Success Story of the Week!
Hi Dr. Ostler,
I originally picked up your Cooking With Style recipe book to see what kind of recipes it contained. But it took on new life for me when I pulled it out and looked through it at my sister’s house. While we were talking, I happened to notice an article on sleep apnea among the delicious cuisine. I brought this to her attention, and much to my surprise, she told me that my brother-in-law was going to a sleep clinic the very next day because they thought that he had this condition. She literally grabbed the book out of my hands and did not want to give it back.

Recently, I showed it to a friend who works at a specialty shoe store. She instantly thumbed through it and commented on how great it looked. She said she was interested in giving this to her customers and to the medical professionals that frequent her store.

To be honest, I am amazed at the attention this book receives. I now realize that your intent was not just to give something FREE to your patients. You are using something that captures attention to convey a marketing message that is very important. This sales tool is not one that is easily discarded or set aside, and it definitely is not a high pressure sales technique. I’ve been in sales for 14 years and I’ve found that the secret to success in sales is to make people think the idea or product is their idea and that they were not pressured. This recipe book marketing tool is very comfortable – a true “silent seller” that will keep on giving” as it gets passed around and used by your patients and their friends, and will reap benefits today and tomorrow. Kudos to you and your marketing team!

Sincerely,

Collise

P.S. I am a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador. I would like to request several copies to pass out to other business owners in our community.

Referral from an ENT Medical Office
“Today the lead nurse at a local ENT medical office called to refer yet another patient to our office. While she was giving us the patient’s information, she said she wanted us to know the reason for the referrals was because of information her doctor received from our office. She said he was very impressed!” - Lee Ostler DDS

Omer Reed DDS (foreword to Physicians Marketing Handbook)
"In trolling for a paradigm shift worthy of his commitment, Lee Ostler has latched on to a Significant Emotional Event equal to the revolutions created by cosmetics, implantology, and neuromuscular dentistry. Quite likely the future will show our profession that the impact of the Oral-Systemic Connection will be the most significant of those events we’ve recently experienced.

"Now, because of the new medical literature, attorneys looking for new revenue streams are waiting in the wings and eyeing the potential windfall coming their way. It will not be a happy day at the medical office when a person with gingival disease has a heart attack, stroke or premature birth and then learns that they should have been referred to a qualified dentist to treat their oral infection.

"Dentistry has not to date given medicine anything they can trust as knowledgeable and competent for which to refer to us. Ten or fifteen years ago, those who championed this cause were considered fringe at best and committing malpractice at its worst. Insurance ignored the subject, maligning the provider and proclaiming the fees to be unjustified. Our profession is asleep and "ho hum," in my opinion on the issues that Dr. Ostler has addressed. Dentists who fail to inform the medical doctor of record that the person being cared for in common is a periodontal disease patient are practicing below this standard of care. Dentistry has a solution, but most of us have not been trained on how to approach a physician.

"Medical insurance is paying for perio; liability companies are counseling and admonishing their physician clients to refer; the national press is telling its readers that gum disease could kill them; corporations are beginning to advertise their special product formulas to clean the germs from the mouth so the heart isn’t affected; and most significantly the ADA and the AMA are partnering on the oral-systemic connection.

"The project that Dr. Ostler has chosen with the Physician’s Marketing Handbook and the accompanying "Physician’s Dental Guide to a Healthy Body" (of the Physicians Referral and Education Program - PREP) is distributed because Dr. Ostler wants to make a difference and wants to save lives. The best way to do this is to work with the grassroots of the medical profession in our communities.

"The work that Lee Ostler has accomplished is a remarkable labor! The Physician’s Marketing Handbook assists the dentist in beginning to build a bridge between the dental office and the medical office. My test marketing of the information in the "Physicians Dental Guide to a Healthy Body" to a series of medical doctors has brought the comment that this is great stuff and must be read by all physicians. We are on the right track!

"It’s not rocket science to realize that prescription referral by medicine to dentistry will bring people coming for the reduction of their inflammation and the benefits thereof, but they will also be bringing to the dentist a mouth full of neuromuscular, restorative and cosmetic challenges. While this is true, it remains our responsibility to behave honorably to first and foremost apply the science and fulfill dentistry’s mission to improve health and save lives.

"If this project brings change in the relationship between dentistry and medicine, and medicine refers to dentists this diagnosable but not treatable disease (in their medical offices), and if the physician is fortunate enough to refer the person in need to a qualified dentist, then Dr. Ostler’s objectives will have been achieved. Lives will have been saved."
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Bill Blathford DDS
"It is truly refreshing when once every decade or so a new idea is born that promises to revolutionize our profession. Since the uniqueness of being a cosmetic dentist has faded ("everybody’s a cosmetic dentist!"), it has many wondering what’s next that can set them apart in a world of sameness. The convergence of important trends being forced upon us is creating a new era in dentistry that will forever and permanently change our practices.

"A major focus in medicine now appears to be systemic inflammation as a major risk factor for many of today’s serious life-threatening medical problems. New medical science is shifting the standard-of-care and malpractice attorneys are now breathing down the necks of physicians over a "new" medical condition called "periodontal disease" (perio treatment is now covered by medical insurance!) Dentistry now finds itself playing a key role in saving lives and in helping physicians avoid malpractice.

