By: admin

January 19, 2012

Originally posted on January 18, 2012 by Ali Brown

By: admin

January 17, 2012

“Dentistry is about changing lives!” I had no idea when I chose to become a dental hygienist many years ago that I would be able to help patients live a longer and healthier life! Besides providing optimal health we also create beautiful smiles. What a rewarding career!

How does a dental office plan to create beautiful smiles, optimal patient health, be profitable and with little to no stress? The answer lies in how you begin your day. You may rush into the office at the last minute but if you take time to breathe, meet as a team for 10-15 minutes and prepare for a dream day at the office, everything else can be like the icing on the cake!

Start your day first thing at the office or the evening before you leave the office, by reviewing the patient charts. Then discuss as a team, the days patients, challenges, patients who will require pre-medication or special needs, who needs an exam, x-rays, when is emergency time available, etc. The morning team meeting is where you can create your plan for success and it is where the profitability is maximized for the practice. Talk about money: Production, collection goals and even time open on the schedule the next day or week, etc.

I talk to so many dental office managers each week who tell me that doctor doesn’t want to share the office production and collections. This is similar to having an elephant in the room! If you want to have the team on the same page, then let them know where the dental practice goals stand on a monthly basis — at least. Are you accomplishing the goals? If you answered “NO”, this is a great time to discuss as a team “why” the goals are not accomplished. Allow every person on the team to understand the “why” and “how” regarding purchasing supplies, bonuses, pay raises, etc,. etc. Allow the team members to have accountability for decreased production and also allow them to experience the bliss when there is an increase in production! Doctor, don’t hide behind the numbers.

Communication

Talking about discussions between doctor and the team, it is in all aspects of dentistry; cosmetic dentistry, and non-surgical periodontal treatment where communication is critical. With regard to cosmetic dentistry we may think the shade, size, occlusion or length of a restoration looks correct but to the patient something doesn’t feel or look good to them. Regarding our non-surgical periodontal care of patients we often neglect to reinforce the importance of regular preventive appointments. This ends up costing both the dental practice and the patient more money down the line. Questions to ask oneself are: “Did we, as a team, ask the right questions? Do we understand the emotions of this patient who is sitting in our chair today? If you answered “No” to any of these questions, there is a good chance your patient will not be satisfied with the outcome, regardless of how clinically sound the case presents. The patient may not be in the right frame of mind to hear your answers to their questions or visa versa. They may not comprehend your explanations for benefits and risk of treatment recommendations. Sit down at a team meeting and know what questions you need to be asking patients.

Treatment Planning

Treatment planning for cosmetic dentistry and all preventive treatment needs should be a group effort. This includes doctor, the entire team, the lab and even referral dentists. Your patient  expectations need to be met for the entire process of communication, case acceptance and future patient relationships to continue. It is very important that patients understand the result and benefits for completing their treatment recommendations.

Listen

Sit down as a team and discover what your patients really want. Have you used a patient survey to understand what they really want from you as their dental healthcare provider? How do you measure the success of your communication and listening skills? What percentage of treatment plans are outstanding? How do you know that patients understand the benefits of treatment and do they understand why they really need the treatment completed?

The Answer`

“YES!” is the one word you want to hear! Know what questions to ask. Then be open to listening closely to your patients. When patients believe you have listened and their questions are answered they provide you with a “Yes!” Simply put, if a patient wants it, do whatever it takes to make them satisfied. Make it happen for your patient! When you create a plan each morning, you should be able to say “YES!” To same-day emergency appointments and– –“YES!” to many same-day procedures, for example whitening tray impressions for patients who want their teeth whitener or those who need a night guard, etc.

Can you answer a resounding “YES!” to patients requests? I’m sure you get the point.

We all know the rewards of changing someone’s life with a beautiful smile. This is pure joy to the patient and YOU– the provider! Just remember that communication, planning, and execution can go a long way when you provide optimal health and excellent cosmetic dentistry. Now we’re talking success! YES!

By: admin

January 10, 2012

Original Post on December 29, 2011 by Julie Rains

I thought to share this with my readers. It has very good information. Most people resist change so this is a good read for all of us!

ENJOY THIS READ!

Debbie Seidel-Bittke, RDH, BS

President: Dental Practice Solutions

 

I used to believe that there were two kinds of people.

1. Those who thrive on change
2. Those who avoid change

The former are inspired by freshness, embrace novel experiences and jump at opportunities to instigate innovations. The latter seek stability, enter new situations cautiously and place roadblocks before the slightest mention of anything different.

Now, I realize that there is a third category: people who want change but are not willing to do anything risky to achieve it.

They are intellectually curious and enjoy newness yet they hinder initiatives with their indecision and procrastination. Repeatedly (and predictably), they reject new ideas as relentlessly as they express concern that too much has stayed the same.

In short, the second and third types resist change. They avoid, dismiss and sabotage those who want to move forward in any of these areas.

• Pursuit of a new customer segment
• Deployment of a new technology or work process
• Launch of a new product
• Introduction of new techniques for sales, marketing and customer service

Understanding why they avoid newness is a key step in overcoming resistance. Addressing these concerns can help build a team that will evaluate new opportunities based on merit, not fear. Here are a few beliefs about change that inhibit creative responses and limit the willingness to let the business grow.

1. Productivity will plummet and stress will skyrocket

After years of mastering her job duties, she has an efficient routine. When employees bring problems to her attention, she gives direction by following a self-developed, mental image of a decision tree with a limited number of variables. The simplicity of her day-to-day tasks is comforting. The knowledge that she can easily complete assignments on time, on budget and on spec gives her confidence.

Changes bring complexity to her job. Decisions require new road maps. She anticipates that the mental heavy lifting will be exhausting. This extra time and effort will certainly detract from her productivity, output and peace of mind.

Fix: Establish a new performance metric when changes occur. If possible, move away from activity-based measures to assessments of creative output and profitable results. Give her enough time to assimilate new ways of doing her job and plenty of space to solve problems that require intense concentration.

2. Embracing change means admitting past mistakes.

He believes that championing new work processes or pursuing new customer segments mean public acknowledgement that previous procedures caused errors. Or perhaps marketing programs didn’t deliver the right kinds of customers.

Fix: Reassure him that the proposed changes reflect technological advances, emergence of new segments or other recent developments that have impacted the business. Emphasize the need for continual renewal, not as an indictment of the past, but as a strategy for ongoing success.

3. Failures are not occasions for learning.

She is not afraid of failure per se, and accepts that changes may not bring immediate results. What she fears is her inability to understand which factors influence success. Navigating change is like falling into an abyss rather than interpreting clues on a hidden-treasure map.

