Dental Professional Outreach Activities

Referring dentists are the lifeblood of an endodontic practice. Save Your Tooth Month offers the opportunity to show your gratitude for their continued support and build upon your relationships. Below are some ideas to spur your outreach to referring dentists and other dental professionals.

Receptions

• Since Save Your Tooth Month an observance of endodontists and endodontic treatment, celebrate with a group of your top referring dentists at your office. Host a reception for your referring dentists and other local dentists to showcase your latest technologies, introduce new staff and give a tour of your office.
• Have all attendees wear nametags so they can also use this event to meet others in the dental community.
• During the reception, ask attending dentists to identify endodontic topics that are of interest to them and that they would be willing to discuss with you further. The AAE ENDODONTICS: Colleagues for Excellence clinical newsletters may be helpful in your follow-up.
• Spice up the reception by hosting an endodontic quiz. Come up with five to ten questions about endodontics, your referral system or your office. Begin the game when most of your guests arrive and offer prizes for the winners.
• During the reception, ask your guests to bring food for the local food bank or donate to your favorite local charity. Find an organization to support with Charity Navigator. You can extend your fundraising through the whole week by contacting patients before their appointments to let them know of your efforts.

Endodontic Treatment Gift Certificates

Show your gratitude to referring dentists while doing a good deed by providing a complimentary treatment. A sample letter to use with  gift certificate entitling the recipient of your referring dentist's choice to a complimentary root canal can be found here!

Partnership Pledge

Use Save Your Tooth Month as an opportunity to remind your referring dentists of your commitment to giving them the highest quality and service and patient care. You can find a sample of the Partnership Pledge in Marketing the Endodontic Practice.

Partnership Awards

Give appreciation awards to the general dentists in your community who demonstrate exemplary partnership in treatment planning, and/or give back to the community in an exceptional way. Share the winner on your Facebook page and website or even write a news release about why you chose the recipient.

Website Content

If you currently do not have a section on your website dedicated to general dentists, create a subpage just for them. You can include referral information, a patient treatment philosophy and more. Visit the website section of Marketing the Endodontic Practice for more content ideas.

Newsletter

If you have never sent a practice newsletter, use Save Your Tooth Month for your first issue (mail or electronic)! Remind the dental community that you are a valuable partner in the patients' healthcare, include information about your office and office staff, and always include referring information. Add content to the newsletter by using AAE resources such as the ENDODONTICS: Colleagues for Excellence newsletter and/or position statements. View the newsletter section of Marketing the Endodontic Practice for more ideas.

Promotional Items

Create T-shirts, mugs, tooth brushes or cupcakes with the Save Your Tooth Month logo and hand-deliver the items to your referring dentists. Get the entire office involved to keep the excitement going throughout the week. With each gift, include your office referral information. You can purchase select items with the Save Your Tooth Month logo from the AAE Logo Product Store.

Endodontic Awareness Among Emergency Care Personnel

Reach out to local emergency personnel during Save Your Tooth Month to demonstrate the valuable skill set you can provide in diagnosing oral/facial pain, managing pain, and treating infected and avulsed teeth. Ensure that local hospital emergency rooms and emergency care clinics have your contact information should they need an emergency consult, and distribute patient education materials that keep your practice top of mind should a dental emergency present itself. The AAE's collection of brochures, trauma guidelines and avulsed tooth poster are ideal for this purpose, and most items can be customized with your practice address and emergency contact information.