"Dr. Lee Ostler has captured the essence of the next major paradigm shift in dentistry with his work on how to market the Oral-Systemic Connection to patients and physicians. The Physicians Marketing Handbook is simply a MUST READ for any dentist serious about learning how to work with and approach medical doctors, and in increasing practice profits by treating the Oral-Systemic Connection.

"Smart dentists will quickly position themselves and learn how to approach physicians by applying and using the marketing principles and tools available in the "Physicians Referral and Education Program" which Dr. Lee Ostler has authored. Since lives are at stake and dentistry can become more profitable and create new streams of patients, dentists would be well advised to embrace the concepts presented in Dr. Ostler’s timely work."
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Mark Duncan DDS, Editor Oklahoma AGD
"The PREP program is a perfect adjunct for my office and couldn't have come at a better time! We have been looking at building a tight network with our practice and medical offices so that we can help to close the gap in health care. Unfortunately the health of the mouth and the connection to the rest of the body is still a mystery to most physicians. In our effort to help improve the awareness of the Oral/Systemic connection, we have been looking for the right tools. The PREP program is exactly that tool! The reference book is very well laid out and is a complete resource for physicians to be able to readily access the latest information on periodontal health and it's relationship to the rest of the body. Having the references and articles already out and categorized so that it is easy to see the impact of chronic infection and inflammatory disease can have makes it painfully obvious that the health of the mouth is vitally important for more than just keeping teeth for life. Treating periodontal disease as a systemic disease is an important advance in thinking and a major benefit to our patients. This reference resource is one very large step in the direction of placing our profession in the position of being physicians of the mouth!

"When the reference manual is coupled with the manual on marketing to physicians it creates a one-two punch that will become the backbone of my networking and position strategy for my office! The power created by a few forward thinking physicians who refer patients to a well trained dental office for management of their oral health is huge. When looking at the simple numbers involved, there is no way a dental office can keep up with the volume of referrals that this can generate! We all know that a word of mouth referral is the strongest lead for a new patient in a practice. When that referral is from a physician and recommended for helping them to control their diabetes or heart disease, the patient is more than just motivated. The key is building that bridge so that new patients can find my practice and the PREP program has done exactly that! I am looking forward to the evolution in my practice as we incorporate the PREP program - thanks again for putting it together!"
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Lee Ostler DDS - Richland, WA
"As I and my office team were getting ready to launch the TMD-Headaches PREP marketing program to a number of area neurologists, ENTs, chiropractors, dental colleagues, and general physicians, we experienced a minor office fire that put us out of business for a few days while restoration contractors did cleaning and repairs. While I was busy working with the contractors and insurance adjustors, I directed my team members to use their down time to deliver the first group of 3-ring binder Physician Resource Manuals (PRM) to area physicians we wanted to work with and get referrals from.

“My team went to the grocery store bakery and cleaned them out of brownies and then made several deliveries of brownies and physician referral materials. They placed some referral forms, met some wonderful medical office managers and staff, and created some great new relationships with medical offices in the community.

“Unbeknownst to us, one of the medical office team members at one office had an unresolved ear complaint of ear pain and ear congestion, for which her boss-physician had previously referred her to an ENT for evaluation. She had spent several months in tests trying to get a diagnosis for her unresolved problem and was becoming very frustrated and discouraged. As it turned out, we made marketing deliveries to her medical office as well as to the ENT whom she had been working with. On the day of our delivery, her boss handed her the binder and said “go see this guy”. Later that same day at a follow up appointment with her ENT, her ENT physician mentioned that my office team had stopped by with this information and that she was suspicious her ear complaints were jaw related. She gave her one of our referral forms and advised her to call us and make an appointment, which she promptly did.

“Our evaluation found that she did indeed have a TMD problem along with considerable dental pathology and occlusal breakdown. Appropriate recommendations were made and treatment is now underway which has the potential in resulting in full reconstruction treatment before it is over.”
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Bob Schulhof, CEO - Center for Dental Medicine
"I have been involved with dentistry and in dental practice coaching for 30+ years. A central focus of this is in teaching dentists how to obtain referrals and nurture relationships with physicians and other health professionals. The physician referral process is an important process to get right.

"I believe that the PREP program fills in many of the missing gaps we have had to deal with. It helps to create a positive first impression and in building the professional relationship necessary to obtain referrals from medical doctors. Mostly it helps our dentists to position themselves in their community as the experts they rightly are.

"The expertly written Patient Report letters provide a great first impression. The Physicians Dental Guide to a Healthy Body or the “Physicians Resource Manual” is the best possible calling card to get the attention of the physician. The “Perio Flags” referral cards combined with the expertly orchestrated free perio consultation, are really the bottom line in making it easy for the physician to take the action needed.

"The ongoing monthly “FaxDrip” newsletters are indispensable to their efforts to maintain regular contact with the doctors in their respective communities and to nurture those relationships. Finally, the methodologies presented in the Physicians Marketing Handbook are vital to teaching the dentist their role in profitably pursuing all things related to the Oral Systemic Connection, in “closing the sale” and in the necessary follow up to ensure a successful program in the dental office.

"We encourage all of our practices to become a “PREP” practice and to use the PREP Marketing System to increase their profits and enjoyment in delegated hygiene services. We invite all others to seriously consider the benefits of utilizing a ready-made solution to doubling-tripling their hygiene productivity and to gaining physician referrals by being properly positioned in their community."
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