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7 Tips to Survive and Thrive Today!

By: admin

June 18, 2013

You most likely chose to be a dentist because it is supposed to give you a chance to live a great life! It should be able to give you a lot of freedom.

Maybe your goal was to work three or four days a week. I imagine that you probably expected to have a bank account with many zeroes at the end of the balance by now.

“Why is this not happening?!”

Many dentists today are asking this question. If you are one of these dentists asking this question, I want to let you know that you are not alone!

I also know without a doubt – — – There is HOPE! I promise you that there is a silver lining to the story of “Today’s Economic Crisis” that many of you are feeling.

During the depression there were more millionaires created than ever before and I know this is happening again – as I am writing this – it is happening.

What is the best answer to this question?

The answer is not going to be something you may want to hear but the answer is this simple:

INVEST in YOURSELF

Years ago, you invested in your education and it didn’t stop there. Investing in yourself is something you need to continue over your lifetime – -and I don’t mean only investing in the DOW JONES or NASDAQ. I mean investing in your dental business and creating systems that consistently bring profits.

Dentistry is a very fast moving industry. Technology changes, internet and how people search for a dentist have changed. The systems and services that create consistent multiple income streams for your dental practice have changed in just the last 5 years. Patients used to come to a hygiene appointment to have their teeth cleaned. Now patients can come to their dental office for preventive services that support total health.

I feel your pain and I know that you don’t want to spend another dime.

The answer is that if you don’t invest in a solution to your own economic decline, you will never leave this challenging situation you are in today.

There needs to be a CHANGE.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein

For myself, I invest in coaches who support and guide me to stay in a position that will serve my clients at the highest level. This is how you will not only survive but THRIVE. This is what I know works best for those who want to be at the top of their game.

“INVEST IN ME” = Your Biggest ROI

2. Hire a dental practice management consultant who is an expert in their niche. This should not and will not drain your bank account if you choose the correct one for you. Find an expert whose expertise is solving you specific needs. Now you will have your biggest ROI. This is the best way to invest in you.

3. Do you know that your dental hygiene department is the one area that can create multiple streams of income? This is the one area of your dental practice where you need to have up-to-date systems and services. There are some simple questions that your hygienist can ask that will drive your profits by $100,000.00 in the next year, services that create optimal health and profits.

About 99% of our clients have at least $100,000.00 of unscheduled treatment sitting in their patient charts. Do you know what to say to a patient who did not want to schedule for necessary treatment? Do you know 1 simple question your hygienist can ask that will drive adjunctive and aesthetic services, that perhaps your patients never thought to ask you about?

4. There is a simple step-by-step strategy to bring them back to your office. Most recently we have an office report that 50 patients scheduled their hygiene appointment when they took step one of our Continuing C.A.R. E. System.

5. Implement an incentive program to inspire patients to come back to your office. Use this to bring in overdue patients and also create referrals for New Patients.

6. Implement a smile evaluation. Ask your patients what is one thing they would like to change about their smile. There are so many different ways to ask this simple question but the bottom line is to ASK.

7. ASK your patients who can’t commit to schedule treatment; “When is a good time to follow up with you?” Or better yet, they probably have unanswered questions and this is the really meaning behind their statement? ASK them to return for a short consultation and invite then to bring their spouse or the other decision maker with them.

ASK: Always Seek Knowledge.

Ask yourself “what can I do differently today to create a positive change?”
Ask your patients the various questions suggested above.

These are only a few suggestions so you can not only survive today’s economic decline but these are suggestions for you to THRIVE!

After all, that is why you do what you do – RIGHT?

Here is to your success!

ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE, RDH, BS

Are you looking to improve profits in your dental hygiene department? Debbie has an innovative and successful way to consistently increase profits in your dental practice.

Many dentists today only need a 1 or 2 day workshop in-office to create the best solutions. Some offices find it valuable to participate in one of our online membership programs. This investment will be your highest ROI .

Check our our services section on the website to find one that meets your needs. Consider getting your team involved in our 12 week Case Acceptance Program. You won’t need to stop your day of work at the office or pay for a dental consultant to travel to your office. The program is at your fingertips 24/7 indefinitely.

Debbie writes for many of the major dental conferences in the world. She is recognized for the past 8 years as “One of Dentistry Today’s Top Consultants.”

Many of her clients span from not only the United States but Brazil, Australia, India and the UK, just to mention a few. She has unique and one-of-a-kind learning systems for offices all over the world to participate in as well as in-office workshops and dental hygiene consulting.

1 Simple Tweak in What You Say Can Create More Dental Practice Profits Today

By: admin

June 10, 2013

With every year that passes, as a dental practice management consultant, I see more and more dentists enrolling in clinical aesthetic courses. When I return to their office I see the new technology they have spent thousands of dollars on this past year.

