This subject of this webinar was Hygiene Department Empowerment.

There were hundreds of dental professionals in attendance.

We were at maximum capacity and if you want to be included in this information to boost your hygiene department you can enroll in the webinar to receive the recording and also the 3-Part Hygiene Empowerment Video Series plus an Ebook about treating the gingivitis patient, according to the American Academy of Periodontology.

During the webinar we had numerous questions and I will re-cap 3 of them here:

1. “What happens after we do scale and root plan 1-3 teeth?”

Answer: After scaling and root planing you will want to bring your patient back 4-6 weeks for a “tissue check,” aka: “re-evaluation” or “post-op” visit.

After a long conversation with Dr. Charles Blair, he says that most insurance companies will not pay for the visit 4-6 weeks. The American Academy of Periodontolgy explains about checking the patients “balance-point.” unless you see the patient 4-6 weeks after scaling and root planing, you will never know if the active disease has been put into remission. It is very important to know if the perio therapy has resolved the active disease before you schedule them for three or four month periodontal maintenance appointments.

Dr. Blair told me that you can bill insurance for a prophy after you complete 1-3 teeth of scaling and root planing however, there are insurance companies that will never pay for periodontal therapy after you have billed for a prophylaxis when periodontal therapy was completed and billed to the insurance company.

The most important thing to remember is that you need to document and bill insurance, what services you actually completed that day.

Dr. Blair told me that as clinicians we need to tell our patients that they will need to pay because their insurance may not pay for the service.

2. “What should a hygienists’ production be per hour?”

The most important thing is for dentists and hygienists to “know the numbers.”

It is not uncommon that we see hygienists who have production of approximately $800 USD per day however, after we begin working with a hygiene department and they implement a higher level of patient care: scaling and root planing followed by perio maintenance visits and sealants, fluoride, etc., it is not uncommon to have hygienists average $250 per hour USD.

3. “If you register for Hygiene Empowerment” when does it begin?

Answer: Once you enroll, for example if you send in your registration by or before Friday November 13, 2015, you will begin on Monday November 16, 2016. On Monday you will receive your first video module which is approximately sixty minutes long as well as the video transcipt and your implementation guide. My office will call your office if you are open on Monday and we will schedule your calls/webinars with the hygienist(s) and with Debbie and doctor(s).

All of our current clients enrolled in the program triped their return on the money invested within three weeks of the hygiene program. The program works because we monitor specific hygiene department metrics weekly and monthly a full office report is reviewed with doctor to create a plan of action for the next 30 days and eliminate any inefficiencies that made me discovered.

• Do you want to have a collaborative hygiene department?
• Do you wish doctor and hygienist or all the hygienist could agree when it’s a prophy patient and when it is a periodontal patient?
• Do you want a more empowered team?
• Do you want to not work as hard?
• Do you want to understand how to enroll patients who were always a prophy into periodontal therapy?
  • Are you comfortable changing routine patients from prophy to perio?

The above questions are addressed in Hygiene Empowerment. Do not begin 2016 without looking into your future “Hygiene Empowerment.”

It works! Hygienists are getting really excited about this! Just ask to see all the emails they have sent because they are so excited about this.

ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE, RDH, BS

In 1984 Debbie Graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene.

She is also a former clinical assistant from the University of Southern California and co-taught the senior dental students Practice Management course until the school went to a PBL learning format.

In 2000, she founded Dental Practice Solutions and works with dental practices world-wide to:

• create profitable and sustainable dental hygiene departments
• known for reactivating and retaining patients for dental practices world-wide
• organically grow new patient numbers

Dental Practice Solutions creates:

• sustainable dental hygiene departments throughout the world
• a “team-driven” practice, where the employees feel like leaders vs. employees

o   This means doctor can come to the office to do their job as Dentist not manage people

The question is ” Can we alternate our Perio Maintenance appointments with a Prophy Appointment?”

The answer to this question is going to be “No.”[video_player type=”embed” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″][/video_player]

You may ask “WHY?”

Here is Why:

• Periodontal disease is episodic and although your patient may seem healthy there will be times when the disease will return to an active phase.
• There are several insurance companies (and this is constantly changing) who will never cover perio procedures once you revert to billing for a prophy appointment

When you perio patients returns about every ninety days, you have an opportunity to re-evaluate the total health of your patients and if their periodontal condition becomes active again, you can now intervene with the appropriate care.