For example, she might express concerns about updating the features of a best-selling style. Her hesitation to introduce modifications has nothing to do with a perceived inconsistency between product characteristics and customer desires. Instead, her resistance masks her lack of analytical and problem-solving skills.

In the past, she has blamed failures on economic conditions, poor timing and customer misunderstanding. Unable to pinpoint (or at least guess) the reasons for certain outcomes and then make adjustments that improve results, she avoids change altogether.

Fix: Teach her how to learn from her mistakes, whether they lead to full-blown failures or lower-than-expected performance. Encourage her to articulate assumptions and predict likely outcomes of proposed changes. Then show her how to evaluate results in light of the accuracy of these assumptions.

By giving her the skills to learn from potentially risky moves, she should feel more comfortable with change and confident about her ability to correct missteps and move forward.

4. Difficult problems arise from change.

He is eager to positively impact the company but is reluctant to implement new ideas. The side effects of change may involve handling situations that he does not fully understand. He may have to deal with consequences that he cannot predict or control.

For example, he believes that staking a claim to the company’s online listing could be beneficial to marketing efforts. But the prospect of having to interact with customers who rate the business is unfamiliar and a little frightening. So he downplays the benefits. He wants to dodge possible headaches and avoid revealing his lack of competency in this area.

Fix: Identify known negatives that will likely surface as byproducts of changes. Investigate, identify and implement best practices for dealing with these situations. Acknowledge that unpredictable things may happen, ask him to alert you to these instances as soon as they occur, and assure him that you will handle problems quickly.

5. Preserving status among colleagues and employees is key.

She enjoys her title, position description and place in the organizational chart. The existing hierarchy allows her to get things done. Her colleagues and employees respect her, and she does not want to jeopardize these relationships for shaky ones with another group. She especially wants to avoid scenarios that put her in conflict with long-time associates.

Fix: Tell her the truth. Her current job and existing relationships are becoming irrelevant as the competitive landscape changes or key customers merge and go out of business. The new organization will challenge her alliances but also position her and the business more favorably in the long term. At the same time, uncover and address any areas of conflict among work groups, and coach her on methods of interacting with different personalities.

Julie Rains is a senior writer at Wise Bread, a leading personal finance community dedicated to helping people get the most out of their money. Get daily money tips by following Wise Bread on Facebook or Twitter.

By: admin

January 6, 2012

Dentistry is a profession that seems to be uniquely afflicted with a great
deal of stress and anxiety. This is true not only for the dental patient,
but even more so for the dental clinician. As a clinician you are
performing your duties in an extremely intimate area on clients who, in
most cases, are not totally excited about the whole situation.

This clinical situation would be enough to elevate the stress chemicals of
any normal person. Compounding it is the fact that the practitioner is
faced with additional pressures. He or she is also a small business owner.
In this capacity you must wear many hats. You are leaders, managers,
schedule coordinators, counselors and money managers. Is it any wonder
that dentists seem to rank extremely high in incidence of stress-related
maladies? These include burnout, loss of passion for their profession and
actual physical symptoms. Dentists must learn to manage their stress
before their stress manages them.

First you must recognize that not all stress is bad for you. Without any
stress you would be like a spineless jellyfish, unable to function in the
real world. The stress of owning your own business, of providing for your
family, of serving your clients to the best of your abilities can actually
be good for you. Believe it or not, I have found this to be true. This
stress can make you stronger, more resilient and more able to relate to
others. We can call this type of stress, good stress or eustress. The
stress you want to eliminate is the stress that always seems to create
anxiety and worry. Let’s call this distress or bad stress. These stressors
produce headaches, backaches, insomnia, indigestion and depression. Most
of these stressors are self-inflicted.

It is true, you cause a great deal of your own distress. I know this for a fact because I went through a period of time in my early years of practice where I suffered from constant and excruciating stomach pain . I used to lie on the floor in my back office between patients and writhe on the floor in agony. When I visited the medical doctor to determine the cause of my distress he said, “Tom, your problem is not what you are eating, but rather, what is eating you.” At that moment I broke down and realized that I had to change andlearn to manage stress before stress managed me into an early grave.

Here are 3 techniques I used that helped me manage stress and may also assist fellow dentists in that same endeavor. 1) Live life in day-tight compartments, 2) Manage your priorities and determine what are your most important and essential daily actions (your crystal balls), 3) Rule your impulses. In this article I will deal with the first technique, “live life in day-tight compartments.” In future articles I will cover the other 2 techniques.

The first technique,”live life in day-tight compartments,” I learned from Dale Carnegie and his book, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.” It isexemplified by the words of Thomas Carlyle, “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what clearly lies at hand.” Unfortunately most of us do not follow this advice and stew and agonize over things that we cannot control or feel guilty over events that have already taken place.

Guilt emanates from the past. These are actions or events that are over and done with, yet you continually relive them and demonstrate regret. Worry emanates from the future. These are things or events that have not yet occurred, yet you agonize over them. Realize, you cannot live in the past. The past is dead and gone. “Let the dead bury the dead.” You cannot live in the future. The future is merely a promissory note. You have no guarantee that you will even be around tomorrow. “The load of tomorrow, added to that of yesterday, carried today makes the strongest falter.” Live for today only.” Every day is a new life to a wise man or woman. Live only
in the present, that is all you have. Close off the past and the future and live in day-tight compartments. If you can accomplish this and live only for today by living in these day-tight compartments you can eliminate most guilt and worry.
Remember that the present is just that a, “present or a gift,” that is given to us. Enjoy it. Horace, the Roman poet, wrote “happy the individual and happy they alone who can call today his or her own. They who secure within can say, tomorrow do thy worst, for I have
lived today.” Strive to shut the iron doors on the past and the future and live in day-tight compartments. This will eliminate a great deal of worry, anxiety and guilt. Start today and seize this day to obtain the most out of it. Live only in day-tight compartments.
More on this topic very soon!

Dr. Tom Tursich
The Doc of Communication
www.docofcommunication.com

By: admin

January 4, 2012

5 Keys to a dental office dream day

Think about all the times during your workday when you feel like you are running on a treadmill and you are behind schedule. Can you feel the stress? Does this sound too familiar? To top it off, your patients are also unhappy waiting another 10-15 minutes for their scheduled appointments. Unfortunately, a typical dental office can get off schedule on a daily basis – and it only takes one late patient or challenging case to throw off the whole day.

Think a dysfunctional schedule is just is a fact of dental office life that you must face? Think again! You can keep your pedal to the medal and get everything done yet feel more like you’re breezing by on cruise control. Just follow these five timesaving tips!