It is exciting to know that dentists all over the world are seeking out the latest dental technology and products to improve their patients smile.

Once you have completed your CE course, your next step (and also an important goal) needs to be a system to introduce these new services to your patients. How do you know if the service you just spent a few thousand dollars educating yourself to provide your patients is something they are willing to pay for?

Of course one simple answer can possibly be to ask your patients if they want this treatment for themselves.

My question to you is “Have you ever or do you consistently ask your patients what types of services they desire?” have you asked them “What does that mean for you if we can change the appearance of your smile?”

It is the summer and many of your patients probably want to look good for their son or daughters graduation, a wedding or reunion. They may be thinking that they can’t afford to change the way their smile looks. Your patients probably assume it is not possible for their smile to improve due to money, time or even how old they “think” they are.

If you never ask, the answer will always be a “NO.”

At Dental Practice Solutions, we educate your client offices to annually inquire about their patients smile. We call this a smile evaluation. It’s a simple, one page survey, given to the patient upon check in at the front desk. The patient completes these questions in about 60 seconds and then when the hygienist is reviewing the patient medical history she or he will smoothly transition into the smile evaluation. While the patient is seated in the treatment room, the hygienist reviews the patients answers and together, they look at the patients teeth in a mirror. This is not meant to be time consuming but can efficiently be completed with some simple training.

What I see NOT What I have Found

After the hygienist has reviewed the smile evaluation with their patient, they should tour the patient’s mouth with the intra-oral camera. This allows you to show the patient the following:

Decay, missing teeth, large amalgams, aged resins that are stained/chipped
Old bridges which are no longer aesthetically pleasing,
Cracked /or misaligned teeth
Poor home care (excessive plaque and YES – even green teeth!)
Heavy calculus and/or stain

When talking to patients about what you see, be sure not to say for example:

“Mrs. Dalton, I have found…” This seems to leave a negative feeling with patients who think “My dentist always finds something!”

Instead, when looking at the patients teeth and gums say words phrases like “do you see ____?” or “Mrs. Dalton today we saw ________.”

Always keep the door to improving every patients smile. It works best for everyone if you don’t presume or prejudge a patient’s values or pocket book.

If you don’t ask “the answer will be NO” so keep the open door policy and begin to ask every patient “If there is one thing they could change about their smile what would that be?”

One Simple Tweak in What You Say

There are so many twists on this simple question and if you will take time to annually update each patients smile, it will go a long way to making patients leave feeling very happy about the services you have provided them and your will see an increase in your profits.

Continuing education courses can do a lot to support a successful dental practice. The important piece here is to have a goal to use this. Decide how you will begin to offer this new service to your patients and write the date on your calendar, when you will begin asking patients what they want to change about their smile.

Now you can reap the benefits of that expensive aesthetic course and new technology you just paid a lot of money for! One small shift in what you say to patients can increase dental practice profits by thousands each year.

ABOUT DEBBIE AND DENTAL PRACTICE SOLUTIONS

Are you looking to improve profits in your dental hygiene department? Debbie has an innovative and successful way to educate you and your team to create the small tweaks mentioned in this blog. Many dentists today request a 1 or 2 day workshop or find it valuable to participate in the online membership program offered by Dental Practice Solutions. This can mean your highest ROI for this year when you get everyone on the team to that next level of success. Check our her services section on the website to find one that meets your needs. Consider getting your team involved in her 12 week Case Acceptance Program. You won’t need to stop your day of work at the office or pay for a consultant to travel to your office. The program is at your fingertips 24/7 indefinitely.

Debbie writes for many of the major dental conferences in the world. She is recognized for the past 8 years as “One of Dentistry Today’s Top Consultants.”

Many of her clients span from not only the United States but Brazil, Australia, India and the UK, just to mention a few.

7 Ways to Eliminate Short-notice Cancellations and No-show Appointments

By: admin

June 3, 2013

For the past 3 years dentists have been calling my office to ask “Debbie, how can I stop all these last minute cancellations?!” and “Debbie, how can I stop the bleeding of my hygiene schedule? Look at all these holes in the schedule!”

The calls from more dentists continue and I continue to create more and more solutions for the new callers and the offices that still feel stuck and have not implemented any of the suggestions.

I am sorry to say but listening to be give solutions is not going to stop the cancellations and the bleeding. There will always be emergency situations in your patient’s lives that cause them to call and cancel. The situation is that will never be able to completely eliminate cancellations. This is a fact of life. What you can do is eliminate the cancellations and no-shows that occur because your patients do not consider their dental appointment important.

