Dentists in Chiba were prescribing too many antibiotics
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
There are only 10 days left in October, but the temperature continues to exceed 25 degrees.
We removed the air conditioner early from one room due to clinic renovation,
but we are managing to beat the heat with an electric fan.
About 20 years ago, many doctors prescribed antibiotics when you had a cold.
Some patients actually actively requested that they be prescribed antibiotics.
In fact, several doctors appeared on a TV program and said that it was meaningful to prescribe antibiotics when you had a cold.
The reason was to prevent pneumonia after catching a cold! ?
I saw their expressions, and I thought they were making a pretty lame excuse.
At the ENT clinic that I sometimes visit now, there is a sign in the waiting room that says, “We do not prescribe antibiotics for colds.”
Antibiotics are effective when you have an infection.
However, prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily is a problem because it can lead to resistance, meaning they no longer work when needed.
In fact, doctors aren’t the only ones prescribing antibiotics unnecessarily.
Dentists used to prescribe antibiotics quite unnecessarily as well.
It has been common practice to prescribe antibiotics even for a minor tooth extraction.
About 20 years ago, I had the opportunity to listen to a lecture by a famous dentist who studied abroad in Sweden.
He said that at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden (the world’s leading university for periodontology),
they do not prescribe antibiotics even for removing sideways wisdom teeth,
because it is much more important to thoroughly clean the inside of the mouth before surgery and disinfect the area around the mouth to reduce the number of bacteria.
This is a natural thing to do.
For example, if you eat with your bare hands after using the toilet, you would normally wash your hands after using the toilet.
You would not normally take an antibiotic with dirty hands to prevent stomach pain caused by infection and then stuff your cheeks with rice balls by hand.
However, it has been common practice for dentists to prescribe a set of antibiotics, painkillers, and stomach medicines after a tooth extraction.
With the recent medicine shortage, one pharmacy has in fact been receiving a large number of penicillin prescriptions from dentists,
and there are reports that some penicillin preparations have run out of stock.
If dentists do prescribe antibiotics, they will only do so to people with diabetes or other conditions that are vulnerable to infection.
Also, unlike painkillers, antibiotics cannot be taken only when you are in pain.
The correct way to take medicine is to finish it off as prescribed.
Are Chiba dentists introducing automatic reception to reduce staff?
Hello
This is Harada from Harada Dental Clinic in Chiba City.
On Friday, October 4th, the temperature exceeded 30 degrees, and I was surprised at what was going to happen, but it finally feels like autumn.
The clinic is currently being renovated, and construction is progressing every day with the aim of reopening in August 2025.
In fact, we are planning to install automatic reception.
Returning patients check in by holding their smartphone app over the machine, and the payment after treatment is also settled by credit card on their own smartphone app.
When I mentioned this to an American teacher in an English conversation lesson the other day, he asked me if the purpose was to reduce staff. I thought that it was a typical American perspective that focuses on money.
Recently, family restaurants such as Gusto and Saizeriya have been implementing automatic payment.
When paying, instead of a staff member, you hold a barcode over the machine and select your payment method from credit card, cash, QR payment, SUICA, etc.
At Gusto, orders are placed through a touch panel, the food is served by a robot, and customers place the food brought by the robot on their table themselves.
Ordering through a touch panel has become the norm even at conveyor-belt sushi restaurants.
I imagine restaurants are also struggling with a labor shortage.
The restaurant itself is busy with families and groups.
However, he lamented that Choshimaru near Chiba Station is different and more like a library.
Most of the customers are on business, or come alone.
They order on the touch panel in front of them, and when the food arrives, they eat in silence, pay, and leave.
Not a word is spoken during this time.
His ideal restaurant might be a typical American restaurant, where a waiter comes to take the order, asks about the food, and when the food arrives, the customer chats with his companions, sometimes with the customer at the next table, and jokes with the waiter when paying.
I’ve made a long introduction, but the reason our clinic has automated reception is not to reduce staff.
The purpose is to reduce the waiting time at reception and the waiting time after treatment to pay.
The idea is to have machines do things that don’t need to be handled by humans.