1. Huddle Together Every Morning

A daily team meeting (“Team huddle”) is key to starting the day right, and it doesn’t have to be time-consuming. A morning team huddle takes 10-15 minutes tops and is a great way to strategize who will be where, in what room, and at what time. Use this huddle to pre-plan which patients that day will need a doctor’s exam and at what time the doctor can expect to visit the hygiene room. Also check if any patients that day need screening assessments so the dental hygienist can plan for documentation support or any other needs. The team huddle is also a great time to discuss any anticipated challenges with patients, necessary pre-meds for the day’s patients, tracking daily, weekly, monthly goals, etc., etc.

Never wait until the end of an appointment to alert the doctor of a necessary exam. Offices that neglect to plan their days, and especially those who fail to plan doctor’s exams, waste huge amounts of time.

2. Don’t Stretch the Schedule – Even for a Mr. Superman

Understand the exact treatment each patient needs, and don’t try to squeeze in more than the patient is scheduled for. For example, suppose a regular prophy patient is slightly overdue for his hygiene appointment. Today, this patient has an abnormal amount of supragingival calculus, hemorrhaging and stain. Instead of having the patient return for another hygiene appointment, you try to remove all the calculus and stain today. After all,  Mr. Superman doesn’t have any other dental challenges and skipped his last six-month prophy, (Which, by the way, was scheduled ten months ago!) due to financial issues.

Creating excuses for “why” he missed his last appointment, will only add more stress to your time-crunched day. Why should you rush and stress because of Mr. Superman’s inability to understand the importance of regular preventive care? Yes, money is a concern but to treat this challenge now and provide optimal health the issue is not money but the patients’ overall health in years to come.

Tip: If you are spending more than 20 minutes scaling a patient’s teeth, you are providing more than a prophylaxis appointment.

The American Dental Association (ADA) and most countries’ dental billing codes clearly define a prophylaxis versus periodontal maintenance. Assess before you begin scaling, then communicate your findings to the patient. If you decide you need to change plans, sit the patient upright, and discuss the appropriate treatment for this appointment and what is necessary in the near future to prevent future disease.

Know the power of your language, too. If hygienists, the doctor and team use the word, “Cleaning,” instead of “Preventive Care” or even “Prophylaxis,” they decrease the value of the dental hygiene appointment – and that can make hygienists run late consistently. The next patient is left waiting for their appointment while you do your best to complete treatment on the overdue patient in your chair. AND What type of message are you giving the patient who is waiting 10-15 minutes into their scheduled appointment.

3. Let Videos Carry Part of Your Load

Creative and effective communication can be a great time saver – especially when you don’t have to do all the talking. Consider the time you take to educate your patients. You are constantly communicating about their oral health, care planning, home maintenance, and procedures they need and what they entail, etc. That process can be quite time-consuming. True, you can talk while you’re scaling, but multi-tasking will slow down your overall process, especially if you need visual aids.

A better way: When you leave the hygiene room or take a moment to document patient notes, this is a great time to play an educational video that explains information you need to discuss with the patient before she leaves. Every saved minute is precious.

If you have an iPAD in the office, check out an application called DDS GP. (http://ddsgp.com)  DDS GP has a large index of videos to communicate with your patients about everything dental from Arestin® to extractions, invisalign® , and even something as simple as an x-ray.

4. Power Up Your Scaling

Think about using this rule of thumb to save time: work smarter not harder. Ultrasonics and Piezos offer a big advantage to dental professionals and patients in this regard. When you have a patient with excessive calculus or stain, these power scalers are great timesaving tools to include in your patient treatment armamentarium. They also disrupt bacteria’s cell walls, completely destroying them, while hand scaling only smears bacteria.

Timesaving power scalers will also drastically improve your ergonomic situation. Hand scaling takes longer, causing neck and back pain, as well as and carpal tunnel syndrome. Most dental hygienists see an average of eight patients a day, and if you can save just seven minutes of scaling per patient by power scaling, you have saved yourself almost one hour of strain on your body during a day in the office. Patients will also appreciate decreasing their time in the dental office.

If patients are wary of these power tools, rest assured that ultrasonics available today offer much more comfort than they did 20 years ago. Think about a smooth ride in a Lexus versus a rough ride in a Ford F350 truck. The new ultrasonics are easier to use, too.

Important: You don’t need to completely replace valuable hand scaling techniques; instead, use the 80/20 Rule. That is, power scale 80 percent of the time, and use curettes 20 percent of the time to complete the scaling procedures.

5. Give It All a Test Drive.

At your next monthly team meeting, gather all your time-saving ideas and do some roll-playing. For example, create a script and role-play the patient-doctor exam in the hygiene room. You want to practice sitting up a patient in the chair and explain the need for additional treatment. You want to practice turning on a video (how to do this so everyone understands how it works!)  while leaving the room to document your treatment notes. Team meetings can also be a great time to role play treatment planning, communication (scripts) skills to get everyone on the same page, understanding how to overcome objections or challenges, etc. Use monthly team meetings for role playing various systems and services so everyone on your team is on the same page!

After practicing these, discuss the ups and downs you experienced during the role playing session, with the entire team. How long did these tasks take for you to complete? Did you face any unexpected challenges? Was everyone on the same page to ensure these timesaving efforts really worked? How much time did you save? Could you do better? Don’t apply these changes in the real treatment room until you’ve worked out the major kinks, but when your team is ready, take it live! Write down the answers to these questions and any others you may think of. Keep your scripts and these notes of the role playing experience for future reference and to provide new team members who come onboard. This will be a great learning tool in many ways, in years to come.

Conclusion

These are only a few suggestions to keep your day running smoothly and decrease the stress. You can probably think of even more. Understand, however, that saving time is not about diminishing the value of a dental appointment; it’s about using your time wisely. If you can save seven minutes scaling, for example, then you have found valuable time for patient education purposes. For practices where the hygiene department sees more than 8 patients a day, imagine the valuable time you will now have available for educating patients, providing same day services which all improve the patient experience and increase profits in the dental hygiene department.

As an efficient provider you understand that every minute a patient is in the dental chair counts. Using every second wisely will not only add value to your patient services, but your practice will profit as well.

Takeaway: If you plan collaborative, productive workdays, your patients receive optimal care, and you accomplish more in a seamless process. So, step off the treadmill, and leave the office knowing your day was “like a dream!”

For more information on benefits and usage of ultrasonic scalers see: Drisko CL, Cochran DL, Blieden T, Bouwsma OJ, Cohen RE, Damoulis P, Fine JB, Greenstein G, Hinrichs J, Somerman MJ, Iacono V, Genco RJ., Position paper: sonic and ultrasonic scalers in periodontics. Research, Science and Therapy Committee of the American Academy of Periodontology, 2000, [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

By: admin

October 17, 2011

Recently I attended the ADA meeting in Las Vegas and prior to the annual session for the ADA was our annual meeting for the ADMC. (Academy of Dental Management Consultants) Our keynote speaker this year was Mr. Bill Rancic. He will always be one of the best speakers I have ever heard speak!

