Dental Letters: Write, Blog and Email Your Way to Success with CD-ROM. American Dental Association

New Practice Website

       Our Practice Website Now Has PatientSmart

       SPECIAL OCCASION AND PERSONAL

       Congratulations — Civic or Organization Election

       Personal Achievement/Award

       Get Well — Illness or Surgery

       Sympathy — Death in the Family

       Congratulations — Retirement

       Happy Holidays

       New Baby

       Job Promotion/Transfer

       Marriage

       High School/College Graduation

       PATIENT FORMS

       Dentist Request for Patient Records

       Patient Request for Transfer of Records

       School Excuse Upon Patient Authorization

       Work Excuse Upon Patient Authorization

       Pre-surgical Authorization/Dental Contraindications

       Non-covered Services Acknowledgement Form

       Patient Email Address Request

       SAMPLE PRESS RELEASES

       Local Dentist Leads “Give Kids a Smile®” Day

       Dentist Elected Office of Local (State) Dental Society

       Community-wide Oral Health Campaign

       Local Dentist Volunteers for Mission of Mercy Event

       DOCTOR UPDATES

       Local Dentist Wins Award

       Local Dentist Wins Fellowship

       Local Dentist Completes Specialty Training

       Local Dentist Completes Certificate/Degree Program

       SAMPLE TEXTS, TWEETS, AND FACEBOOK POSTS

       Sample Text Messages

       Sample Tweets

       Sample Facebook Posts

       YOUR PRACTICE WEBSITE

       What Causes Periodontal Diseases

       Improving Your Smile

       Dental Implants

       Early Childhood Tooth Decay

Introduction

      Using the Contents of This Book

      The contents of this book were designed to be flexible. They are meant to be adapted to the specific purposes of your dental office, whether it’s sending letters to your patients or repurposing content for newsletter items or blog posts.

      The content is also meant to show examples of different types of correspondence that can be used by dental staff to communicate with patients, vendors, employees, other dental professionals or the media.

      As you read through the contents of this book, change them to meet your audience’s needs. Put yourself in the patients’ shoes and then clearly state how the technique, procedure or program will benefit them. For example, if a certain procedure will save patient time and money in the future, state this within the first three sentences of your communication. If your communication has space constraints, such as a limited number of lines or characters, this information should be the first sentence. Also remember that people read at different literacy levels. Use simple language that is to the point. Avoid technical or scientific jargon whenever possible.

      Taking the time to communicate concern on an individual level is important, especially since many mediums are public postings that are not targeted to a specific individual. Because these mediums do not convey personal attention, the majority of your written correspondence should be personalized. For example, when sending a letter, use the individual’s address at the top, mention him or her by name in the salutation, and sign correspondence personally. If you don’t take time to personalize a communication, the individual may not take time to read it. A well-written, personalized letter will create a positive image for your practice, as will a personalized but concise email. Conversely, a careless letter or message will create a negative image. This book includes a CD-ROM with Microsoft Word documents of all the communications so you can personalize them right on your computer.

      Adapting the Contents for Different Media Platforms

      The text below announcing a new office location originally appeared as a letter. However, there is no need to limit this communication to one medium. The content can easily be adapted to a text, a tweet, a Facebook post, and a blog post or newsletter item, as demonstrated below:

       LETTER

      7/12/2013

      Carol Martin

      211 Main Street

      Chicago IL 60611

      Dear Carol:

      We are pleased to announce the opening of our new dental office at 900 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago, IL. You have watched our practice