Angus Pryor is the Founder and CEO of Dental Marketing Solutions. In April 2023, Dental Marketing Solutions won the Australian Dental Industry Award for Marketing on a second occasion, the first being in 2020.
Convened by the Australian Dental Industry Association (ADIA), the Australian Dental Industry Awards recognise excellence in the provision of quality products and services that support the work of dentists and allied oral healthcare professionals.
After receiving his latest award, Angus spoke with Australian Health Journal.
By his estimate he’s delivered over 10,000 hours of consulting to dentists in Australia and internationally. In addition to the ADIA awards, his company has been the recipient of a number of other industry awards.
To Angus marketing deals with human psychology as well being part science and part art. He proclaims, “If dentists are serious about growing their business, they need to take marketing seriously”.
Today, competition in the dental industry is at an all time high.
According to Angus, “For more than a decade now, the number of practising dentists has increased at a rate two and a half times faster than the Australian population.”
Further, Angus has seen specialists in the dental sphere getting less referrals from general practitioner dentists. As he explains, general practitioner dentists are now doing more implants in house, more wisdom teeth, and even orthodontics. For a heavily referral based business, this can significantly impact the practice.
He offers 3 options to counter this
- Seeking more referrals from other practices
- Marketing direct to consumers
- Delivering lots of education and constantly engaging general dental practice
Winning the Australian Dental Industry Award for Marketing has had a big impact to Dental Marketing Solutions. As Angus comments in closing, “Receiving the award is social proof to say, well, these guys must know something, because an independent body of their peers has assessed them and said”. He added, “Certainly it’s been good in terms of building our business.”
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Improving access to osteopathic services and integrated care models
The Chief Executive Officer of Osteopathy Australia, Antony Nicholas spoke with Australian Health Journal about:
– Involvement in the Strengthening Medicare Task Force
– The unique skills osteopaths have that can address the chronic disease burden
– Current workforce issues around osteopaths and if enough are coming through via student placements
– How uploading data to My Health Record by osteopaths could assist team-based care of patients
– How the value of osteopaths in Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) could be better understood and better access for residents
– The recommendations around aged care access to allied health services, including osteopathy
– The recommendations around consumer access to osteopaths and GP referrals
– Other osteopathy recommendations in the upcoming Federal BudgetIn the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget in May 2023, Australian Health Journal reached out to peak health industry bodies to hear about their priorities, either noted in pre-budget submissions lodged with Federal Government in January 2023 or in recent forums such as the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.
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Continuing education program leads to better conversations
Medicines Australia’s Continuing Education Program (CEP) is designed to educate medical representatives to a recognised industry standard. Dr Tristan Ling, CEP Academic Lead and Project Manager at the College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania talks about the 900 students that come through the program each year.
The CEP is primarily directed at medical representatives working within the prescription medicines industry, but is also recommended to people who may not be currently employed within the industry but would like to pursue a career as a medical representative. It is also available to personnel working for organisations interacting with the pharmaceutical industry.
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Thyroid health into pregnancy
‘Without an adequate amount of thyroid hormone mothers can be exposed to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including gestational hypertension and preeclampsia or eclampsia, which affect around 10% of pregnant women and are the leading causes of maternal and neonatal mortality worldwide. Mothers who suffer from hypertensive disorders during pregnancy are at increased risk of long-term cardiovascular consequences and hypertensive disorders in subsequent pregnancies. Evidence also indicates a risk of reduced cognitive ability to their offspring.
‘Knowing if you are genetically predisposed to Hashimoto’s or Graves’ Diseases, which are both thyroid autoimmune disorders is important to be aware of, to ensure all appropriate tests are ordered. Autoimmune disorders may predispose mothers to a thyroid problem during pregnancy’, says Professor Creswell Eastman, who also serves as the ATF’s Principal Medical Advisor.