Maybe you are asking “Who is Bill Rancic?” In case you missed the first episode of Donald Trump’s Reality Show, The Apprentice. Bill Rancic was the one person that Donald Trump chose to live in New York and mentor for one year. Bill Rancic was Season 1’s first winner of The Apprentice.

Donald Trump chose Bill to be his right-hand man, out of a competitive pool of 250,000 applicants to be crowned the original Apprentice. Bill has worked for and been personally mentored by Donald Trump for years and has traveled with Mr. Trump across the US and internationally.

Bill is a true American entrepreneur. At the age of 23, he founded the internet-based company, Cigars around the World, in a 400 sq. ft. studio apartment.The first positive trait that I noticed was his Authenticity. If you ever have the chance to be in a room with him, you will understand what I am talking about! Bill just “Is who he is”.

In 2004, the first episode of The Apprentice aired and Bill Rancic was chosen to be “The Apprentice” to Mr. Donald Trump. The last runner up, Kwame Jackson, was “fired” by Mr. Trump.

So why did Mr. Trump choose Bill Rancic to be The Apprentice? I will share only a few reasons and there are two specific lessons that I learned. There are two which stand out for me.

LESSON ONE

The first lesson I learned is about “Change”. I think this word really stood out to me because I consistently talk to dentists who are not dealing well with this economic strife we are experiencing in this period of time. I ask my clients: “What ideas or thoughts do you have to improve your current outcome?” And I will ask, “How can I support you?” Many dental practice owners will tell me: “I want to wait it out” and others will say “I will just accept it for what it is.”

But I ask you, “Does this sound like something you really want to hear?” Let me ask you this, “Do you want to just let your dental business BLEED?” I don’t mean your patients’ mouth’s bleed but your cancellations and your decline in New Patients. “Is this what you really want in your dental practice?” And “What can be done to reduce the BLEEDING today?!” Read on, maybe you will understand the lesson I learned and I want to share with you today.

Bill was up against Kwame Jackson, in the finale episode of The Apprentice. Why did Mr. Trump pick Bill Rancic to be The Apprentice? Kwame made his decisions based on his college education. Rancic claimed to win The Apprentice because of his “out-of-the-box” thinking. Rancic told us that when things are not going well or running smoothly, it is important to make a change. He said that it is important to make wise decisions early on and not wait to make a decision. Rancic believes that his ability to “think outside-of-the-box” is what made him a winner.

As dental practice business owners, it is also important to know when to make changes in your day-to-day business strategies, systems and functions when they are not working. I ask you now “Are you willing to just accept the BLOODY MESS?” “Or are you willing to create systems that can make a change and add additional streams of income to your dental practice today?”

LESSON TWO

The second point that really stands out to me is something else I heard Bill say: “When you reach success, never forget what got you there.” I said it in the beginning and I noticed immediately, that no matter how much money Bill earns and no matter how much fame he accomplishes, he is still that boy who had a grandmother that taught him how to cook blueberry pancakes. He is from a middle-class, Chicago, Illinois neighborhood. “He is what he is.”

Bill believes the American Dream begins with an idea. This idea can be one like most kids have. It’s called selling lemonade from your own lemonade stand. You mark the price at 25 cents for a glass of lemonade. Once you have the idea, you need to work hard and never give up. I remember one day last summer when my granddaughters and a young neighbor boy wanted to sell lemonade. We went to the local grocery store and bought everything necessary to make the lemonade. The kids had to add up what it cost to buy the ingredients and then they split the money earned minus the money they borrowed from me to buy the ingredients. They worked hard but their cute smiles and eagerness to earn a dollar made it a lot easier to sell $10.00 in lemonade! Of course they had to split that $10.00 – 3 ways! They were left with just under $3.00 each and their smiles turned a bit sour at the end of the hard work. I am certain they will never forget how much fun they had that day. I know they will sell Lemonade again one day soon!

I believe that little boy down the street will be named “Most likely to become a Millionaire in the next 15 years!” That boy has a fire inside of him and at the young age of 8 he has the will, the drive, to learn what to do, so he can be on the top of his game!

BE EQUIPPED

You have aspirations and you must be equipped with the correct knowledge to make your ideas, and your dreams, work for you. Once your dreams become a reality you will smell that sweet smell of success. Most of my mentors do not know my name, and probably never will, but they have made an impact on my life that will always be a testament to them.

I want to say to you, those who are my followers, that you need to create a plan and you cannot wait any longer to put a working plan into action today! If what you are doing today is not working for you, then you need to make some serious changes. Change the direction of the sail on your sail boat.

Stop the hemorrhaging now. There are many experts who know the shortest path to get you where you want and need to be. Don’t wait another day! Always remember today and tomorrow, the exact path you took, to get you where you want to be.
Knowledge + Power = Success

And I know, speaking for myself, I will never forget where I came from; just a middle-class neighborhood in a suburb of Los Angeles, California, with a dream to one day become a dental hygienist. That dream became a reality about twenty-five years ago. I now have bigger dreams and larger goals in life now! But…I will never forget…

Remember without the first idea, your dreams can not become reality. What is your plan for Success in 2012?

By: admin

October 5, 2011

People want to improve their smiles, and the market for related products is growing exponentially. Every day, television commercials rave about oral hygiene products and cleaner, whiter teeth. Even advertisements not specifically for oral care show people with beautiful, white teeth – and  viewers want what they hear and see daily. That’s good news for your dental practice, but are you doing all you can to capitalize on this opportunity?

You may have experienced frustration when patients return months after a visit, never having purchased the home care product you recommended. Patients leave the dental practice with the good intention of purchasing what you recommend, but lets’ face it – life gets in the way, and many of your patients just never get around to buying the recommended products.

All that said, an often overlooked – yet significant – profit center in a dental practice is selling home care products. These products can contribute at least $30,000 to your practice’s net annual profits, and selling them requires only a small up-front investment. Even better, a quick return on investment is easily accomplished when everyone on the dental team participates and understands the value of offering these products. The point here is not to pressure a sale but to promote optimal oral health and create a simple solution for your patients.

Build Up Your Reputation as the Expert

As you well know, patients get loads of oral care product information on the internet, from commercials, and even from makeover reality shows. Unfortunately, patients won’t even think to ask their dental providers about an oral care product they recently saw. As dental professionals, however, we must remind the public that we are THE experts on oral health and thus on the products that protect our patients’ smiles.

Find ways around your office to remind your patients know just how much you stay abreast of the research, the rapid changes in technology, and all the new products available for consumers. For example, you could include a section on your website that reviews products or simply informs patients about new products on the market. You can do the same with pamphlets or an office e-newsletter.

