This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
It’s still hot in September, but I hope that it will cool down in the latter half of the month, as the saying goes, “The heat and cold will last until the equinox.”
There was a dentist who used to practice in Chiba City who used to go to clubs in Ginza.
It’s been almost 10 years since he quit dentistry, so I think it’s okay to write about it here, but
he also wrote about it in the dental association’s newsletter.
He said that he couldn’t stop going to Ginza clubs because he could get information that the general public couldn’t get.
It’s been more than 10 years ago, but at the time, it was 30,000 yen for a beer with a hostess sitting next to you.
Maybe there is information that can only be found there.
As for me, I have no interest in going to such places.
Other than this, perhaps there are other things I should experience as a business owner, such as meeting geisha or spending time in Kyoto with maiko and geisha, but I have never been there and don’t have any particular desire to go.
Of course, I don’t deny that there are people who like this kind of fun.
Everyone is free to do what they want.
I once read an article by someone in the entertainment industry who said that men should have a lot of fun in the nightlife where there are hostesses, but I personally don’t feel like going.
Of course, I like eating out with friends and family, but I get sleepy late at night, so I make sure I get enough sleep and take good care of my health.
In this respect, it’s great that Dodgers player Ohtani turns down invitations to drinking parties after games and gets about 10 hours of sleep.
A famous baseball player was photographed coming out of a drag queen bar in the past, but as I’ve said many times, people are different.
I will continue to take care of my health and time.
Just to be clear, I’m not writing this because I want to be invited to these kinds of places.
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City, which will be opening a new staff room building in October 2024.
We are currently considering various materials for the exterior walls of the building.
When we opened in 1987, we decided on the color of the exterior walls, but we didn’t think much about the material.
However, more than 30 years have passed since then, and when we renovated and even rebuilt, we found that there are many different types of exterior walls.
We are currently considering ceramic siding and galvalume steel sheets.
Each has its pros and cons.
We plan to use galvalume steel sheets for the roof.
As the name suggests, it is made of metal, but it has insulation inside.
When I think of metal roofs from the old Showa era, tin roofs immediately come to mind.
I remember that when it rained, the sound of it hitting the roof was terrible.
I’m sure it sometimes leaked.
That won’t happen with today’s galvalume steel roofs.
For the exterior walls, our director will choose from ceramic siding with or without joints,
selecting the type that best suits the image of the clinic.
Renovation of the office space has already begun,
but construction on the main clinic building will begin soon, so we’re excited every day as we make plans.
Is it “impossible” to offer paid leave or childcare leave at a dentist in Chiba?
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
In the summer, we have to be on our guard against typhoons and torrential rains.
It is essential to be prepared on a daily basis so that we can be prepared for any disasters that may occur.
The other day, a famous influencer said on YouTube that “it is impossible for small and medium-sized companies to give employees full paid leave or childcare leave these days.”
This person usually makes sharp comments about politics, so I thought, “Oh, that’s strange.”
In the first place, paid leave is an employee’s right, and if an employee applies for paid leave, the employer must approve it.
It is true that in a workplace with a small number of employees, for example a workplace with three employees, even if one person takes a day off, the number of employees will be reduced to two-thirds, or about 67%.
So, having three employees is not at all uncommon in a dental clinic, and if three employees are reduced to two, the clinic will be in a lot of trouble.
For example, after dealing with a patient at the reception desk, you might immediately assist the dentist inside, or if the phone rings, you might stop your assisting duties to answer it.
In this situation, it is difficult to take paid leave out of consideration for the other staff, so they don’t take it.
They only take paid leave together just before they leave.
It’s a difficult situation if even one person is absent, but the two staff members who come to work on the day the patient is absent have to do the work of three people between them, so they are exhausted by the time they finish work.
It is especially difficult not only physically but mentally when someone suddenly misses work on the day.
If this continues, it’s natural that some staff will leave early or some will badmouth the management during their lunch break, creating a negative spiral.
There is something important to note here.
It is the 80:20 rule.
This is a concept I learned at a seminar by Anthony Robbins, the world’s number one life coach.
The 80 in 80:20 is mindset, and the 20 is technical skills.
Improving technical skills is absolutely necessary in any job.
For example, in the job of a dentist, it is absolutely necessary to receive training to improve your skills, attend study groups to increase your knowledge, and read books.
However, focusing only on that does not mean that your dental clinic will be successful.
This is because 80% of work is influenced by psychological factors.
In other words, things like not being in an overly busy working environment, being able to take paid leave, and being able to take childcare leave without worrying are four times more important than improving technical skills.
In fact, even among the staff of our clinic, there are some who, even if they have a lot going on at work, feel refreshed when they go on a paid vacation and are able to work hard again.
Of course, there may be some people who can work 24 hours a day like the hard-working employees of the high economic growth era of the 1950s and 60s.
