10 things you can do in www.dentalcommunity.com.au

During the COVID-19 lockdown, use of the internet increased exponentially. In line with this, www.dentalcommunity.com.au has continued to be upgraded as a resource and tool for the dental profession to utilise. In this article are 10 things you can do in the Dental Community portal that will support your professional life. You can get a free login to the Dental Community at any time and finally, the new self-registration feature will be released in early 2021. So here we go:

1. Update your personal details

By logging in, you can update your personal details and contact information - including where you work - that is published on our two find-a-dentist websites used by the general public to find dentists - www.dentist.com.au and www.dentist.co.nz. If you change practices or are starting work for the first time, you can let patients know how to find you. More than 1 million people a year search these websites to find-a-dentist, so if you're listed, then you will increase your new patient numbers.

2. Add or update your practice details

If you own or manage a dental practice or denture clinic, then login and make sure all of your details that are being displayed on www.dentist.com.au or www.dentist.co.nz are up-to-date. You can change your address, add or remove practitioners and add your website or social media pages at any time. With more than a million searches a year, being correctly listed on our find-a-dentist websites will result in an increase in new patient volume. Being on dentist.com.au or dentist.co.nz is particularly vital if you have no website at all!

3. Manage your subscriptions

You can subscribe, renew or change your delivery address for Australasian Dental Practice, Oral Hygiene or eLABORATE magazines at any time by logging in. Your paid subscription helps contribute to the substantial development and operating costs of www.dentalcommunity.com.au while also giving you additional privileges and discounts.

4. Read articles online

The Dental Community portal maintains an Archive referencing every article ever published in Australasian Dental Practice, Oral Hygiene or eLABORATE magazines since 1990 plus news from other sources. Altogether, there are over 13,300 articles catalogued. The Article Archive is an ongoing project with more and more content being added from past editions including images as well as new editions immediately on publication. A variety of ways to search for the information you need are available including a full text word search. The Archive was completely updated during the COVID-19 lockdown to make the information easier to read and new functionality added to enhance use on your PC, tablet or smartphone. You can also see the most popular articles and create your own reading list for later.

5. Earn CPD with Questionnaires

Once you've read select articles in Australasian Dental Practice, Oral Hygiene and eLABORATE, paid subscribers can complete the relevant CPD Questionnaire and immediately earn one to two hours of CPD credit. The CPD Questionnaire section has been completely revamped during the lockdown and is now formatted for PC, tablet and smartphone. The Questionnaires are automatically assessed when completed and a CPD certificate issued. Stay tuned for Tutorials and Surveys in 2021.

6. Automatically track your CPD

The CPD Education Centre automatically keeps tracks of all the CPD you have completed from events booked through www.dentevents.com, www.dentevents.tv and CPD Questionnaires you have completed. In addition, you can manually add information about other events you have attended. Your total CPD hours are then compared to the requirements of the relevant registration body, such as the Dental Board of Australia/AHPRA, Dental Council of New Zealand, etc. The CPD Education Centre maintains a log of all your CPD and you can download receipts and CPD certificates from dentevents.com events, dentevents.tv videos and CPD Questionnaires at any time.

7. Post your events to www.dentevents.com

If you organise dental events, you can list them on our events calendar at www.dentevents.com. We can also help you accept registrations and payments online with a complete suite of tools.

8. Start a discussion

You can organise a discussion through the Dental Community using your login. This section is currently being upgraded to a brand new format for release in early 2021 so stay tuned!

9. Post your videos [coming in early 2021]

In early 2021, you will be able to load your own videos onto our new streaming service for dentistry, www.dentevents.tv. Load tips, techniques, opinions, advice or whatever you like that's related to dentistry! We're also looking for "influencers" who can contribute regularly and we will help you get established and increase your following.

10. Build a network [coming in early 2021]

Our expanded Groups module will be activated in early 2021 which will allow you to share, communicate and innovate with all the other members of the Dental Community. Stay tuned!