Today, I write about strategies to consider and eliminate or at least decrease your last-minute and/or no-show appointments down to a very low number week.

1. Identify patients with a history of last minute cancellations and no-shows. You need to create a different strategy to work with these patients.

2. Do not call and confirm patients appointments and then ask them to call back to verify they received your message. This will only invite them to call you back and cancel their appointment.

3. Do not allow patients to call and leave an appointment cancellation on your voicemail or answering service. Your message needs to state that your office doesn’t not accept cancellation messages. The only way a patient can cancel an appointment is to speak to someone live in your office.

4. When a patient is known for cancelling appointments short notice and/or no-showing for their appointments do not allow them to reschedule an appointment within a 2 week period. Do not allow these patients to think that your time is not valuable and they can return to your office quickly. These patients may need to be on a “short-notice” call list.

5. When you do call a patient to confirm an appointment, say phrases such as “Susan is looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 2pm for your preventive care appointment. Please take your Amoxicillin one hour prior to your appointment and we will see you then.” That is all. Stop saying things like “This is Dr. Jones’s office calling to confirm your cleaning tomorrow at 2pm. Can you please call me back to let me know you have received this message?”

6. Stay connected with your patients in between their dental appointments. This can be done through an office newsletter, text messages and social media. I suggest that every office have an office Fan page. Communicate at least once a day when you are working at the office. If you have a special running or contest post this on your fan page. Let patients know you have the fan page and give them a chance to “Like” your page while they are in your office. Many offices today have an iPad in the treatment rooms and/or reception area which can assist your patients with writing a review and “liking” your page while they are in your office.

7. WIIFM syndrome. It seems to be typical these days for people to be motivated to do something because there is something in it for them. Offices seem to have a decrease in short-notice cancellations and no-shows when they offer free whitening touch-ups to their hygiene patients. Patients are rewarded for continually showing up for their dental appointments. When patients do not cancel short-notice or no-show they qualify to receive 2 syringes of whitening for free. 1 syringe 2 times a year. Forever White™ is the same premium ingredients but for about 60% less money. The syringes are individually packaged and the size of each syringe is 25% larger than most whitening product syringes.

CONCLUSION

There are numerous ways you can reduce those short-notice cancellations and eliminate the constant no-shows. The most important thing you can do is to choose one of these 7 tips and implement at least 1 of these today. Meet with your team and set some goals to implement more of these suggestions. Monitor your success and remember to celebrate your successes.

Consider utilizing Forever White™ today. You will receive our eBook to Boosts Profits, all the team support to get your patients enrolled in this program and so much more, with your first order.

Debbie Seidel- Bittke, RDH, BS is founder of Dental Practice Solutions. Debbie has immersed herself in the science, systems, services and methodologies that create success and profitability in a dental practice, beginning with increasing the bottom line in the dental hygiene department. She writes for numerous dental journals, speaks at dental conferences nationally and for seven years in a row, she has been known as one of Dentistry Today’s Top Consultants.

Minimize Short-Notice Cancellations and No-Shows: Important Facts You Need to Know

By: admin

May 28, 2013

What can you say about your schedule today? We are about half way through another year so if you have something you are not satisfied with let’s do something about this challenge. I promise you are not alone!

In a recent survey we took, the most common complaint from dental offices was about cancellations and no-shows. Most reported 2-3 openings in the hygiene schedule daily.

First let’s take a look through a critical eye and dig into this very common situation. Why do you think your patients cancel or no-show for their appointments? Why do hygiene schedules have so many openings? And what can you do about it now?

Have you assessed the reasons why your patients are cancelling short-notice? What are they not showing for their appointment? When you have a clear

Understanding of your patients’ behavior and when you know that you are communicating the benefits or your care, now you can develop an effective plan to reduce cancellations.

At a team meeting this month, review how many short-notice cancellations and no-shows occurred in the past 30 days. Write down the top three reasons patients call to cancel. Do you understand why they neglected to show for their appointment? These answers will shed some light on the problem you have at hand and now you can create working solutions.

Perhaps you have thought about charging or, maybe, you currently charge a cancellation/ no-show fee. I don’t recommend this. First of all, you can’t legally charge for a service that was not rendered. This will also not change the patients’ negative behavior.

There will be a lot of cancellations in the dental hygiene department when patients believe they are coming in for “just a cleaning” and they do not understand how important oral health is to their overall body wellness.

Set a goal of no more than a 5% cancellation rate.

Make sure that your patients understand the urgency of preventive care vs. the urgency of emergency after hour calls to resolve a tooth problem!

