Vegas Redux

Jeffrey Caso

14 years ago

Well, as promised, I am writing this blog on the flight home from Las Vegas and the Townie meeting. In my last blog I wrote about being on the way to the meeting and how I was bringing my staff with me. I sit here happy and content in that the meeting was a resounding success for everyone.

We arrived safely and attended the Wednesday night wine and cheese reception. It was great to see so many friends and it was even more exhilarating to introduce those people to my wife and staff. They have heard me speak of so many of these people and it's great to put a face with a name. There is so much to say so let me just touch on the highlights.

The costume party and our office costume were great. The theme was Cinco de Mayo and we attended as a life-sized six-pack of Corona. It went very well and made us laugh for hours. For me, I think the greatest thing was seeing everyone watch out for each other and work hard to make sure all decisions were good for all and that they stayed together at all times. I really believe that a group of already good friends bonded in a way that developed a mutual respect and strong friendships that will withstand the test of time.

Educationally, the biggest take home message for them was insight into cross-coding dental insurance to medical. There is more work to do to get this going in my practice, but it's a trend that can truly help our patients a great deal. I personally need to learn more about this in the days and weeks to come. It seems that many offices are doing this successfully. I will relay more information on this in a future blog post when I understand it fully myself.

I attended mostly implant courses and learned quite a bit both in placement techniques and restoratively. I had two other great experiences and need to further investigate both. The first was the value of Perioendoscopy. I went in with a preconceived notion that this was a gimmick and came out seriously considering a purchase. Diagnostically, you can visualize fractured roots, sources of inflammation such as poor crown and restorative margins and early decay. Using it to evaluate periodontal treatment results, especially in those cases that just do not resolve as good as you had hoped, is another huge benefit.

The second important experience was watching a video of a patient undergoing a sleep study and having episodes of Apnea time and time again and the violent nature of this problem. In addition, they overlaid a graphic of the airway to visualize just what was happening at each moment. I need to run, not walk to the next sleep course in my area. This is a serious problem and that was unmistakable in this video.

So, sadly it's all over. I just need to bring everyone home to their families in time for Mothers Day. I wish I could give them all a few days off to recover, but Monday is just a day away. I think we will hit the ground running and work together in a new, energetic way as co-worker and friends. I thank them for this great opportunity.