Recently, I had the exciting experience of interviewing Shaquille O’Neal for our publications. Shaq’s sleep (and health) have been impacted over the years by his sleep apnea, and our discussion primarily focused on his journey to finding a solution. Fortunately, we also had time to delve into his philosophy of life, his path to fulfillment, and future goals. Two of his basic tenets of life resonated with me, so much so that I wanted to share them with you in this issue’s message.
First, Shaq noted that one of his favorite quotes is from Dwight D. Eisenhower, a former U.S. president and five-star general: “The greatest leaders are the ones smart enough to hire people smarter than them.” How true. While you bring the clinical knowledge to the practice, surrounding yourself with the best and the brightest opens up your world to ideas, insights, and talents beyond your own in other important areas. Thankfully, we have done that with the team at MedMark Media and recommend that our readers should also take advantage of all of the experienced people who can expand your practice’s management, clerical, social media, and even clinical options in this very competitive arena.
Shaq developed his life’s mission from another concept that he learned from his mother. He had given her some material gifts, to which she responded, “‘I don’t want these, Baby; I love you very much. What have you done to brighten up someone else’s day?” This reinforced what we try to practice every day. We know that taking care of business is our daily focus, but we also need to focus on taking care of others — and what better way than changing lives through our life’s calling! For me, it is improving dentists’ and patients’ health through bringing to light the important concepts and breakthroughs of our profession through our authors and advisors. You can expand patient care possibilities through CEs, our articles, webinars, DocTalk Dental videos, or any of the many educational options available in this quickly changing dental industry. While you’re at it, let your patients know how your practice is capable of changing or improving their lives! Use your social media, smartphones, and websites to spread the word.
We’d like to spread the word about a few articles in our fall issue of Dental Sleep Practice. Our cover story reflects the amazing conversation that I had with Shaq regarding his personal experience and journey to a solution for his sleep apnea. His mission to educate others on this life-threatening condition and how he found a resolution for his own symptoms was truly an inspiration. In this interview, Dr. Jonathan Greenburg also discusses Sleep Certified, an online educational platform that trains dentists and their staff on how to treat sleep apnea with nine possible levels of certification, in an inexpensive and accessible platform. Our special feature section spotlights the dentists’ role in sleep-related breathing disorders. This section delves into the ADA’s perspective on the care of patients with certain SRBDs, on possible policy for screening patients for risks of SRBD, a look at a comprehensive approach to dealing with children’s airway issues, and even early prevention of OSA. The section also features articles on evaluating patients for dental sleep therapy and informed consent regarding dental sleep medicine. In our marketing column, Marc Fowler offers his ideas on how to attract sleep patients through digital marketing.
While my interview with Shaq mainly focused on his nighttime sleep, we ended up discussing how to make every day count — a topic which always is our goal for all of you and your teams.
To your best success!
Shaquille O’Neal ‘s philosophy on helping others is a great way to connect with your patients. Another way to connect is through social media. Read about how to grow your practice’s patient base with social media in Sasha Thompson-Bachtold’s article, “Carve your path to social media success.”