November 15, 2011

I want to thank all those who went through the pangs of the birth of our new endo cartridges. It took much longer than I expected and or supply of the old style ran out before the new ones were ready but now that they are here they are better than even I expected.

In addition, after the first batch of cartridges came to be and 14 customers got their long awaited package a disaster happened. We had special packages made out of wood with an individual nest for each. But as the expressions goes: "the best laid plans of mice and men" didn't work out too well. The individual compartments were about a quarter inch longer than the needles which allowed the post office to bang them around enough to bend the needles.

We have remedied that by covering each needle with a small plastic tube that prevents the needle touching the compartment.

Because it is very difficult to crimp a thin walled 30 gauge tube into aluminum without crushing it we switched to brass.

Even the better flow characteistics of brass was not sufficient to prevent damage and so we bought an induction heater and are now soldering each needle into each cartridge. Every one is pressure tested to check for leaks and so far we have not had a failure.

One of the aggravations of the aluminum cartridges was that when filled with cement the only way the ball could be introduced was for some cement to be displaced through the needle. We solved that problem by opening the back of the tube to four thousandths of an inch bigger than the internal bore for 0.065 inches, half the diameter of the ball. Now the cement simply squeezes out past the ball.

We are now capable of producing high quality cartridges in large enough quantities to keep up.

As many of you know, I have been dealing with direct mail advertising since 1962. During that time there was one major deficiency (other than the price which keeps rising) but now the US Postal Service has come up with a winner and it makes business sense for dental offices although it doesn't do me any good.

It is called EDDM Every Door Direct Mail and it solves the problem of promoting a practice at a very favorable cost...namely 14.2 cents.

Essentially you or your printer delivers a stack of mailing pieces to the post office and they put one in each mail box. One Orlando dentist did a mailing of 1000 and the first week got six new patient calls. It cost him about $300 and calls are still coming in.

No mailing lists, no labels, no addressing and no pre-sorting. You just tell them the area to be blanketed and they take care of the rest.

And the price is about half of the postage of third class mail.

It is intended for strictly local advertising. You can pick a radius of 2, 3, or more miles around your office and let the folks know you are there. You might be surprised how few people within walking distance of your office doesn't know you are there.

A local printer in Orlando is providing the service. Not all printers know about this as the service is only a few months old.

If you are interested in finding out more, the post office has links to the details on the web or you can call me at 407-451-0137.

jj

August 15, 2011

We have improved our accessibility by adding text messaging and Skype interactive texting.

To reach Dr. Jack Jacklich and Rational Endo Designs, Inc. by phone please call (407)451-0137 or 407-922-5234. The old numbers 800-538-6835 and 6836 are no longer functional. Calls were forwarded for almost a year to the above numbers, but that has now been terminated. Both phone numbers will accept text messages and have voice mail.

Because we are so frequently at conventions and know that people need to talk directly to the founder, I carry my iPhone with me at all times. We do have a 'land-line' but keep that open for outgoing calls.

We are also accessible via Skype with the skype-name of jjacklich.

To many of you who knew my son Steve Jacklich we have sad news. Stephen (Steve) Shore Jacklich died on July 13, 2011 six days short of his 40th birthday.

He was a joy to his father and friend to many of our customers. He will be missed.

May 5, 2011

Today we are proud to announce our new Indian dealer, M&M Dental and its President Maala Malik.

Contact: M and M Dental
M and M Dental Associates
210 Kewal Industrial Estate
Lower Parel ( W )
Mumbai - 400013
India
Tel: +912230403825
Fax: +912230402000
Email: mmdental@rediffmail.com

Maala will have a full line of products from Special Products, Inc.

Soon we will announce a series of courses in India presented by Dr. Mona Kakar.

Watch this space.

March 11, 2011

We have a growing cadre of Automated Endo users in India. Recently Dr. Mona Kakar from Mumbai who has been teaching Automated Endo seminars in India has collaborated with her husband, Dr. Ajay Kakar to publish a series of case histories. Some time next year they will publish 100 of those case histories in a book.

In the meantime they will publish one case per week on their web site www.BiteIn.com. You can find those cases at http://www.bitein.com/dcp.htm

November 23, 2010

Just returned from a presentation in Kiev, Ukraine along with Dr. Ajay Kakar and Dr. Marty Jablow from the U.S. and several others from Hungary, and Ukraine

Wonderful trip. Introduced Ukrainian dentists to the new Fine-Cut Endo Handpiece and LT model Precision Endo Syringe.

I did the entire presentation with my new iPad using the connector kit from Apple. I was able to plug directly into their large screen LCD.

Our Ukrainian hosts did themselves proud with a genuine Ukrainian dinner party and later a picnic on the Dniepr River.

I was treated to not one but two tours of Kiev. Not only did I take hundreds of digital photos but because of the iPad's ease of importing photos I was able to share three other photographers' images.

A typical Ukrainian Welcome.

Convention Hall in Kiev.

There are some beautiful churches in Kiev. Many rebuilt after WWII.

Automated Endo in Kiev.

On the local front, Florida is still great. Fortunately no hurricanes this year.

I have spent the last year revamping production methods (which seems to be a continuous process around here.)

We are now manufacturing our own file heads for the Fine Cut SPeed Files for the Endo Handpiece as well as several internal parts for the handpiece.

We are also manufacturing our own cartridges using a new design. We have had numerous requests for a needle that is about 1/4 inch longer. Coming soon.

So we decided to make some other changes too. The cartridges will no longer be made of aluminum which is harder to use and cannot be made with as much precision. So we decided to make them of brass instead.

One important change is that the distal end (the end you load cement into) is about 0.004" larger than the main barrel of the cartridge. Thus when the cartridge is full, the ball can be more easily inserted with the excess cement squeezing out the back rather than having to come out though the needle.

Two phone numbers for you. Dr. Jack is (407)451-0137 and (407)922-5234. We'll answer the phone most any hour but business hours are set to accommodate dentists all the way from Florida to Hawaii are 11 am to 7 pm.

You may also notice that the cartridges have a new designation. Any time we make a major improvement in design the code (it's called a SKU code) gets changed. When the new brass cartridges come out they will be designated BC30EX, BC27EX and BC25EX. Nothing major except that the crimping method has been changed slightly to help cement flow smoother and they are made of brass. (Almost too pretty to throw away.)

...and now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast. :)

Regular visitors to this site will recognize something new, V-FAQs. V-FAQs (pronounced VeeFacks) is similar to regular FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) except that the answers are in the form of short videos, similar to what you might see on You-Tube or other video servers.

These are now beginning to appear as they are completed and will be as small as 10 seconds or as much as a few minutes depending on how much time it takes to answer the question.

Automated Endo courses and supplies are now available in India. Dr. Mona Kakar teaches in India and Dr. Ajay Kakar arranges to make all items available needed to do the technique. They can be contacted at Ajay@BiteIn.com and Mona@BiteIn.com. Or you can call him at 98210 15579.

Depending on the hour Drs. Kakar and myself can be contacted on Skype. If you do not yet have Skype you are missing out on one of the marvels of the computer age. With Skype (which can be downloaded and run for free from Skype.com) you can IM(instant message), voice conference or video conference from both Macs and PCs....and it's FREE. If you now have Skype and want to contact me, search for Jacklich)

If you have any of the older models (way back to 1982) you can trade up to the new model for $100. Call (407)451-0137 or (407)922-5234.