title: Nothing to smile about. A cautionary tale for dentists about electronic communication.
abstract: We've all heard the adage "good news travels, but bad news travels faster." In the age of the Internet, bad news has the ability to reach millions of people in a matter or minutes. While many dentists know how to address disgruntled patients, most will never have to experience a full-fledged crisis as a result of one patient's bad experience. Dr. Rodney Shivers of Oklahoma City was the victim of a spurious e-mail smear campaign that led to his receiving thousands of harassing phone calls, threatening letters and media attention. By sharing his experience in addressing this situation, he hopes to help other dentists avoid his fate.
authors.forename: Rodney
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shivers
authors.forename: Lathonya
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shivers
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000628:therapy; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D034742:Electronic Mail; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012919:Social Behavior