In the above video I explain how my parents had high cholesterol (They are no longer alive so I put this into past tense.  And no, they did not die from this disease but other systemic diseases. More on this later.), and every three months they saw their physician to re-evaluate if this disease was status-quo or needed more medications, etc.

Our family also stopped eating eggs because at this point in time, they thought “eggs” were part of this cause for high cholesterol.

What we did not address with regard to these “inflammatory” diseases is to “treat” the inflammation. We have since, learned that oral inflammation will contribute to systemic inflammation.

Bottom line. A healthy mouth means less chance of systemic diseases such as high cholesterol.

The high cholesterol as I previously stated did not cause the death of my parents however, my mother died from endocarditis which occurred after a tooth abscess and extraction. This led to the a hemorrhagic stroke, her kidneys failed and ultimately she lost her life.

My father on the other hand died of Acute Mylocytic Leukemia.

May God Rest their sole.

Our message as Dental Professionals?!

“We are in the business of helping our patients live a longer and healthier life.”

This one assessment is a great tool to enroll patients into Invisalign®.

Does your hygienist help to enroll patients into Invisalign®?

Do you currently provide your patients with a smile evaluation?

This simple screening takes 60 seconds for patients to complete.

The Smile Evaluation is quick questionaire that is given to patients when they check-in at the front desk annually for their hygiene appointment. This form goes back to the hygienist who reviews this with the patient. The Smile Evaluation can open many doors for high-end treament; one of which is Invisalign®.

How many of your patients present with at least 3mms of crowding in their anterior area?

I had a great time participating in a health fair in my current state: Oregon.

In Oregon one Thursday night in October, we had a 2 hour CE course with Debbie Z. Sabatini.

We learned a lot and let me share here what I found new and interesting. Here are some tips about how Dental Hygienists shine a new light on oral cancer screenings:

The kids in my neighborhood go all out to dress like someone famous, scary, funny or something out of this world!

How can you get the kids to trick ‘o treat at your office?

Well, it is probably not prudent and not going to score you any points if you give out candy which we all knows causes tooth decay but what if you invited the kids by your office for a Candy Buy Back Program?

I know that the Halloween Candy Buy Back  Event will bring new patients to your dental office.

Here is how it works:

Most of our clients use Solutionreach so they use one of these great email/newsletter templates. These work very well for getting the message out to your patients. They are specific for this event at Halloween.

You can also add this event information in a message and text to your patients.

This year, Halloween is on a Saturday so schedule a few hours on Monday night after Halloween or the first Saturday after Halloween to hold this event. Allow for a few hours that people can drop by. Maybe on Monday they come by from 5-8 PM or a week later on Saturday 10 AM-1 PM.

Tell your patients to dress in costume and bring their candy.

You will weight their candy. Use a bathroom scale or a postal scale if you that available.

For each pound (or kg, etc.) of candy give the kids $1.00 (Candadian, Aus Dollar, Pound, Euro, etc.).

You may want to have some special prizes. Make it fun and be creative!

Last year my clients had their patients and children come by with their candy but the children also brought their friends and those friends came with their parents.

Our clients had New Patient numbers increase from hosting this fun event! One of the doctors gave away free Whitening as a prize and this attracted a lot of people and it’s how she acquired many new patients!

I really thought it was a brilliant idea when my client took all the candy received, threw it in the trash and then bought the same number of pounds in fruits and vegetables that she threw away but the healthy foods went to a womens shelter in her community.

Want to still help a serviceman (And women) overseas? Typicall the Halloween Candy Buy-Back Program sends this candy to service men (And women) overseas and if you prefer to donate something healthy when you buy a box of toothbrushes from Tess Oral Health, they will send a box of toothbrushes to the service men (And women) overseas.

You can find out more about the toothbrush donation at this website CLICK HERE

If your office wants to officially participate in the Halloween Candy Buy Back you can CLICK HERE to register.

Have a SPOOKATCULAR OCTOBER!

It is coming to the end of the year. Do you want to Improve Your Dental Hygiene Department Numbers?

Do you want to Increase the Production Without Working Harder?