Your Appointment Change Policy

The most effective policy to stop the last minute cancellations and no-shows is to ask for 72 hours notice should your patient need to change the day and time of an appointment. I recommend that if patients need to change their dental appointment that they give you 72 hours notice. The reason I suggest this is to stop anyone from scrambling to fill a hole in your schedule last minute and if you don’t work on Fridays this means a patient can’t cancel after Thursday.

When you are out of the office the phone message needs to alert patients that your answering service/machine does not accept appointment changes and they are to call back during your business hours. State your business hours on the phone message.

If you are setting a new policy in place make sure that your patients read and sign acknowledgment of this at their dental visit to your office. You may want to have this posted in treatment rooms, on postcards sent to patients confirming their hygiene appointment and definitely post in the reception area. Include this in your financial policy especially what you charge for missed or last minute cancellations. Do attempt to charge for this fee if patients are not following your policy. I am not going to say that in a court of law you can legally collect on this but I believe patients need to have respect for your time and your business policies.

Always document no-shows and last minute cancellations as well as the reason they have cancelled or no-showed.

One proven method to stop last minute cancellations and no-shows is to use Forever White™. This is a patient incentive program utilizing whitening for your patients. Forever White™ is the same premium whitening product that many offices use today however, Dental Practice Solutions can offer this to dental offices at wholesale prices. There are no hidden monthly fees to order. If you are whitening patient’s teeth for the first time, the take-home trays and whitening gel cost to your office is less than $8.00. Typically patients pay a lot of money to whiten their teeth whether it is take home trays and/or laser whitening. If you can purchase tooth bleaching products for very little cost you can pass this savings over to your patients. When a patient comes in without short-notice cancellation or without failing to show for their appointment, twice a year, at their dental hygiene appointment, patients qualify for a free syringe to whiten their teeth. The cost-benefit ratio of giving a patient two syringes of gel, (1 syringe two times a year) vs. the cost of an open hole in the schedule is a WIN!

Most people work off that mentality of WIIFM?! (What’s in it for me?!)

If a patient understands they can get free touch-ups for whitening how likely are they to miss their dental appointment? Not likely. Isn’t that correct?

I have been in offices and heard the patients calling to cancel because they have a hair appointment. This means the patient never really did value their appointment.

How can you build value for optimal overall health and give patients something they really want? It takes effective and consistent communication about the important benefits of optimal oral health that will create urgency with patients over time.

It is all in your hands. What will you do differently today?

Check Your Dental Hygiene Department Pulse and Increase Your Profit Potential

By: admin

May 21, 2013

Is your dental hygiene department the second highest profit center of your dental practice? What do profitable hygiene departments have in place that will allow them to work like a well-oiled machine and be their most profitable? Why does one hygiene department create more treatment plan success from their dental hygiene department than many others? Do these hygiene departments see more patients to create these higher results? Do they perform more dental hygiene services? Do these auxiliaries work longer hours?

Strategic Systems

New patients are the lifeline to every successful dental practice. Without new patients, production will decline and the practice will not exist. Every dental practice has a normal attrition of patients. This is a fact of business. People move, pass away, or leave because you are not on their “insurance plan” and this can mean an annual loss of 10%. Just as your heart beats at least 60 beats per minute, you must have a continual flow of new patients walking in the front door to make up for those patients who are walking out the back door.

Patient retention (continuing care) is the heartbeat of the dental practice. Your active patient base consists of patients who value your care, accept your recommendations, and pay for treatment. These are the people who trust you and your team. They refer their families, friends, and colleagues to you. These are the are key players to the ongoing success of your business Most patients see the hygienist more than any other auxiliary of the dental team. This is what makes the hygienist carry and important role in building and maintaining the current active patient base.

Maintaining the Active Patient Base

Always preschedule 90 percent of your hygiene department patients. Patients are more likely to understand the importance of why they need to schedule their next hygiene appointment. When the hygienist schedules the patients for their next hygiene visit there is a continuation in the practioner/hygiene communication process. You most likely see a positive patient attitude and an increase in patient compliance occur when the hygienist is engaged in scheduling the patient next hygiene appointments. Ideally this should occur when the patient is still present in the hygiene treatment room.

