Week in Review: Why is your production down? Plus a new legal case and U.S. dental spending rises

Dear DrBicuspid Member,

It is December and you are probably looking at your practice's year-end numbers. If your production numbers are down, it can impact your bottom line and also your team's morale. Practice management consultant Sally McKenzie has five reasons your production numbers might be lower and what you can do to improve them. Learn more here.

Also this week on DrBicuspid.com, a 45-year-old law-enforcement officer presented to an oral surgeon when his general dentist found a white lesion near a recent lower incisor extraction. As William S. Spiegel and Dr. Marc R. Leffler discuss in their latest Legal Cases column, this patient's treatment and case are a reminder that chart entries are crucial to patient care and for legal documentation. Read more here.

Spending on dental and oral healthcare in the U.S. increased to more than $124 billion in 2016, up from $118.9 billion in 2015, according to a new study in Health Affairs. The 4.6% increase in spending outpaced the 4.3% overall healthcare spending increase. Learn more here.

Periodontist Dr. Alvin Danenberg receives questions from patients all over the world about gum disease. While patients' specific conditions vary, in general the conversations seem to revolve around these five questions. How do you address these patient questions? Read his responses here.

This week we had a report that a stopgap U.S. government funding bill might fund the Children's Health Insurance Program until a more long-term solution could be found. As of press time, however, this funding has not been approved and children and families are being used as political pawns. It is far past time for the U.S. Congress to put politics aside and fund this program.