Health

Peripheral Artery Disease

Published

1 year ago

November 13, 2021

Peripheral artery disease, also known as peripheral arterial disease, is a common circulatory disease that reduces blood flow to the limbs by narrowing arteries. If you suffer from the peripheral arterial disease (PAD), your arms or legs do not receive enough blood to sustain the demand. It mainly affects the legs. You may experience symptoms such as pain while walking. In most cases, peripheral artery disease is usually a sign of fatty deposits in the arteries, a condition known as atherosclerosis. If you live in El Paso and suffer from peripheral arterial disease, you may treat the condition by exercising, eating a healthy diet, and quitting tobacco. If your state does not improve, you may need treatment from a specialist who can diagnose and treat peripheral arterial disease in El Paso.

Symptoms of Peripheral Arterial Disease

Although most people with the disease show no symptoms, you may experience claudication; leg pain while walking. Common signs of claudication include cramping or muscle pain in the legs and arms that come from an activity like walking, but it fades away after resting for a few minutes. The location of the pain varies from one patient to another depending on the narrowed or clogged artery location. Most patients experience calf pain.

The severity of claudication varies from minor discomfort to severe pain. If you experience severe claudication, you may have trouble walking or doing other activities.

Other common symptoms of the peripheral arterial disease include:

Painful cramping in one or both thighs, hips, or calf muscles after activities such as walking
Numbness or weakness in your legs
Coldness in the lower leg or foot
Sore toes, legs, or feet that do not heal
Changed skin color affecting your legs
The slow hair growth or loss of hair on the legs and feet
The slow growth of toenails
Shiny skin on the legs
Weak or no pulse in the legs or feet
Erectile dysfunction for men
Pain when using the arms

If the condition advances, it may cause pain even while resting. Sometimes, you may experience severe pain that can disrupt sleep, but you can temporarily relieve the discomfort by moving around or hanging your legs on the edge of the bed.

If you experience numbness, leg pain, or other symptoms, you should see a doctor. You may also need screening if you are older than 65 with a history of smoking and diabetes, or under 50 with diabetes and other risk factors for peripheral arterial disease.

Causes

Atherosclerosis is the primary cause of peripheral arterial disease. Atherosclerosis causes the buildup of fat deposits on your artery walls, reducing blood flow. While it primarily affects the heart, it can also spread to other arteries around your body. The peripheral arterial disease comes about when atherosclerosis spreads to the arteries in your limbs. While it rarely happens, you can also suffer from peripheral artery disease due to inflammation of blood vessels, injuries affecting your limbs, radiation exposure, and unusual anatomy of the limb tissues or ligaments.

In summary, peripheral arterial disease is a circulatory disease that narrows the arteries reducing blood flow to the limbs. While most patients do not show any symptoms, you may have leg pain while walking. It is mainly caused by atherosclerosis.

Health

Frontier Dental Lab’s Direct-to-Consumer Marketing Connects Dentists and Patients

Published

3 weeks ago

February 28, 2023

Michelle Langton

Dr. Caylin Frye, a cosmetic dentist at Mid-City Smiles in New Orleans, has worked in the dental industry for over two decades. In all that time, she has never had a dental lab bring a patient to her office door. However, that’s exactly what happened when Frontier Dental Lab Group connected her with Ignacia Soto-Aguilar.

The inspiration behind Frontier Dental Lab’s direct-to-consumer campaign

Gil Villavecer, Chief Marketing Officer at Frontier Dental Lab Group, was well aware of two key factors influencing Frontier’s marketing strategy. First, he knew his clients were dentists who tended to stick to traditional marketing methods as simple as word of mouth. Second, he knew that most people didn’t realize dental labs even existed. For these reasons, labs like Frontier have historically been absent from the direct-to-consumer marketing space.

“I like to be a trailblazer,” says Villavecer. “My lightbulb moment came when I realized that we have far more horsepower than the average dentist. After all, what dental office has a full-time marketing department? To better serve our dentists, I shifted our approach to a direct-to-consumer campaign.”

Villavecer’s first hurdle was introducing Frontier Dental Lab Group to a public that, up until that point, had been unaware of its existence. In general, dental labs have avoided digital marketing, but Villavecer knew the internet was the only way forward. So, Frontier uploaded educational clips to YouTube and fired up an Instagram account with a new mission to “Educate, Entertain, and Connect.”

Frontier Dental Lab’s DTC marketing in action

Frontier Dental Lab’s most innovative initiative is its Smile Simulations. Through this program, potential patients upload selfies to Frontier’s website and receive before and after pictures showing the possibilities of a smile makeover.

Soto-Aguilar first encountered Frontier Dental Lab through the Smile Simulation initiative and was blown away by her digital makeover. “The assessment was so quick and personal,” she remembers. “I received my before-and-after shots in an hour, and I couldn’t believe the amount of detail that Frontier put into it. That was my first insight into how much Frontier cares about its patients. They enabled me to visualize exactly how I would look with a new smile.”

Along with the Smile Simulation, Frontier Dental Lab sent a list of seven Trusted Frontier Dentists in Soto-Aguilar’s area who could make her simulation a reality. “We try to make research easy for people,” says Gil. “We believe that educated consumers are the best consumers.”

Frontier Dental Lab builds trust between dentists and patients

For convenience, Frontier linked each cosmetic dentist’s Instagram profile. When Soto-Aguilar clicked on Dr. Frye’s Instagram account, she felt an instant connection.

“Dr. Frye and I are both artists,” she explains. “I saw the care she put into her online presence and knew I would be in good hands. In this digital world, we put our work out there to show our clients what they can expect before we ever meet them. It’s visual and very intimate.”

Soto-Aguilar’s trust in Dr. Frye grew with every new piece of information she learned. She scanned through before and after shots of smiling patients and read a feature article about Dr. Frye dancing with her clients. Above all, she was struck by Dr. Frye’s honesty in describing her practice.

“I felt like I already knew her,” recalls Soto-Aguilar. “She wasn’t trying to sell anything to me. She was just talking about her passion for beautiful smiles.”

Within two days of uploading her selfie to Frontier Dental Lab’s Smile Simulation Center, Soto-Aguilar was talking with Dr. Frye in her office as if they had known each other for years. At that consultation, she scheduled an appointment for 20 veneers.

Dr. Frye says this is the most straightforward case she has closed in 21 years because of the foundation of trust established before the consultation. “Ignacia contacted me through the email from Frontier Dental Lab and was so excited that she even brought the smile simulation to our consultation. By the time we met, she trusted my work as a cosmetic dentist and Frontier’s work as a dental lab.”

In fact, Dr. Frye was so thrilled about the direct-to-consumer marketing that connected her to Soto-Aguilar that she shot a text to Villavecer that day: “Hey, Gil! Super cool story! A patient went through the smile simulation on your site, you sent her my info, and she’s coming in tomorrow. That’s the power of your marketing in the flesh!”

Villavecer counts that among the most exciting messages he has ever received. The only one he might enjoy more came days later from Soto-Aguilar. Along with pictures of her new smile, she texted: “Hi, Gil! You’ll love to see this! My smile is just how you imagined it!”

Currently, Frontier is focusing on harnessing the power of digital marketing to reach consumers. Its ground-breaking efforts to Educate, Entertain, and Connect potential patients prove that this marketing campaign is about much more than sales — it’s about building relationships and helping potential patients imagine the possibilities.