Words do matter

The dialogue between the auxiliary and patient is extremely important. Here is an example of how the conversation may go:

Example: “Today I found a few areas of bleeding that were considered abnormal and doctor is observing and area where you have the beginning of decay. Our schedule is very tight because patients usually schedule before they leave their dental hygiene appointment. I know that you like to come in first thing in the morning on Thursdays so I recommend that we reserve your next appointment to assure that you can return on that day of the week and at that time in fact that is a very valuable and popular time for most of our patients. To make sure you have your next appointment on this day of the week and at this time, I want to schedule and reserve this time for you now. I can see you on Thursday, October 18^th at 8am. Will this work for your schedule? ”

The dental hygienist is the oral health educator for every dental practice. It is the role of the dental hygienist to educate patients about the relationship between oral health and systemic health. Patient involvement and active participation create ownership and accountability and will ultimately reduce the cancellation and failure rates of the continuing care patients. The preventive care and supportive periodontal maintenance appointments have the highest cancellations and failed appointment rates of any service in the dental practice. If you have one hygienist working four days a week and each day you have one cancellation you this can lead to an annual loss as high as $150,000 in hygiene department profits and this does not account for the treatment normally diagnosed from the hygiene appointments.

For a hygiene department achieve success they should be scheduling 95 percent of their future dental hygiene appointments at the time of the patients current dental hygiene appointment. Always create monitors and track the scheduling ratio. Count the total number of patients seen in the hygiene department each month and divide this number by the number of appointments available for the month. The hygiene or scheduling coordinator should then report the current scheduling rate to the team at monthly team meetings. The scheduling coordinator needs to always report in the morning huddle the open times available on the hygiene schedule each day for the next week.

Many dental practices charge a fee for failed appointments, and the effect of doing this has been positive in raising patient awareness of the importance of the time set aside for their appointments.

Team approach

Everyone on the team should understand the words which are effective for a positive patient response. Courtesy confirmation calls, emails, text messages and written communications define the hygiene appointment (continuing care) with dialogues such as this:

“Hello Mr. Goodman, its Megan calling because Maria (Insert the name of the hygienist seeing the patient) and I are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 3 o’clock for your preventive care appointment. I see on the schedule that Maria will be doing your annual periodontal screening exam and Dr. Goodtooth mentioned to me that you were in tested in the new whitening product we are using. We’ll see you then. By doing this, patients are moved beyond the“just-a-cleaning-and-a-check-up” mentality. It is best not to discuss any type of cancellation policy because this is only a subconscious reminder that if something else comes up they can cancel and it sets up for failure for your continuing care systems’ success. Do not ask for calls back to the office to verify an appointment. Have the expectation that patients understand the importance of their dental service and desire to come to see the doctor and/or hygienist.

Accountability

Chart audit and patient activation must be ongoing systems that are frequently performed in the office. This is completed through daily reviews and computer reports. While everyone on the team plays an important role, one auxiliary (the hygiene or scheduling coordinator) is responsible and accountable for keeping the daily schedule full and productive. At team meetings, the scheduling coordinator reports and discusses the scheduling effectiveness rate. Everyone needs to be aware of what is working and what is not working so that problem-solving can take place.

Create a plan of action when there is a crack in the system. Ask for suggestions to overcome these challenges which may occur and when you are feeling like a hemorrhaging is occurring in your dental hygiene schedule you may want to consider the advise of a dental expert who is knowledgeable in overcoming these challenges, especially during these stressful economic times.

Scheduling effectively for today and the future

To achieve and assure a full and productive schedule (for all providers), the team should always prepare for the day by auditing patient records. The hygienist reviews patient records for incomplete dental treatment, updated X-rays, status exams, perio, update the medical history, etc. The hygienist needs to be prepared to discuss, demonstrate (with an intraoral camera), answer questions, and provide the facts and findings, risks and benefits, when the doctor enters the treatment room to provide the patient exam. Ideally, a brief meeting (the morning huddle) enables the entire team to communicate, delegate, and maximize the day. One of the most important topics reviewed at huddles with my consulting clients is having the clinical assistants audit their records and identify patients who are seeing the doctor that day that are overdue for hygiene care.

Picture Paint

When patients are in for the appointment with doctor and overdue or need a dental hygiene appointment ask them to stay for the dental hygiene appointment using words such as: “save you-time missing work another day, Save you time returning to the office, etc. Create statements that are certain to benefit the patient. The hygienist does the same if the doctor has an opening and the hygienist has a patient with undone dentistry.

PHILOPHYSHARE (PLAYING WITH PHILOSOPHY)

Finally, by working together, the doctor, hygienist and entire team, communicate and share a practice philosophy for the patients, the hygiene department, and the practice. Working with the dentist as a partner in oral/systemic health care, everyone on the team is committed to the vision of the practice, proudly recommends dental treatment, and refers family and friends to the doctor.

Facilitate change by regularly scheduling meetings with your hygiene team and as a whole team to support and reinforce initiatives and explore new ideas and opportunities for growth and development. Open pathways for communication will lead to mutual respect and admiration and will be reflected in increased profits, a harmonious dental team, and most importantly, healthier patients. It’s a win for all!