However, those were times when wages were rising steadily, and if you worked hard you could see a bright future, in other words, it was a time of spiritual fulfillment.
Even now, there may be people who can work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for their own mission, but that is less than 1% of the total.
I think that people who work normally choose workplaces where they can take regular holidays, have little overtime, and have a good work atmosphere.
The number of people who become managers (as opposed to self-employed) is probably less than one in ten.
Managers and employees are completely different people.
You should not force the behavioral patterns of managers on employees.
It usually doesn’t work if you do that.
Getting regular employees to participate in study sessions for managers usually doesn’t work well.
In fact, if you do that, some employees will quit.
You’ll end up wishing you hadn’t sent them to study sessions for managers.
I know a lot of examples like that.
I think there are few managers of dental clinics, and many others, who start their own businesses after learning how to run them.
So most people spend the first few years of their business learning about employment.
However, I think it’s normal for entrepreneurs to have trouble with their employees in the first few years, and this should not be repeated.
Let’s go back to the first influencer.
Before deciding that it’s impossible to give employees full paid leave or childcare leave, wouldn’t it be better to try to do so and run your company better?
That’s management effort.
If your business allows employees to take paid leave properly, your staff will work enthusiastically.
The reason is that, as I wrote earlier, 80% of work is about feeling, and the remaining 20% is technical skills.
Top athletes should not fix their teeth alignment.
A story about a dentist in Chiba being severely scolded by his tennis coach
I was scolded by my coach.
“That’s the way it was 30 years ago!”
When I played tennis as a student, I was taught to hit the ball solidly and flatly with my forehand.
In other words, make sure the contact time between the racket strings and the ball is long, and put power into the ball with a closed stance! That’s the way it’s done.
There were players like Sweden’s Borg who put extreme topspin on the ball, but it was by no means a standard way of hitting.
Borg, who won Wimbledon five times in a row, has an unconventional two-handed backhand, and holds the racket with just his right hand during the follow-through.
Even now, it’s rare to see anyone hitting like this.
Going back to the forehand, the material of the racket has changed significantly since those days, and now the mainstream way of hitting is to use a thick grip and pull the ball to put spin on it, like in soft tennis.
However, due to my old habits, I still tend to use a closed stance and get close to the ball when hitting the ball.
It’s true that I can’t hit a fast ball like this.
But I’m getting too close to the ball.
Besides, the fact that you can see two balls is proof enough that the ball speed is slow.
When I look at this photo in the past, I thought it was a good shot, but looking at it now I can see that it was an incorrect way of hitting the ball in the past.
Well, the Paris Olympics were very moving.
However, one thing that bothered me was that many Japanese athletes had crooked teeth.
It is often said that a good bite can improve the balance of the body and enable high performance in sports.
That is certainly true, but if you are a top athlete with crooked teeth, should you undergo orthodontic treatment?
From the perspective of a dentist, the answer depends on what level you are at now as a top athlete.
If you are at a level where you can aim for a gold medal at a world championship, you should undergo orthodontic treatment after you retire.
If you are not yet ranked 100th in the world and want to improve your performance, I definitely recommend undergoing orthodontic treatment.
This is because while some people improve their sports performance by correcting their teeth and bite, others’ performance may decline.
It is true that a good bite can improve the balance of the body and improve shoulder and back pain, but it can also make your body less mobile.
That’s how delicate the human body is.
In the past, it was said that professional golfers could increase their driving distance by wearing mouthguards during matches.
I think they were later banned from wearing mouthguards.
If it’s something that can be removed like this, you can stop using it if it doesn’t work.
However, once you’ve actually moved your teeth, it’s not easy to put them back if it doesn’t work.
So if you’re already a top 10 athlete in the world, or an athlete at the level of representing Japan in the Olympics, it’s safer to wait until after you retire to get your teeth straightened.
A dentist in Chiba who misunderstood the building of a clinic for 37 years
Hello
I’m Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City, which is currently undergoing major renovations of the clinic in preparation for completion in the summer of 2025.
When we opened in 1987, it was a wooden building that also served as a home.
I’ve been mistaken for over 30 years.
Because it was a wooden building, I assumed the exterior walls were made of wood.
However, when I was meeting with the staff of a construction company the other day, I found out that the exterior walls were ceramic siding, an exterior wall material made by molding the main raw materials of cementitious raw materials and fibrous raw materials such as pulp and wood fiber, curing and hardening them, and painting them.
It is called “ceramic siding” because it is made by hardening it in a high-temperature, high-pressure “kiln”.
It has excellent fire resistance, durability, and quality stability, and is a material that is easy to process by cutting and drilling, and has a simple construction method.
It has various advantages, such as a short construction period and relatively easy maintenance.