Bottom line, you want patients asking YOUR opinion so that if they see an ad on TV, internet of a magazine they like, they go to you for the expert opinion. Then, if your dental office has that product or a similar one available, you can sell it right then and there! Not only can you sell it but you can educate them about the best way to use the product. Once patients understand exactly how to use something new they are ten times more likely to begin using the product you recommend.

Let Your Patient Education Do the Selling

As a dental professional or hygienist, you may feel like you are running all day on a treadmill, and the last thing you want to do is add another task to your plate. Building a home care product niche, however, doesn’t have to involve a ton of extra work if you already educate your patients about home care products.

When patients learn from you what the most effective products are, their visit to the dental office will likely exceed their expectations. The icing on the cake (and the easy part) is actually having those products available for the patient to buy. This setup will create a WOW type of dental visit with little extra effort on your part. Tip: Be sure to set aside a few minutes during the patient appointment to demonstrate the proper use of the products. This is a perfect way to ensure the patient understands how to effectively use the recommended product.

Added bonus: These home care talks will improve your patients’ self-efficacy. You have taken time to help patients understand how to use a new product, and they will feel confident and at ease about buying it and then using it. Plus, having oral health care products available is just one more opportunity to add that personal touch – and patients may begin asking for refills when they return.

Get Creative With the Holidays

With the holidays around the corner, your patients will be thinking long and hard about what to buy that special person. So, why not suggest a beautifully wrapped oral health care package? Your oral health care products can be packaged in groups that include power toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouth rinse, tongue cleaners, and floss. Be creative and add other products such as xylitol, etc.

This is not only a wonderful way to keep your patients healthy, but it is also a great way for them to share the good word about your stellar team of professionals. You may just discover that patients who purchase these gifts will passively be referring new patients to your dental practice. The recipients of these gifts will need to buy replacements for their oral health care products, and you may be pleasantly surprised when a new patient calls to schedule an appointment after receiving this creative gift purchased at your dental office.

Do Your Homework First

Although we highly suggest adding this profit center to your dental business model, we also suggest taking an honest look at your practice and making sure you have the resources available to make it work. Here are a few questions to consider before diving into home care sales. Take time to share the questions with your team members, and listen to their suggestions on how this can work best for your business model.

1. What will your ROI be on the sale of these products?
   -Discuss the cost of the products you will provide and how much to initially stock.
   -Discuss the fees you will charge when you do carry these products.
   -Find out if these products are covered by insurance.
   -Note the billing code for patients who purchase these products.
2. Do you have a place to store these products?
   -Find a time to clean your cabinets and purge expired and send-back products.
   -Find out if you can send certain products back to the distributor.
3. How can you increase the odds of patients purchasing the products you recommend?
   -Discuss how you can communicate the importance of optimal oral health.
   -What words will you use to promote home care most effectively?
4. If patients buy these recommended products, will they understand how and when to use them?
   -Have written home care instructions accompanying the new products.
   -Have the home care and product use instructions on your website, as well.

Staying abreast of the new products and research to support their use is key. The last quarter of the year is a good time to schedule your annual strategic planning session. At this meeting, determine as a team what products you want to provide patients. Discuss the costs and benefits for you and your patients regarding the products you decide to make available for purchase in your dental office.

You will exceed patient expectations when you consider their total health and save them time and money with their everyday shopping needs. Our world today is extremely fast-paced, and offering home care products will become a benefit to your patients that goes a long way!

By: admin

September 19, 2011

Preventive care and periodontal maintenance appointment scheduling may be the most important source of success for your dental practice. But not every practice knows how to fully tap this goldmine. Filling your schedule with future dental hygiene appointments is an art that requires a daily system — and forming some new habits — but once learned, it’s a system that will make your dental hygiene department rock-solid.

Keep Your Schedule Rockin’ With Pre-Blocking

The most effective way to keep the hygiene schedule full is to, number one, pre-block it. This means blocking out specific timeframes in your schedule for specific kinds of visits. For example, how many hours each day do you need for new patient exams? Cosmetic procedures? Pediatric Patients? Prophys? (with and without x-rays). Include time to chart data if you don’t have an assistant, and remember to allow 10 minutes for breaking down the room, disinfecting, and setup. Best tip is to have another auxiliary available to do this simple, yet important task.

The goal of pre-blocking appointments is to keep the hygiene schedule full and to be productive — so that each day brings in the optimal amount of hygiene revenue. Holes in the schedule lead to a domino effect of patients not returning for maintenance care, and the dentist will see openings in the treatment schedule in the very near future.

Tip: Have the dental hygienist or hygiene assistant schedule future dental hygiene appointments. They are the auxiliary who understands the purpose of the next visit and how much time needs to be allotted for the patient’s next visit.

So, setting up a pre-blocked or tiered schedule is key, but that’s not your only step for successfully scheduling preventive care (Dental Hygiene) appointments. Now you need to make sure that ALL patients make an appointment for their next dental visit. What’s the point of pre-blocking the patient time if you don’t fill the appointment slots, with the correct type of patient treatment?

Postcards Only Get You So Far

Now the question is, how do you get those patients on the schedule for their next visit(s)? Many years ago, it was considered the standard of care to have a patient complete a postcard. This would be mailed to the patient when it was time to call in for their next hygiene appointment. Most dental offices have since discovered this method to not only be passive and impersonal, but fairly unsuccessful. Offices that use this type of recall system will lose about 60-70% of their current dental hygiene continuing care patients.

Offices that have patients call to reschedule appointments find many openings in their hygiene schedules. People are very busy in the 21st century, and they will put off calling their dental office if they have to call to schedule their future appointments. The good news is that technology in this 21st century allows people to manage their calendars from the palm of their hand. We can lock in appointments on our hand-held device and we even have pop-up reminders which occur months, days, and even minutes in advance.

Now all you have to do is get the dental appointments on the calendar. Your highest success rate occurs while the patient schedules their next appointment while they are the dental office and before he/she leaves the office. Better to have the patient walk away with a date and time than to hope that he/she calls the office for the next appointment.

It’s All in How You Ask

Are you using a call-in type of continuing care system? Usually a patient declines to schedule an appointment because he/she was asked a closed-ended question (where the answer is either yes or no). Take a look at these three different questions:

1. “Mr. Jones, would you like to schedule your next cleaning with me?”
2. “Mr. Jones, when you would like to schedule your next cleaning appointment?”
3. “Mr. Jones, I can see you on Wednesday July 6th or Thursday July 7th for your next continuing care appointment. Which day works best for you?

The first sentence is a closed-ended question. It allows the patient to say “No” very easily. The patient may forget to call back in 3 or 6 months.

The second question is better but still allows room for the patient to say “No” to an appointment. It also allows the patient to be in charge of the appointment book. You are the professional, and you are the one in charge of the schedule. You understand the patients’ needs and you know what is available on the office’ schedule.

