Week in Review: COVID-19 and teeth | Boosting hygiene | Cross-training is key

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying some downtime this weekend. My plan includes catching up on some reading and hopefully getting further along in "The Mandalorian." How about you?

With the holiday, DrBicuspid.com only published articles on Monday through Wednesday this past week. While the number of articles this week might have been smaller than normal, I believe the information contained within them was no less powerful.

That includes an interesting report focusing on COVID-19 with a dental connection. Patients who have a full set of teeth and a clogged nose may be more likely to spread viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, according to a recently published study. What's the connection? The study revealed some surprising findings.

Now let's turn to the topic of teams, starting in the hygiene department. Dr. Robert Maguire wrote an excellent piece this week, and he starts the article by asking a very simple question: Do you have enough time to do your best work? Knowing how important the hygiene department is to the bottom line of the practice, Dr. Maguire dives into the reasons why he believes the end of the year is the perfect time to look at your schedule and see if your patients and bottom line could benefit from a more focused approach on the hygiene side.

If your hygiene department could benefit from some changes, what about the rest of your team? Is cross-training something that could make your practice stronger and reenergize your team members? Office manager Claudia LaSmith explained how cross-training has benefited her North Carolina practice and why she highly recommends it.

As always, thank you for being a DrBicuspid.com subscriber. My team and I wish you a relaxing rest of the holiday weekend.