This subject of this webinar was Hygiene Department Empowerment.

There were hundreds of dental professionals in attendance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ABOUT DEBBIE SEIDEL-BITTKE, RDH, BS

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

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

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

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

Dental Practice Solutions creates:

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

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