It’s true that if the exterior walls were made of wood, they would burn easily in the event of a fire.
When we first opened, the exterior walls were a grayish white, as shown in the photo. This is a type of building that is commonly seen in the town of Goslar, Germany, and buildings with siding of this color stand throughout the town.
I was so impressed by its beauty when I visited Goslar some time ago that I decided to make my own clinic in this style.
The car I was driving at the time was a Toyota Carina ED with a number 5 license plate.
Around the following year, the bubble economy began, and women began saying that they wouldn’t be interested in men who didn’t drive number 3 cars.
The variety of materials used for exterior walls has increased since then. I’m currently considering what kind of exterior walls to use for the new clinic.
I’ll report back on the progress of the renovation.
What happened at the Chiba dental clinic where people kept telling us not to go to that dentist
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
Recently, our staff have been giving birth at our clinic. It’s nice to see our staff getting excited about the topic of some families having more boys than others having more girls.
When our clinic first opened, it didn’t have a very good reputation in the neighborhood.
The reason is that “that dentist is expensive.”
In fact, several patients who used to visit our clinic said this when they came to our clinic for an emergency.
One man who had a cleaning course at his own expense was told by his wife that he was not spending so much money on dental treatment and that he should not go again!
She made a special phone call to tell us about it.
More than 30 years have passed since then, but the grandchildren of the people who were told not to go to that dentist still visit our clinic.
They have quite unusual surnames and you can tell from their addresses that “Oh, that’s who it is.”
Thirty-five years ago, when patients went to the dentist, they were not properly explained as they are today, and they were treated in silence. Then, about 10 years later, people started complaining that they were not satisfied with the treatment they received without any explanation, and suddenly found themselves with silver fillings.
From the beginning of our clinic, we have explained the contents of treatment to everyone. Since there are many restrictions on treatments that can be done with health insurance, we explain that there are such treatment methods that are paid for by private medical care. As a result, many people have been able to get treatment at other clinics without saying anything, so they end up telling people around them that they were recommended expensive teeth at that clinic.
This has led to the saying “that dentist is expensive.”
Recently, this has of course stopped happening.
We explain to all patients that we have several treatment plans before starting treatment.
That said, there were many fans in the neighborhood, and there are still people who have been coming to our clinic as a family for over 30 years.
Also, many people who live within 20 minutes by car have been coming to our clinic for a long time.
We do not mean to say that the times have caught up with our clinic.
This is because dental treatment is paid for by private medical care not only in Europe and the United States, but also in Asian countries such as Thailand and Singapore.
Japan is unique in that many treatments such as silver fillings and plastic fillings can be done with health insurance.
It’s often said that you shouldn’t talk about out-of-pocket expenses for the first six months after opening your practice.
However, anyone who comes to see us during those six months won’t be able to get appropriate information.
Isn’t this a disadvantage to those who visit?
We will continue to provide proper information to all patients who come to our clinic.
Dentist in Chiba to undergo first full renovation in 38 years in summer 2025
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic, which will undergo its first full renovation in 38 years in summer 2025.
This renovation will not just make the building bigger. We aim to create a clinic where patients feel comfortable.
One of the things we aim to do is to reduce waiting times in the clinic.
When you come to the clinic, you will check in using your own smartphone app.
All staff will then be automatically notified that you have arrived.
The dentist or dental hygienist in charge will notify you which treatment room to come to when they are ready. After treatment, patients can pay by credit card using their own smartphone app and go home.
In order to use this system, we are changing the reservation software to a new one.
Patient information such as date of birth can be transferred to the new software, but information such as what date and time Mr./Ms. XX has an appointment must be transferred one by one to the new reservation software.
Our staff does this migration work every day.
It’s time-consuming work at first, but once you get on track, it will reduce waiting time for patients, and from the second visit onwards, the automatic reception can handle patients without the need for reception staff, so we won’t have to assign staff to the reception desk more than necessary.
I’m grateful for the old software that we’ve been using for over 10 years.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the new clinic will be like.
38 years may be a long time, but it went by in a flash.
The other day, I listened to a lecture by a professor with whom I studied together about 30 years ago.
I used to think of him as a sharp, fierce person, so I was surprised to hear that his speech had improved to suit his age.
However, I thought it was wonderful that he’s still active today.
Dentist in Chiba converts leaky property into office building
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
The hot weather continues. It is difficult for elderly people to walk to the clinic alone when the temperature exceeds 33 degrees. For elderly patients who walk more than 500 meters alone to visit the clinic, we recommend that they visit in September for regular dental checkups and regular dental health promotion treatments, when the heat will be at an end.
As we have already announced several times on our blog, Facebook page, X, Instagram, etc., our clinic will undergo a major renovation in preparation for the summer of 2025.
