Joe Blaes, DDS
Editor
e-mail: [email protected]
Welcome to the new millennium! This is a time to dream, a time to renew your vision, a time to look deep inside at who you are and what you have become, and a time to look deep inside and decide what it is you really want to become. This is a time to think of those you love, a time to think of those who love you, and a time to consider your own gift of love and how you share it. This is a time to thank your God for all the wondrous gifts you have received.
My vision of a magazine that will make a difference in your lives has made 1999 a blur of airports, airplanes, hotels, and meetings. I am writing this in a hotel at 6 a.m. When I woke this morning, I rolled over expecting to say good morning to my wife, Sue. I suddenly realized that I was not at home but in another hotel somewhere. During 1999, I spent 141 nights in hotels all over the United States, attending 60 meetings and speaking at 45 of them. Besides all of the traveling, I read every article and column that appeared in Dental Economics and many others that I either rejected or asked for a rewrite. Somehow, I found time to write my own articles each month and spend some time treating patients and prepping teeth.
This schedule left very little time for my family and my seven grandchildren. My wife told me that she felt like she was training to be a widow. My life is totally out of balance. This year, I will get it back into balance!
I hope you will get away by yourself or perhaps with a loved one and do some significant focusing on the future as we enter the 21st century. Give yourself permission to do and be whatever you want. Some of my most rewarding and significant ideas came from these kinds of sessions.
The ADA meeting in Hawaii marked dentistry`s entry into the world of the Internet. The Greater New York Dental Meeting signaled that the ADA session`s activity was not a flash in the pan. There were easily twice as many booth spaces in New York that were heavily into the Internet. Some of the companies had strange sounding names, but all of them ended with .com. They were selling everything from Web sites to alginate, but all spoke to the need to become involved in this very real force of the future - the Internet! As Larry Emmott says, "The future is coming and it will be amazing."
With this issue, Dental Economics enters its 90th year, making it the oldest nonpaid subscription dental magazine. We are justifiably proud of our heritage and we look forward to continuing our role as the very best dental business magazine. I want to call your attention to quite a few changes in this first issue of the 21st century.
I consider communication to be the key to all dental problems. To this end, I have asked Sandy Roth to do a 12-month series on communication in the dental office and how to be the best you can be. Terry Goss will put together the action plans for you to follow to implement these important communication concepts into your practice.
I have already mentioned the importance of the Internet in this new century; smileworks.com has agreed to sponsor a monthly Internet article. The purpose of this series will be to help you become familiar with the Internet and why you should be part of it.
Whether you know it or not, many of your patients probably are more familiar with the Internet than you are. The number of people online on any particular day is amazing, and the possibilities for dentistry are mind-boggling. Imagine your practice management software coming to you over the Internet instead of having to buy and install it yourself. Sound impossible? Not really!
I am proud to announce a new column by Bev Maguire. Bev is an extraordinary hygienist who will give us her perspective on how hygiene fits into the practice of the 21st century.
We are on a fast track now, but you can trust Dental Economics to help you stay on course! Have a wonderful year!
