Well, I guess I will embark on this blog thing. This will be my first post on any blog. Yeah, I have posted comments on a couple but never my own post.

You might be asking yourself what the title of this blog has to do with anything? Since I am a general dentist in a small coastal community, it seemed appropriate. Don't let anyone tell you dental decay is a thing of the past.

What are my intentions for this blog. I suppose the main thing is just to have somewhere to write about life in the dental office and occasionally vent about the stupid things people do to their teeth, and some of the comments made by patients.

I will start with a discussion I had with another dentist today. I went by his office to drop off some patient records for a patient that is transferring their care from me to him. Our offices are about 3 blocks apart. When I handed him the records, I asked if they made it a habit to collect the patients portion of payment when services are provided (that part not covered by insurance). He informed me that they did try. I suggested that was a good idea (didn't want to tell him the patient owed me money and was probably why they were leaving, but I also wanted him to know that he better be sure to get money up front from this one, without really saying so). He got my point.

That started a discussion about accounts receivable (money patients owe). Neither one of understand why patients think they don't need to pay for services. You don't go to the grocery store and get groceries and not expect to pay for them WHEN you get them, do you? So why would it be that way with any other service? Of course most patients think, heck, he has lots of money, he won't miss it if I don't pay him or if I pay him once he threatens me with collections. This dentists accounts receivable are in the $120,000.00 range. It is hard to run any business when people owe you that kind of change. Mine runs around $90 - $100,000.00. So, I guess I just started my blog by posting a "vent". Why do people think that is OK? You pay for nearly everything else you do up front, but when it comes to dentistry, ah heck.