We use that freed time to explain things to patients and follow up with them.
Reception staff will assist first-time patients.
We use a variety of digital systems for treatment and regular management.
A digital scanner is used to take impressions for mouthpiece orthodontics,
and the Swiss company EMS’ Airflow, which cleans the inside of the mouth, is operated with a cordless foot pedal using Bluetooth, so there is less unnecessary wiring.
The reservation system is linked to electronic medical records, X-ray images, and intraoral photographs.
However, it is humans who perform the treatment and surgery, and it is humans, not robots, who explain things until the patient is satisfied.
This will never be replaced by robots.
In conclusion, we will introduce an automatic reception desk and increase the number of staff.
This will have benefits for both patients and employees.
The benefit for patients is that, as mentioned earlier, waiting times will be shortened.
In fact, on the day I am writing this, eight staff members are on paid leave, and one left early before noon due to a sudden illness in his child. Even so, the number of patients exceeds 120, and the clinic is operating normally.
This is something that would not be possible in a clinic with only 10 staff members.
A big benefit for working people is that you can take paid leave almost as often as you request, and even if you have to take time off suddenly for some reason you don’t have to cause any more trouble to other staff than necessary.
To get more specific, there’s also a rule that says you don’t have to buy souvenirs for staff if you use paid leave to go on a trip.
In fact, many staff members say that the thought of buying souvenirs for 40 people irritates them.
However, at our clinic, such consideration is absolutely unnecessary.
Our stance is that you should enjoy your own time on time off, and that there is no need to be overly considerate of others, so the office doesn’t end up overflowing with souvenirs from local areas.
Some staff members even avoid sugar, wheat, and vegetable oils.
This is how we enjoy providing medical care every day.
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Les dentistes de Chiba introduisent-ils une réception automatique pour réduire le personnel ?
Bonjour
Je suis Harada de la clinique dentaire Harada de la ville de Chiba.
Le vendredi 4 octobre, la température a dépassé les 30 degrés et j’ai été surpris de ce qui allait se passer, mais on a enfin l’impression que c’est l’automne.
La clinique est actuellement en cours de rénovation et les travaux progressent chaque jour dans le but de rouvrir en août 2025.
En fait, nous prévoyons d’installer une réception automatique.
Les patients qui reviennent s’enregistrent en tenant leur application pour smartphone au-dessus de la machine, et le paiement après le traitement est également réglé par carte de crédit sur leur propre application pour smartphone.
Lorsque j’en ai parlé à un professeur américain lors d’un cours de conversation en anglais l’autre jour, il m’a demandé si le but était de réduire le personnel. J’ai pensé que c’était une perspective américaine typique qui se concentre sur l’argent.
Récemment, des restaurants familiaux tels que Gusto et Saizeriya ont mis en place le paiement automatique.
Au moment de payer, au lieu d’un membre du personnel, vous tenez un code-barres au-dessus de la machine et sélectionnez votre mode de paiement parmi carte de crédit, espèces, paiement par QR code, SUICA, etc.
Chez Gusto, les commandes sont passées via un écran tactile, la nourriture est servie par un robot et les clients placent eux-mêmes la nourriture apportée par le robot sur leur table.
La commande via un écran tactile est devenue la norme, même dans les restaurants de sushis à tapis roulant.
J’imagine que les restaurants sont également aux prises avec une pénurie de main-d’œuvre.
Le restaurant lui-même est très fréquenté par les familles et les groupes.
Cependant, il a déploré que Choshimaru, près de la gare de Chiba, soit différent et ressemble davantage à une bibliothèque.
La plupart des clients sont en déplacement professionnel ou viennent seuls.
Ils commandent sur l’écran tactile devant eux et lorsque la nourriture arrive, ils mangent en silence, paient et partent.
Pas un mot n’est prononcé pendant ce temps.
Son restaurant idéal pourrait être un restaurant américain typique, où un serveur vient prendre la commande, pose des questions sur la nourriture et lorsque la nourriture arrive, le client discute avec ses compagnons, parfois avec le client de la table voisine, et plaisante avec le serveur au moment de payer.