FOREVER WHITE™: INCLUDE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE FOR WHITER TEETH

By: admin

May 14, 2013

SUMMARY: Many dental offices prefer to use a product with natural ingredients to bleach their patients’ teeth. Hydrogen Peroxide is a natural and safe ingredient to whiten your patients’ teeth. Forever White™ is a system that not only whitens your patients’ teeth but it will add profits to your dental practice.

The most requested service patients ask for in a dental office is “whiter teeth.” We hear more offices asking for a whitening system that is “holistic” or “natural”.

You may be asking: Why a product that includes Hydrogen Peroxide?

The answer is very simple. Patients are asking for a “holistic” approach to have whiter teeth. They want the security of knowing they are using something natural.

Hydrogen peroxide is an effective and safe ingredient for whitening your patients’ teeth.

These are naturally occurring ingredients from our planet earth: Hydrogen and Oxygen.

There are various differences between Carbamide Peroxide and Hydrogen Peroxide. Hydrogen Peroxide is used more often, it is stronger, more effective and it can speed up the whitening process. Carbamide peroxide is safe as long as it is used at a lower dosage; however, it is not as effective when it is used at a lower dosage. (Lower percentage)

One benefit of using the Forever White™ product is that it will not cause tooth sensitivity. The reason for this is because the product does not contain a thickening agent like the majority of whitening products do. The thickening agent is what dehydrates the tooth and causes tooth sensitivity. If you are using the Forever White™ product, you will not use block out to make the patient trays. This saves time and makes for a more pleasant patient experience when they whiten without tooth sensitivity.

Hydrogen Peroxide has a gradual degeneration process and will not break down during its shelf-life. If Hydrogen Peroxide is immediately refrigerated after being made, it can maintain its potency over a longer period of time. And, once it’s removed from refrigeration and used on the teeth, the Hydrogen Peroxide will completely disassociate and provide a very effective bleaching of the tooth enamel.

When you use the Forever White™ system effectively you are certain to discover that your office will not be storing whitening syringes on a shelf for long periods of time. This system is intended to not only increase the number of patients who enroll in whitening their teeth, but you will find it opens doors to schedule more aesthetic treatment, reduce cancellations and so much more.

Hydrogen Peroxide is a useful ingredient for dental health and can be a superior ingredient for most dental offices who want to use a natural tooth whitening system. Including the Forever White™ system as a part of your dental services is another profit center worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the life of your dental practice.

4 Rules of Hiring the Right Dental Practice Management Consultant

By: admin

April 29, 2013

The majority of dentists have not studied business management in college. Our economic climate is a cold one today which means your business skills must be at a high level to be a successful business owner. The same systems and services that made a dental office successful ten years ago no longer work for business profitability.

Many challenges such as dental hygiene department strategies/systems, treatment presentation, time management and getting your patients to pay for treatment are some of the solutions we can bring to a dental practice.

The four rules to success:

How to know if a dental practice management consultant is the best one for you:

1) Follow a path to success – When you hire a dental practice management consultant, you are going to have homework to do. It will not be a lot of time but there will be some initial work to close the gap between where you are today and where you should be tomorrow. This is something you will greatly benefit from in the long run. When your consultant has the correct information, in the beginning, it is much easier to create a plan for the office to run smoothly and create the increase in profits.

2) Superior clinical skills will not take your practice to the next level –Many dentists have gone through special training to advance their clinical skills and they are now have amazing clinical skills. These dentists are also expecting to increase their profits after completing this extensive training. Usually the result of these training courses is that production remains the same.

These are the dentists who call a dental practice management consultant because they cannot understand why their clinical skills have not taken their practice profits into the stratosphere.

What I recommend is a complimentary check of your practice’ vital signs. This allows me to take a closer look at your systems and where the gap is in your practice potential.

I am not saying that having this advanced clinical training is a poor choice but it is not going to increase your profit potential if specific systems are not in place.

3) Practice-management systems must be strategically created – Many dentists go through programs with dental practice management consultants and gain nothing other than a depletion of funds in their bank account. It is important that you choose a dental practice management consultant who can implement proven strategic systems for your dental practice and one that has a track record of success for many years.

4) Your Dental Hygiene Department – is a big profit potential for every general dental office. In order for your dental hygiene department to be profitable you need to have a philosophy of care for disease intervention at the earliest stage and a formula to prevent systemic disease for your patients.

Communication skills are going to be a very important piece for transitioning your patients of record into the various services you offer. Your comprehensive clinical refinements must be merged into your treatment plans for case acceptance to increase.

When hiring a consultant to increase profits in your dental hygiene department your consultant must be able to lead your team to refine and merge your philosophy of practice, the clinical skills with your practice and business systems. This is what will create a profitable and very successful dental practice.