The third question suggests, without question, that the patient will be coming back, and h/she already understands the importance of why he/she will be returning. There are no questions to be asked. The patient already has bought into his/her treatment plan and understands the importance of regular preventive care.

See what a huge difference a few tweaks in your wording can make? The significance of excellent verbal skills will help to implement a successful continuing care system and book your hygiene schedule months in advance!

Choose Your Words Wisely

There’s still more to say about the power of your words. When scheduling the hygiene appointment, avoid using words such as “cleaning” and “recall.” The perception among patients is that a “recall” appointment is not significant. After all, you are not “recalling” the patient. Have you heard of a recall on a car with a problem? This is nothing similar to what you are doing in your dental office. The dentist is not “recalling” the patient back into the practice to check whether they need a cleaning or tune-up. You are inviting patients back for preventive care.

Likewise, asking a patient to return for a “cleaning” is like asking to have your house cleaned — anyone can do it. This image runs counter to today’s hygienists, who are considered preventive care professionals and non-surgical periodontal therapists.  We need to add value to the dental hygiene appointment by using words such as preventive care appointment, continuing care, and periodontal maintenance. Nix the word cleaning.

Seal the Deal in Your Farewell

Every patient should be dismissed with a verbal reminder that there is another appointment, even if it is six months away. Create a perception of value and importance in the mind of the patient by saying something like, “Mrs. Smith, I look forward to seeing you in July, and I want to hear more about your daughter’s wedding. See you at your preventive care appointment July 6th, and I will recheck that one area I was concerned about on the lower left side.”

Try to ask the patient to come back at a time similar to the one he/she is currently scheduled for. Many people work best if they have consistent times for certain appointments. For example: dental, psychologist, chiropractic, etc. Also, some patients want afternoon dental appointments and some prefer them first thing in the morning. People also better remember their appointments when there is continuity and consistency. Tip: For younger patients always try to schedule before the noon time hour.

Of course, you will provide the patient with a written reminder with the next date written on a card along with Doctors name, hygienists name and all the important office information.

Try an Easier Way to Contact Stragglers

Even with excellent verbal skills and a well-oiled machine of utilizing a pre-blocked schedule, you will still have some unscheduled patients. You know the drill: Each month someone has the daunting task of running the report and calling patients who need to have an appointment. One lucky auxiliary is in charge of creating the list of overdue and patients who are due but not scheduled for their hygiene appointment.

Before any calls can be made, research has to be completed regarding when the last hygiene appointment occurred, the patient’s periodontal health, areas of concern, if there’s outstanding treatment, what insurance allows, what x-rays are needed, the length of the appointment needed, any outstanding balances, etc. All phone numbers must be called and messages left at each number. Maybe one in twenty patients will answer the phone, let alone schedule an appointment. This can become monotonous and very time consuming.

The good news: Now, you understand the systematic approach of pre-appointing patients, which is much more efficient and productive. And that means a lot less patients to track down the hard way. But if you are stuck with making those calls, try this: Some offices have late evening schedules. Why? Statistics prove that it is easier to reach patients by phone between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 pm. Even if your office only stays open late once in a while, you can use this time to call the stragglers — and get a better response rate. Some offices even have Saturday appointments. This is another great time to make these calls.

Never Say Never

Despite your best efforts, you’ll find a handful of patients who won’t immediately commit to a future dental hygiene appointment. Until those patients have a feeling of urgency to schedule or else, they may not change their behavior. Once patients understand the importance of preventing disease and understand that calling a week before they are due for their preventive care appointment means they have to wait for an appointment until they are a month overdue, they may never change their behavior.

Some patients may live in another country or state and don’t know when they’ll be back in the area. It is very valuable to recommend that these patients have another dental hygienist see them for their preventive care during the interim of their next visit to your area. This is just one more exception to this strategy for success.

But the above setbacks don’t have to keep you from being proactive. When patients do fall through the cracks, the best method to have them return is to call them on the phone. When the correct “continuing care” program is in place, the hygiene schedule will be full. This keeps the practice in touch with its patients and increases patient retention dramatically.

Bottom line, preventive care and periodontal maintenance appointments must be communicated in a manner that will allow patients to understand the importance of preventing disease. When patients understand that without good oral health they will not have good overall health they will listen and take action.

By: admin

June 27, 2011

All throughout the day, we treat them one by one. Each individual patient is treated in a different way. This is our standard of care. Will you agree with this statement? If you don’t agree, then let’s make a “Red Letter Day”- – today!

What is the difference between a Prophy and a Periodontal Maintenance?

Are you scaling more than twenty minutes during a regular continuing care appointment? If you are then it is probably more than just a Prophy.

Periodontal Maintenance

When a patient completes phase one treatment for non-surgical periodontal therapy, they are now and forever considered a “Periodontal Patient”. If you have Diabetes or high blood pressure, you will always be evaluated by your doctor to prevent progression of the disease. A patient diagnosed with cancer, high blood pressure and/ or Diabetes, doesn’t just get treated and then never see their doctor for regular preventive measures. This is the same protocol for patients diagnosed with Periodontal Disease.

One reason hygienists may choose to eliminate the periodontal maintenance appointment is for financial reasons. In the United States and other countries a billing code is used and more money is charged for the service. In the United States code D4910 (Periodontal Maintenance after scaling and root planing has been completed.) is a much higher fee than the fee for code D1110 (Prophylaxis. This means no disease is present.) The other reason dental professionals do not provide the periodontal maintenance appointment or bill appropriately is that many third-party payers do not cover the periodontal maintenance appointment at frequent intervals. (Example: Less than six months interval.)

When we understand the research regarding periodontal pathogens we will understand how to communicate to our patients “Why” they need to return in most likely twelve weeks. The research, the science, reports that periodontal pathogens will repopulate a healthy and recently scaled sulcus as early as nine to twelve weeks, post maintenance.1 A patient can brush and floss all day long and this may not be enough to remove the periodontal pathogens. These pathogens are what will cause tooth loss in periodontal patients.

Following a 10-year study, researchers found that patients who received regular periodontal maintenance had significantly reduced probing depths and lost fewer teeth than patients who did not have periodontal maintenance procedures. Here are the arguments to use regarding regular twelve week periodontal maintenance for your periodontal patients. This is the information to communicate to patients. It is our role as a healthcare provider to read the research, know the science, and share it with everyone who needs to know.