J’ai fait une longue présentation, mais la raison pour laquelle notre clinique a automatisé la réception n’est pas de réduire le personnel.
Le but est de réduire le temps d’attente à la réception et le temps d’attente après le traitement pour payer.
L’idée est de faire en sorte que les machines fassent des choses qui n’ont pas besoin d’être effectuées par des humains.
Nous utilisons ce temps libéré pour expliquer les choses aux patients et assurer le suivi avec eux.
Le personnel de la réception aidera les nouveaux patients.
Nous utilisons différents systèmes numériques pour le traitement et la gestion courante.
Un scanner numérique est utilisé pour prendre les empreintes pour l’orthodontie buccale,
et le Airflow de la société suisse EMS, qui nettoie l’intérieur de la bouche, fonctionne avec une pédale sans fil via Bluetooth, ce qui réduit les câbles inutiles.
Le système de réservation est lié aux dossiers médicaux électroniques, aux images radiographiques et aux photographies intrabuccales.
Cependant, ce sont des humains qui effectuent le traitement et l’opération, et ce sont des humains, et non des robots, qui expliquent les choses jusqu’à ce que le patient soit satisfait.
Ce système ne sera jamais remplacé par des robots.
En conclusion, nous allons mettre en place un bureau d’accueil automatique et augmenter le nombre de personnel.
Cela aura des avantages pour les patients et les employés.
L’avantage pour les patients est que, comme mentionné précédemment, les temps d’attente seront réduits.
En fait, le jour où j’écris ces lignes, huit membres du personnel sont en congé payé et un est parti tôt avant midi en raison d’une maladie soudaine de son enfant. Malgré cela, le nombre de patients dépasse 120 et la clinique fonctionne normalement.
Ce serait impossible dans une clinique avec seulement 10 employés.
Un grand avantage pour les travailleurs est que vous pouvez prendre des congés payés presque aussi souvent que vous le souhaitez, et même si vous devez prendre un congé soudainement pour une raison quelconque, vous n’avez pas à causer plus de problèmes aux autres employés que nécessaire.
Pour être plus précis, il existe également une règle qui stipule que vous n’êtes pas obligé d’acheter des souvenirs pour le personnel si vous utilisez vos congés payés pour partir en voyage.
En fait, de nombreux membres du personnel disent que l’idée d’acheter des souvenirs pour 40 personnes les irrite.
Cependant, dans notre clinique, une telle considération est absolument inutile.
Nous pensons que vous devez profiter de votre temps libre et qu’il n’est pas nécessaire d’être trop prévenant envers les autres, afin que le bureau ne finisse pas par déborder de souvenirs des environs.
Certains membres du personnel évitent même le sucre, le blé et les huiles végétales.
C’est ainsi que nous aimons prodiguer des soins médicaux au quotidien.
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.
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 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.
A dentist from Chiba communicated with a Japanese flight attendant when he went to Europe for a dental study group.
This year, when I flew on an international flight with a Japanese airline, I tried to charge my smartphone with the USB socket on the seat, but after more than three hours, it didn’t charge at all, or rather, it didn’t respond at all.
So I asked the flight attendant, and he said that sometimes the USB socket doesn’t charge because of insufficient power, but it should be possible to charge it with a normal two-pronged socket, so I tried it and it responded and charged immediately.
Even at overseas airports, it often doesn’t respond at all with USB sockets.
So the other day, when I was having a meeting about renovating my clinic, I was told that USB sockets are not as popular these days, and that it’s better not to install them, at least in newly built clinics.
When I looked it up online, I found that it’s almost impossible to think of a malfunction of the socket as the reason you can’t charge with a USB outlet, but since it doesn’t respond at all even when you plug it in, I thought that was definitely not the case.
However, after that, I was told that there are various USB sockets, and that the USB 2.0 Type A socket has a 0.5Amp output, which is too low for modern smartphones.
But what does it mean that there is no reaction even when you plug it into the socket?
Also, if USB itself keeps evolving like this, it will be difficult to change to a new one if it is fixed to the wall.
Therefore, it is a good choice not to attach USB sockets to buildings.