The Success Formula – is a very simple formula. Not only does it require clinical excellence and your practice management systems to be in place but there are a few other factors that will take you to a higher level. Having the right people on your team will make it much easier to get there. This combination of choosing the right consultant, having excellent clinical skills, a profitable dental hygiene department, effective communication and the right people on your team will mean you are closer to creating success and a profitable dental practice.

A Plan to Change Patients’ Lives ‘One Smile at a Time!’

By: admin

April 18, 2013

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

How does a dental office plan to create beautiful smiles, optimal patient health, be profitable and with little to now 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 at the office or the day before by reviewing the patient charts. Then discuss as a team, the days patients, challenges, difficult personalities, pre-medication, special needs, exams, x-rays, exams needed, 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. Make sure you have an effective plan not just recite who is coming into the office. Talk about bottlenecks, who has outstanding treatment and where ER appointments can be fit in, etc. This is not a good time to flip through charts but to come prepared with valuable information to share with each other.

Have your financial coordinator or the office manager report to your office production and collections. Are you on track and what will you do when there is a decrease production? Allow the team to experience bliss when there is an increase in production! What is your plan to celebrate success?

Communication

If you want success treating patients with aesthetic and periodontal disease communication is key. Annually have your patient complete a smile evaluation during the hygiene appointment.

Ask you patient to complete a small intake form about their smile when they check in for their appointment. When the patient is seated in the chair have the hygienist give the patient a mirror, show the patient a shade guide and have the patient pick what shade they believe they are according to the guide. You will soon find out you open doors to aesthetic treatment that patients never would have dreamed about completing.

Use the intraoral camera to document not only restorative concerns but bleeding, heavy calculus and plaque.

Ask yourself these questions: “Did I ask my patient the right kind of questions? “Did I ask questions that only allowed my patient to answer yes or no?” “Did I ask my patient to express their ideas and concerns?” Did you really understand emotions inside of your patient?” 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 any treatment is presented. It is possible that your patient may not be in the right frame of mind to hear your answers to their questions.

Sit down at a team meeting and know what questions you need to be asking patients.

Treatment Planning

Treatment planning for aesthetic dentistry and all preventive treatment concerns 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 their end result and personal benefits for completing treatment recommendations.

Sit down as a team and discover what your patients really want. Have you taken a patients 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 percentages of treatment plans are outstanding? How do you know that patient understand the benefits and why they really need the treatment completed?

When was the last time you assessed your outstanding treatment plans? What is your plan to get those treatment plans completed this year? When was the last time you discussed outstanding treatment and alternative options with those patients?

Get to “YES!”

Of course you want your patients to respond with “YES!” You just need to know what questions to ask them. Listen closely to their answers and what their body language as they are speaking. They are giving you their honesty with many non-verbal clues.

Creating the Plan

Each morning, come prepared to discuss options to hear more patients say “YES!” each day. Monitor your successes and keep track of the outstanding treatment plans. If you find many patients leave the office saying “I need to think about it” or “Let me talk to my husband” let me suggest it is time to look at your verbal skills and make some changes in your communication skills.

We are in the business of changing people’s lives. We really can change each patient’s life just one smile at a time. Imagine the great feeling and rewards you will experience if you can change a smile that your patient has never imagined possible!

Communication, planning, and execution can go a long way when you provide optimal health and excellent aesthetic dentistry. Now we’re talking success!

Debunking the Myths and Sharing Some Tips

By: admin

March 25, 2013

Keeping our patients’ teeth and gums healthy is essential for a beautiful smile. But wait! — did you know that profitability begins with preventive procedures not those reconstructive services?

Common myths

Patients who think getting their teeth cleaned every six months must understand that this is not enough for maintaining healthy teeth and gums And it is not a guarantee for optimal overall health. Many adult patients who schedule only six month hygiene appointments soon find out at some point in life that they will develop periodontal disease. Patients, who skip their dental hygiene appointments trying to save money, are actually costing themselves more money the longer they put off regular dental hygiene appointments. We need to repeatedly communicate to our patients that regular hygiene visits are extremely important for the prevention of diseases; oral diseases as well as systemic. And regular dental hygiene visits will save them money – long term.

Regarding patients teeth, gums and overall health; dental hygienists have an important role of educating patients about nutrition and whole body wellness. Hygienists need to be the ‘go to’ person about overall health when patients return for their hygiene visits.

Patient tips for keeping their teeth white

It takes less than 5 minutes to complete a smile evaluation. This simple evaluation will open many doors for referrals as patients learn ways to make their smile even more beautiful!

