products from the past year.

ZNO Robotics Launches Office Solution for Practices

Top 5 Technique Articles

Top 5 Ways to Make Your Practice a Patient Magnet

Top 10 DPR Articles of 2021

Top 10 Restorative Products for 2021