It still happens each day in many dental hygiene treatment rooms throughout the world. No matter how much time is spent removing plaque and calculus, the office still charges the same fee for what are actually a different procedure and a different diagnosis. The problem that is seen most likely is that the hygienist is not individually assessing patients for periodontal disease. The other problem is that the hygienist will do an assessment but there may be a lot more calculus present than is considered a regular prophylaxis procedure. If it has been awhile and if you live in the United States, look at the CDT Codes and read the description for D1110. No matter where you live, review the billing code description. Exactly what type of plaque and calculus does this billing code refer to? Does the code say this is a procedure for a preventive or a disease state? Read this description and see for yourself that (For example, in the United States) CDT Code D1110 refers to a healthy dentition, small amounts of plaque and calculus. If you are spending more than twenty minutes scaling, then you are not adequately treating this patient. Scaling calculus for more than twenty minutes is not the description of a prophylaxis. In the presence of moderate to heavy calculus you have more than a CDT Code D1110. (The Prophylaxis code for insurance billing purposes in the United States.)

No one wants to spend more money! People will pay for what they want not always what they need. It is our job as a healthcare professional to be an advocate for prevention. We need to share the research and the science behind the disease and how to prevent it, with our patients. We are the experts and we want to be an advocate of optimal oral health for our patients. We have a responsibility to spread the word that without good oral health a person will not have a healthy body.

“Working as a team of healthcare professionals, we can conquer the disease process. Together we can make a difference in our world!

Can you effectively explain to your patients why they need to return for non-surgical periodontal treatment? Do you know what to say when a patient returns with heavy calculus? What do you say when the patient had scaling and root planing last year and returned today with a 6-mm pocket? That pocket was there prior to scaling and root planing a year ago but what do you say when it occurs again at the periodontal maintenance appointment?

Tell then the truth!

You told your patient about the research and science behind the disease and you also need to tell them that periodontal disease is episodic. The disease process can and will most likely return at some point. This is why your patients need to continue coming back every twelve weeks, (or at frequent and the appropriate intervals.) even if they seem healthy for many years after the scaling and root planing is completed.

As mentioned previously, when a patient has Diabetes or high blood pressure, the doctor will ask the patient to be examined frequently because the disease is likely to return. Today, it is all about prevention. Prevention needs to be your message to the patient. When there is a new area of bleeding upon probing (BOP) or a new 5-mm pocket, now is the time to sit the patient upright in the chair and discuss early intervention. This will most likely mean prevention in the future. In dentistry today, during the twenty first century, we no longer “wait and watch”. Waiting is not the standard of care. What are your “waiting” for?

Periodontal Maintenance vs. Prophylaxis

The Prophylaxis Appointment (CDT Code D1110 prophylaxis) is only for patients who exhibit healthy gingiva. They have a healthy periodontium. The Prophylaxis (CDT code D1110) definition says “the removal of plaque, calculus, and stains from the tooth structures in the permanent and transitional dentition. It is intended to control local irritational factors.”

The Periodontal Maintenance (CDT Code D4910 periodontal maintenance) is a post-therapeutic procedure used to maintain the healthy results of periodontal therapy, not to prevent disease in healthy patients. The Periodontal Maintenance (CDT code 4910) definition states: “It can only be used “following periodontal therapy and continues at varying intervals … includes removal of the bacterial plaque and calculus from supragingival and subgingival regions, site-specific scaling and root planing where indicated, and polishing the teeth.”

The Periodontal Maintenance appointment is to be used following Phase I – definitive periodontal therapy and for an indefinite time, determined by the patient’s progress over time to achieve stability and the absence of the signs and symptoms of disease.  Periodontal maintenance patients who have poor oral hygiene, smoke, exhibit bone loss and/or excessive bleeding, have not achieved an acceptable level of stability and in addition, have various immune deficiencies such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes, Arteriosclerosis, etc., etc. When these patients continue to return for dental hygiene appointments and these disease challenges persist they will need to be referred for a consultation by a periodontist.

What are the specific differences between a periodontal maintenance procedure and. a regular prophylaxis? Periodontal maintenance procedures include a predominance of power scaling with thin inserts to access and debride the depths of periodontal pockets. Think scaling SMART not hard! Your patient may need localized areas of local anesthesia. The goal of this appointment is thorough debridement of pathogens that have repopulated in the sulcus. Periodontal pathogens reside in the sulcus and on the plaque and calculus. Biofilm is always present on the root in the presence of calculus or no calculus. Annually, a comprehensive periodontal exam is mandatory. (Six-point periodontal probing is necessary in order to reassess changes that have occurred in pocket depths.) A pre-procedural rinse and irrigation post-procedural with an appropriate antimicrobial, such as Povidone-iodine or Chlorhexidine, is the Gold Standard. You may need to apply desensitizing agents, such as Colgate’s Pro-Relief™, with a rubber cup if your patient has sensitivity and/or exposed root surfaces. If you have a fluoride varnish you can easily apply this for immediate relief from any root sensitivity. There are numerous choices for today’s sensitive dental hygiene patient. Always polish with low-abrasion pumice and/or pastes if your patient has exposed root surfaces. This is often the case for periodontal patients.

Communicate the difference

One way to explain to patients when they need to understand the difference between Prophy and Periodontal Maintenance is to say this: “Your gums are not healthy and this can also affect your total health. Usually, your dental hygiene appointment is only a preventive therapy but today I will need to treat areas of disease. I am recommending that we do something different today. Today I (fill in the blank with your own plan) will let the patient know if you will do a gross debridement, scale and root plan an area, etc.” Ask the patient if they have any questions and find out if they have objections and why. It is at this point in time you will need to address financial issues.

For some patients the most challenging part is the finances. It is well known that most people will buy what they want. This is when you have effective communication skills that you can overcome the financial barriers to accepting non-surgical periodontal care. Most people will find the money when they understand they will live a longer and healthier life!

When patients still don’t comprehend the importance of optimal oral health in relationship to their total overall health, try to explain that you are not providing appropriate treatment with only a prophylaxis appointment. Patients also need to understand they are not there to get their teeth “cleaned”. Dental hygienists are in the business of preventing disease.

One more way to communicate the importance of more than a prophylaxis is to show the patient radiographs of their teeth, the surrounding bone and/or intraoral photographs of the diseased areas, bleeding staining, plaque, calculus, etc. Show them actual tooth mobility if it exists. A loose tooth is not a pretty sight to see!

Some computerized patient management software programs, stand-alone devices and programs, such as the DENTRIX periodontal chart where you can color code areas with different colors, (Red for BOP, green for mobility, etc.) Dental R.A.T.® and PerioPal®, also produce impressive probing charts. Even giving the patient a hand mirror and showing him/her how his/her gums are bleeding can be a powerful, emotional tool. The main point here is that the independent authority has to be highly visual and vivid to counter the emotional belief that they’re being cheated. Some patients will believe “It’s all about the almighty dollar”, when in reality we are in the business to provide optimal health.