Hand your patient a mirror and ask a few questions about their smile. This is a great time to share some simple tips for keeping their teeth white. I mention this because almost all of your patients will tell you they want whiter teeth!

One simple tip to share with your patients is to drink coffee with a straw to avoid coffee stains on the teeth. After they drink coffee or something which is likely to stain their teeth, it is very helpful to have them rinse their mouth (or brush if possible) so that the coffee or staining food does not sit on the teeth and lead to staining. The same goes for teas or dark liquids. After drinking red wine, make sure to have patients brush. Their teeth will stay whiter longer if the stains are removed sooner than later.

Trends in dentistry

Men really are starting to whiten their teeth a lot more in recent years and they are getting smile makeovers almost as much as women. These “makeovers” include whitening, veneers, replacing discolored fillings, implants, etc. In general, women tend to opt for veneers more often than men. Men would rather just bleach their teeth instead of getting veneers, or at least would like to bleach before making the commitment for veneers.

As dental professionals we are changing lives and doing something important to improve the quality of life for our patients and our profession of dentistry. When you give someone a new smile, in many cases it truly changes the way they feel every day.

Periodontal Disease: Treating Patients’ Total Health Includes Supplementation

By: admin

March 5, 2013

Periodontal Disease is the result of an inflammatory response which is the result of an interaction between pathogenic bacteria and the host’s immune response. There is data which supports the fact that nutrition, particularly antioxidants, can influence and halt the onset and progression of periodontal disease, along with provide optimal wound healing.

The current knowledge that we have regarding periodontal disease, its processes involved with the onset and progression of this disease, is far more advanced today than ever before.

One way to provide patient care beyond the operatory is to identify risk factors, predecessors to periodontal disease, vascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and other systemic diseases.

When a patient presents with one risk factor it is highly predicable that the speed of onset, severity and progression of other diseases is very likely to occur.

If we want to provide overall health to our patients and with the opportunity in today’s world, to move beyond the mouth, we must understand the other factors involved with prevention of systemic diseases.

In order to treat overall health we must look at a complete health history which will include family risk factors such as cardiovascular disease, (including stents, by-pass surgeries, valve replacement, congestive heart failure) heart attacks, hypertension, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, obesity, strokes, (TIA and CVA) vascular changes, (or changes later in life involving dementia) rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, and parents who are edentulous, have a history of periodontal disease or bleeding gums. This also needs to be considered a red flag for a patient who includes this in their personal health history.

Think of your patient assessment as having multi-layers during the evaluation process. Patients who are free of disease still need to have their family health history evaluated and as a clinician you need to be aware of any red flags in their oral and overall health. Many patients will not have any signs of periodontal disease but they will have a family history and possibly a personal history of hypertension, high cholesterol, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. Become aware of the comprehensive risk assessment that needs to occur.

In past years we have practiced dentistry based on the “end-stage disease model” which means we do not treat until we know the patient has the manifestation of disease. Today’s dentistry allows us to transition our daily practice into a wellness practice model. Comprehensive assessments and preventive adjuncts are what allow us to care for our patients’ total health.

Today’s dental practice must transition into a patient-centered-wellness model. This will include specifically targeted nutritional supplements for the patient’s home-care regimen. This is not only for patients who present with periodontal disease but this can and should be used as a prevention model. When we combine natural alternatives

(Assessment of carotenoid score and nutrition, micro-nutrient supplementation for prevention) with traditional therapies, we have a strong business model that not only includes another profit center but shows a promise of modifying systemic risk-factors. This is also a cost effective way to potentially reverse the patient’s disease process.

With the introduction of the Biophotonic Scanner, (Pharmanex) which objectively measures patient antioxidant status, non-invasively, (within 90 seconds) this provides the healthcare professional with a proactive risk-monitoring device. This technology appears to provide the dentist with information relevant to early diagnosis and intervention of periodontal disease, which will now lead us to more predictable treatment outcomes. Assessment utilizing the Biophotonic Scanner takes no longer than 90 seconds. This is life-saving technology. A Win-Win for all!

Adding the biophotonic scanner and supplementation for prevention of disease can add a minimum of $50,000.00 US to your Dental Hygiene Department profitability. Use of the biophotonic scanner takes only 90 seconds and anyone in the dental office can communicate about the use of supplementation. After the 1st discussion this becomes routine and usually no more time with patient implementation is necessary. There is no cost to the dental practitioner to lease or purchase a scanner. There is no inventory to be stored in the office.

Dental Practice Solutions and The JP Institute will train your team on this technology at very little to no cost to you.

Please contact Debbie for a complimentary evaluation of your DH Department to see if you qualify for little to no-cost training on this technology.