Social media in Calgary

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada--While the media tends to focus on celebrity Twitter meltdowns, savvy businesses are effectively using the social media world to making connections online.

Seeking out strategic partners via social media has become a smart and effective way of doing business and small businesses in particular seem to have found their groove in this ever changing online world.

Lifetime Smiles Dental Hygiene is a dental hygiene clinic that recently opened in southeast Calgary with owner Sally Lloyd, RDH, who has a zest for social media. She was quickly recognized by the social media marketing team at Periowave as being active, relevant, and a resource in the online dental communities.

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Besides this, she was already using the Periowave technology in her practice. Lloyd and Periowave started connecting via social media via daily “retweets,” “shout outs," “#FF’s” and more. This eventually led to an offline conversation about a charity program that would support the HIV community in Calgary.

“Social Media has been a great way for Lifetime Smiles to expand our public awareness," Lloyd said. "Through social media alone, we have been able grow our practice as well as establishing partnerships with renowned companies such as Periowave in a combined effort to bring oral health to the HIV/AIDS community.”

Periowave recognized what Sally and her team had already achieved in the community and reached out to donate Periowave cold lasers and treatment kits to the Lifetime Smiles Dental Hygienic Clinic. This would allow the team of dental hygienists to treat the gum disease of HIV/AIDS patients at their clinic at a significantly reduced price. HIV/Aids patients are predisposed to periodontal disease, and are at a much higher risk of severe gum disease that can lead to other serious infections in the body due to their low immune system.

“Periowave is proud to partner with Lifetime Smiles, so that we can bring a much needed service to the HIV/AIDS community,” said Carolyn Cross, chairman and CEO of Ondine Biomedical. “As recent studies have shown, oral health is an essential element to overall health, and we are thrilled there are clinics out there like Lifetime Smiles that provide and promote dental services to the HIV community.”

In the past year, Lifetime Smiles Dental Hygienic Clinic has been associated with several other charitable causes, such as Operation Smile and A Gift From the Heart. Both are programs in which dental hygienists can give back to their local communities by offering their services at little or no cost to residents. Periowave also sponsored Kindness in Action, which is dedicated to promoting oral health to poverty stricken communities in Peru.

For more information on Lifetime Smiles Dental Hygienic Clinic, call (403) 457-2044 or visit www.lifetimesmiles.ca/.

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