Want to See More High-end Treatment Plans Scheduled?

We have a SIX MONTH ONLINE GOAL FOCUSED HYGIENE PROGRAM.

Many of your patients have unscheduled treatment and dental hygiene appointments.

It is not a great option however, it is the truth, that most dental patients depend on their insurance to pay for a lot of their dental treatment.

Most dental offices, when we begin working with them have over $100,000 in outstanding patient treatment plans.

I want to mention that right now, this month of October, is a great time to contact your patients who have unscheduled treatment and/or hygiene appointments, to call and schedule their appointment(s) before the end of year. Patients who depend on their insurance to pay for some of their treatment, will lose this benefit if they don’t come in soon.

Life gets busy and it is possible your patients got busy with life and forgot to schedule.

Reach out to your patients in a text message, email or last resort; send a letter. Also post a reminder to your patients to schedule their end-of-the-year appointments if they want to use their insurance benefits.

“USE IT OR LOSE IT!”

Today’s world allows you to communicate with your patients more easily than a mailed letter. Most people use text to communicate and you can add this message to a text or send out a newsletter (email).

If youf office has a Facebook page or Twitter page, etc.,  make a post each week over the next six weeks, reminding your patients to schedule their treatment and get that end of the year hygiene appointment scheduled.

Let them know if they have insurance, their benefit expires at the end of year.

Talking about end of the year, how are your end of the year numbers looking? I created a new SIX MONTH DENTAL HYGIENE DEPARTMENT TRAINING PROGRAM that is all online. You receive a hygiene department webinar or call, a doctor/consultant call each month, we monitor various areas of your dental practice especially your hygiene department, KPIs so that you have an increase in production and without working harder. Doctor has a coaching call once a month with me to follow up. THere is just so much more that I invited you to click on the picture below to find out more about it. It is VERY low cost and imagine this:

Typical results are about 34% in production after three months but it really depends upon how much you implement. It is hard NOT to implement because our team holds your feet to the fire and accountability is key. We have a lot of tools set up to hold everyone accountable to accomplish your goals. You can also CLICK HERE and I will take a few minutes to explain more about how this will help your hygiene department in numerous ways.

There is a simple form which will easily address various areas of your patients smile. Many times patients have never thought these simple changes could be made to their smile.

Once a patient shows you are talks about an areas in their mouth that they would like to change, your next question will sound something like this:

Hygienist: “Mrs Jones tell me exactly what it is that you don’t like about that tooth? 

Let her explain and then repeat back to Mrs Jones exactly how you can change that malaligned tooth. Use her words in your explanation of how you can change that for her.

One question that you want to ask your dental hygiene patients is: “Mr. Patient, If there is one thing you could change about your smile, what is that?” 

“Do you ask your patients this one question?”

“If You Never Ask, Then the Answer is a Definite, “NO.”

Next time you see your hygiene patients and after you have completed your most important assessments, hand your patient a mirror and ask them about their smile. It can be just one simple question as I have written above. Your job is to sit back in your chair; knee-to-knee and eye-to-eye, then smile and listen for their answer.

This critical screening is the oral cancer exam and it’s important to use the latest Fluorescence Assessment. This type of oral cancer assessment means that you can discover a pre-cancerous lesion before you would ever see or feel a lesion. This is how we are going to put a halt to surgically removing large cancerous lesions from the oral cavity. This is how we can save our patients from having a deformed face (or jaw. etc.) as well as, we can save their life!

Currently, there are numerous companies that offer this oral cancer screening technology. At this point in time they are:

• OralID TM
• Identifi3000®
• VELscope®

Why is this a critical part of an annual patient exam?

Cancer is the #1 killer in the US. The survival rate for most cancers has increased however, oral cancer survival rates have not. That is very bad news.

In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), reported 25,000 cases of Oral Cancer. As I write this valuable information, today, the CDC has reported 45,780 cases of oral cancer and we are only 3/4 of the way through 2015.

Did you know that Oral Cancer kills about one American every hour? True statistic! And just imagine, if it is this high; what if one of these people were someone who sat in your chair?

We used to palpate and look around the oral cavity. Most of you, still do that however; do you check using a fluorescence assessment?

If no, why not?

