Hi, I'm Dr. Steve LeBeau, a "wet-fingered" dentist in McLean, Virginia. About a year ago, I noticed that almost every other business in this part of the country was using the Internet to make their lives easier. So why were we dentists so far behind? Why weren't we using the Internet to make our lives, the lives of our patients, and even those of insurance companies easier? Well, I am excited to report that we can-and we are-using the Internet, and it is so easy that it keeps us smiling every day! We are smiling because we can now handle the business end of dentistry using the online software application, Dental.PackOnline.com, offered by an internationally known company called PackOnline, Inc.

Can you imagine…

• Never having a hard-drive crash or losing any data to software bugs?

• Paying just a low monthly fee for state-of-the-art software with automatic, continuous upgrades rather than a huge upfront fee for software that will be out of date in only a few months?

• Having just one network, a network where all that's required is a computer with a modem hooked up to a phone line?

• Using true point-and-click, seamless integration that makes generic or actual patient photographs ("one picture is worth a thousand words") integral parts of your treatment plan or super-bill?

• Being able to offer your patients access to the very latest information available on patient education websites, such as www.ADAOnline.org, from your very own website-free of charge?

• Outsourcing your mailings by sending information directly to an external printing house that prints customized letters on your letterhead, stuffs envelopes, applies postage, and mails everything within 24 hours-at less cost than paying a staff member to do it?

• Sending statements, recall cards, treatment plans, and super-bills with x-rays and photos via email to your patients-with no labor cost (you don't even have to lick the stamps!), special equipment, or even additional expertise?

• Pressing a single button to send electronic claims to insurance companies

• Fitting an emergency patient into your next day's schedule-from home-just by clicking twice to see exactly where (down to which chair in your office!) you have openings?

• Managing your practice (e.g., running or receiving reports via email) from the comfort of your home and family, without having to go into the office?