By chance, we were able to own a building adjacent to the clinic. It is a house built at the beginning of the Heisei era, but we will renovate it and transform it into a building where the administrative staff can work, change clothes, eat, and hold study sessions.
I actually wanted to set up a training room for staff, like the Google headquarters in Silicon Valley. It will allow staff to do muscle training and stretch here.
However, we decided to prioritize creating a space to carry out the clinic’s basic operations.
We kept the design simple so that work could be done efficiently.
Now, the property is over 30 years old, and we noticed it the other day during a heavy rainfall that there was a hole in the rain gutter, and a large amount of rain was falling from the gutter onto the ground. The exterior walls and interior were originally in need of major renovation, but after 30 years, a lot of work is necessary.
However, the building itself is a steel frame built by a major house manufacturer, so it is very solid, and of course there is no rain leaking into the building.
As about 50 staff will be using it, we will remove the gas stove and replace it with an induction heater, dry laundry inside the building instead of hanging it outside, install two dryers so that there is a backup if one stops working, make the dining table foldable so that it can be easily moved to accommodate an increase in staff, and install glass doors for the office staff’s workroom to create a sense of openness.
However, from the outside it probably looks no different from an ordinary house.
When renovating, what will happen to the exterior walls? What will happen to the interior? There is a lot of information available on YouTube these days.
An architect wrote on YouTube the other day about not putting a window in the bathroom.
I am strongly against this.
Rather than relying solely on a ventilation fan, it is sometimes better to open the window for ventilation, and having a window will let in more light and reduce the feeling of being closed in.
As such, I think it’s important not to just blindly believe everything you see on YouTube or websites, but to adopt what’s good and reject what’s not.
The administrative building is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.
After that, large-scale renovations of the examination building will begin.
We will keep you updated on the progress of the renovations.
Chiba dentist watches Indian movies while grinding his teeth
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
It’s summer, isn’t it?
When I think of summer, I immediately think of uplifting songs like Stop the season in the sun and Southern All Stars.
A while back, I watched the great Indian film “RRR” at the recommendation of a famous critic.
It’s a blockbuster movie that lasts about 3 hours, but it’s full of action and tears, so I never got tired of it.
I was surprised that there was a break in the middle of the 3 hours.
It’s the first movie to have an intermission since the timeless masterpiece, Gone with the Wind.
I watched that movie without getting tired of it, and “RRR” was also amazing.
It’s a blockbuster movie that lasts about 3 hours, but it’s full of action and tears, so I never got tired of it.
I was surprised that there was a break in the middle of the 3 hours.
It’s the first movie to have an intermission since the timeless masterpiece, Gone with the Wind.
I watched that movie without getting tired of it, and “RRR” was also amazing.
I won’t go into the details as it would be a spoiler, but I thought that the scale of movies from countries with great momentum is enormous.
And speaking of Indian movies, yes, it’s dance.
At the end of the movie, heroes, villains, and the dead all dance together.
This is good.
Only beautiful men and women appear in Indian movies.
I’m sure there are people who are character actors, but they probably don’t appear in movies that are big hits overseas.
I would like to see a new masterpiece when it comes out.
Recently, more and more people are grinding their teeth due to stress.
I grind my teeth until I really have no teeth left.
Crowns can be removed, teeth can break, implants can break or fall out, and all sorts of things can happen.
Indian movies are recommended for these people.
It may be a little nerve-wracking during the process, but it’s basically a lesson about good and evil, and it ends brightly with a dance, so your upper and lower teeth naturally won’t touch each other, and it’s a stress reliever.
Watching comedy may be one way, but Indian movies are also good if you want to experience something out of the ordinary.
千叶牙医一边磨牙一边看印度电影
你好
我是千叶市原田牙科诊所的原田。
现在是夏天，不是吗？
当我想到夏天时，我立刻就会想到一些令人振奋的歌曲，比如《Stop the season in the sun》和《Southern All Stars》。
★We are aiming to rebuild and renovate the clinic by the summer of 2025. We will demolish part of the current building and then build a new building, but demolition is not easy.
When we built the current steel-frame building of the clinic 20 years ago, it only took a few days to demolish the old prefabricated building, and the cost was only about 1 million yen. However, that is no longer the case.
We are careful to be considerate of the environment, recycle what can be recycled, and of course dispose of waste materials carefully, so it takes time and costs money.
It is not possible to destroy a building in one go with dynamite, as we saw in some movies a long time ago.
Of course, the cost of new construction and renovation has also skyrocketed. Nevertheless, we will continue to move forward in order to provide better medical care.
As expected, we have been receiving sales messages and calls regarding our renovation and new construction. However, this event has been in the planning stages for over five years, and we have already decided which companies to use, including the dental equipment we will use. We appreciate your support, but we would appreciate it if you could understand our circumstances.