You can now discover pre-cancerous lesions and not only save a life, but you can put a halt to the traumatic disfigured face a person is left with when they have oral cancer and need surgery.

Best part is, you can save someone’s life!

Let’s rethink this oral cancer screening which for many is still a challenge when asked to upgrade the way you preform this critical exam.

Do you think you don’t have enough time to complete this?

It takes only two minutes to complete the exam.

Do you think that patients will not spend the money to do this?

Think again, because many of these people who say “No, I don’t want to spend the money;” they most likely do not understand the true value of this.

And what words are you using to explain the value of this exam?

Think about the person in your chair. What are their most common objections to anything you discuss. It it’s a new patient, can you quickly determine what their personality style is?

Who is seated in your chair? Do you know if this patient like to all the details or are they someone who only needs to know if their “Insurance” will pay for it?

And what can you say if your patient does depend on insurance?  Please click to receive the Time Management EBOOK below and you will automatically receive the Oral Cancer Screening Implementation Guide which will address much of these objections along with a step-by-step guide to get the entire team on-board educating patients and completing the oral cancer fluorescence assessment.

If you are on who believes you are running on the treadmill in the hygiene appointment or if you know a hygienist who does feel this way, please grab this Time Management EBOOK.

When you grab this Free Resource you will also be one of the first to receive the next Implementation Guide currently being developed alongside of OralID. No more of these assessments sitting on a shelf or hearing patients say “I can’t afford this!” The implementation guide will cover all of this and much more so you can be on board with saving more lives!

I recently did a podcast with Dr. Howard Farran, founder of Dentaltown, and my colleague, Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca, an orthodontist in No. Calfornia, listened to the podcast.

Dr. Gorczyca, had six points that she gleaned from listening to the podcast.  She sent me a message and asked me to call her. Dr. Gorczyca obviously took copious notes when she listened to the podcast. lol

The most important point she heard on the podcast was me saying “You matter to me!”

I said this sentence in the podcast because I believe that it is one of the main reasons your patients will return indefinitely to your dental office. This is why they will say “YES” to a treatment plan when you present it and it is the reason they will want to pay for their treatment.

What Dr. Gorczyca really meant to say — her intention in telling me this main take-away — her “A-Ha” — was that “I” need to tell my clients: “You Matter To Me!”

Dr. Gorczyca, told me that she was treated like this when she first met her accountant. She explained how powerful this was to her when she met him for the first time.

She told me how this man (now her accountant for life!!) really took care of her and her husband. He went out of his way to make sure Dr. Gorczyca and her husband were well taken care of! The accountant even followed up to make sure they completed the 23 point action plan he gave them.

I want to tell you: “You Matter to Me!” 

When I was practicing as a clinical dental hygienist I would tell my patients: “I will take good care of you today.”

Today, I want you to know that “I will take good care of you.”

HOW I ROLL

Last year, the least increase in production, any of our clients had from using our services, was 34% increase in Production.

This happened within three months of working on their hygiene department.

At the end of the three month period, when I announced to doctor that she had a 34% increase, she was shocked! She could not believe the numbers were that high because she said she did not feel that she worked that hard!

34% is our least increase in production ever reached when we work on the hygiene department.

Do you want to duplicate our client’ results?

I recently received this message from a client:

“I first hired Debbie to help with the set up and hiring of my 1st hygienist. I was feeling like I had no personal time and spent about twelve hours Monday through Friday (Even some weekends) working at my office.

I first hired Debbie to help with the set up and hiring of my 1st hygienist. I was feeling like I had no personal time and spent about twelve hours Monday through Friday (Even some weekends) working at my office…

Our office is doing more perio exams and feel it is so very important to communicate about total health to my patients. I knew and believed this for many years however, Debbie has been inspirational with my passion about this topic…

Working with Debbie has been very valuable and we have a relationship that continues. I am still working with her and I know anyone else who works with her will benefit greatly.

She is not only knowledgeable but a wonderful person!”

George Pamborides, DMD

Here is the place to start duplicating this increase in production and not work so hard. BTW: Most of our doctors, when we first meet, they are doing 90% of all the production! This needs to be more like 70% of the total production. Click on the picture below to stop working so hard. It costs you nothing to look and everything, if you do nothing to get out of “Status-quo!”