It is becoming more common to have Physicians gather systemic information with lab tests, and dentists are beginning to use lab tests as well. Four outside labs have periodontal tests: two are culturing services – Oral Microbiology Testing Service (OMTS) and Oral Microbiology Testing Lab (OMTL). The other two are DNA tests: OralDNA Labs® and micro-IDent®plus. All four tests can detect pathogens that are associated with periodontal disease. There is also a third-party statistical test, PreViser™ based on clinical findings that estimate the likelihood of periodontal disease. In addition to these outside tests, there are two microbiological tests that can be used chair side. BANA™ is an enzymatic test for periodontal pathogens, and the other is a video microscopy test called BioScan™.Any of these above listed tests can provide the type of important information dental practices and patients may consider prudent.

Conclusion

The dental hygienist has two important roles. The first role is to determine which type of periodic preventive care is needed, by each individual patient. It is the role of a healthcare provider to educate and communicate to patients exactly what type of care is appropriate for their overall health. Education is the second role.

We are not talking about the almighty dollar. We are concerned about our patients overall health. When you understand and communicate the difference between health and disease. Prevention and treatment, you are providing optimal care.

Disease means Periodontal Maintenance for life. Prophylaxis means the patient is healthy and there is little plaque, calculus and no bleeding.

1. .www.perio.org September 2003 Issue
2. www.perio.org

By: admin

May 3, 2010

Written by: Danny Bobrow, MBA

Accurately tracking your practice’s marketing efforts can help you determine what brings new patients to your office and what doesn’t.

Dental professionals, out of necessity, must pay close attention to detail. It is surprising, then, to learn how little attention is paid to monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of dentistry marketing tactics.

The good news is, with a little planning and preparation, the process is simple and the benefits are huge. When it comes to marketing your practice, the more complete, timely and accurate the tracking, the better equipped you are to capitalize on opportunity and minimize cost.

Why anecdotal doesn’t work

Asking your patients “Who may we thank for referring you?” is an unreliable, risky way to assess marketing tactic efficacy. Here’s why:

• The lag between exposure and response to a message means the new patient may not know or remember what prompted him or her to contact you
• Because people often need to be exposed to multiple instances of the same message before they respond, it is likely you will only hear about the last thing they saw or heard that caused them to respond
• It takes up team member time
• It risks alienating prospective patients by interrogating them instead of selling them on practice benefits. People are contacting you to make an appointment, not to tell you about your marketing.

Monitoring quality, not just quantity, of response

Automating your response tracking allows you to identify opportunities to improve the quality of your communication with prospective patients, as well as eliminate obstacles to success. Because telephone calls can be recorded, you actually hear what scenarios are playing out at the front desk. This allows you and your team to work together to find better ways to field inquiries.

Perfection remains elusive

It is important to recognize it may never be possible to completely track the benefits of a marketing program. Do not expect your tracking system to monetize the benefits from increased name recognition and contribution to brand awareness. But remember it is possible to establish, implement and maintain a reliable tracking methodology (see, “Have a plan“).

Tracking with TTNs

Tracking most strategies is greatly enhanced by using tracking telephone numbers (TTN). TTNs make it possible to monitor and evaluate response quantity and quality. In choosing a TTN provider:

• Make sure the area code and three digit prefixes are as close to the practice’s as possible. This helps reduce any confusion in the minds of prospective patients who may wonder why they are being asked to call a number that appears to be outside of the area.
• Avoid using toll-free numbers, as any benefit from offering the caller toll-free service is overshadowed by the perception that yours may be a large, impersonal entity. Do everything you can to convey a local flavor to prospective patients.
• Be sure the tracking telephone numbers are new or, if recycled, have been inactive for at least 60 days. Otherwise, you run the risk of being interrupted and distracted by (and paying for) wrong numbers

Your TTN provider should have the ability to notify you via e-mail whenever someone uses your TTN. The provider should also have an online portal that enables you to access the quantity and quality of response, for instance:

• Quantity of calls generated by each campaign
• Day and time of calls
• Ability to listen to the calls
• Disposition of calls (hang up, voice mail, disconnect)

On more than one occasion, this monitoring has identified disconnects as a malfunction with the practice’s voice mail, or voice mail not picking up until the eighth ring. These problems, left undetected, can be costly.

The outgoing message

In one case, a client discovered through her monitoring system that an inordinate number of callers were hanging up without leaving a message. It was subsequently discovered that the outgoing message was more than two minutes long. The solution was to provide callers with the option of bypassing the remainder of the message by pressing 0 or #, as well as shortening the message by omitting office hours and other extraneous information. Because nearly anyone who wants to make an appointment with your office needs to speak with you first, having office hours on your outgoing message is unnecessary, and only serves to try the caller’s patience.

Remember the purpose of your outgoing message is to convey sincere enthusiasm and appreciation that the caller is contacting you, your regret for not being able to speak with the caller personally, and your assurance that you will return the call as soon as possible.

Make it work for you

Now that your data gathering system is in place, what do you do with it?

Schedule weekly sessions to evaluate and discern any patterns such as hang ups, extended rings, one staff member converting more patients than another, etc. The interval between sessions can be extended to monthly, or even quarterly, once the practice is well along its learning curve. Regular monitoring helps ensure inquiries are handled promptly and appropriately.

You should also calculate your Return on Investment (ROI), and to do so, it is helpful to streamline the data evaluation process. Here’s one approach:

Each month, print out or display an alphabetized list of all new patients who have enrolled in the practice in the month just ended. Include name, first visit date, zip code and e-mail address. Most practice management programs can easily do this.

Print or display on screen your master leads list. Be certain to include all lead sources and to look for matches. You will be amazed at how this number differs from your subjective tracking system.

Do this each month and continually add leads to your master lead list. Again, the reason for this is the time interval between when someone responds to your marketing tactic(s) and when her or she becomes a patient. You will be surprised at not only the time lag, but also the number of touch points some people need before they bite.

The benefits

While it may never be possible to completely identify and attribute the return on investment from a particular marketing tactic, a reliable tracking methodology offers the twin benefits of confirming much of the return, and early identification of mid-course corrections necessary to increase ROI. It also arms the practice with a reliable tool to test variables, which can further improve your ROI.

Your tracking may never be 100 percent, but a little knowledge goes a long way. So stop flying blind and starting tracking. Knowledge is power, and accuracy means more profit.

Daniel A. Bobrow, MBA is President of American Dental Marketing, a health care marketing consultancy based in Chicago, IL. He is also Executive Director of Climb for a Cause^tm and The Smile Tree^tm, and Founder of 888-Now-Smile.

He holds two MBAs, one from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and one from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He is also a sought after motivational speaker, marketing and sales coach.

Contact:DBobrow@AmericanDentalMarketing.com 1-800-723-6523