One of our clients lives in a small town along the coast of Oregon. Small town life style but big time dental practice. It has been a thrill to watch this practice thrive!
The dental team has now been with the practice for 3 years and the patients continue to grow in numbers each month. How can it be that a community of fewer than 20,000 people can generate close to 2,000 active patients? And the revenues – they continue to grow along with the patient numbers. The 2,000 patients mentioned are a true active count because we have counted utilizing the formula we learned from New Patients, Inc.
The philosophy of guiding a dental office is to work smart and not so hard. As a full-service consulting business focused on driving the profits in the hygiene room we know what it means to thrive in the business of dentistry. We are there working on the practice – – with the team and no one person works solely in the practice.
What may be different about this practice is that we guided them to take away the “drill and fill“and choose not to just extract teeth. The focus here and the paradigm shift in the dental profession is now about prevention. We have also shown our clients that they need to specialize in things no one else specializes in.
Every dental practice needs to have a special proven practice methodology and not just a cookie cutter approach to how they treat their patients. We are here to guide our clients and find out what works best for them and what makes them most profitable.
The assessments with our Oregon Coastal Client allowed us to pick special ingredients for the perfect recipe to increase the revenue. This allows for success to occur quickly and see their practice thrive!
If you understand that the hygiene department is the foundation of each and every dental practice you can step forward with the 4 step process we recommend at Dental Practice Solutions. The 4 steps are the same but how they are utilized specifically in each practice is what varies and allows each dental practice to live their own special successes.
Many dentists we talk to ask us “How are you going to make hygiene profitable?” When you are able to put preventive assessments into place and stimulate the communication process to get a “Yes” from patients you will see your hygiene department contribute to at least 40% of the total practice production.
No matter where you practice in the nation you will find that when you treat 100 of your current patients with non-surgical periodontal treatment this year and they receive treatment utilizing the locally applied antimicrobials in the areas which are 5mm’s or greater your revenue will increase by approximately $120,000.00. You may feel it is difficult to wrap your head around this but we have never stepped foot into a dental office and not found 100 patients in the active patient base who didn’t need non-surgical periodontal treatment. How can a hygiene department average this much? The answer to this that when we communicate prevention properly and patients are able to understand your important information; they will sit up, listen and take action. Action means that they will say “yes” to treatment.
The recipe we put together for this Oregon Coastal Dental Office is one example of how this can work for your practice when you learn the simple steps and how they specifically work with your team and your patients to make a “win-win”.
When the team and doctor are open to learning communication skills with their patients and how to communicate to each patients communication style; patients understand their needs and the value added.
People will buy what they want not just want they need. When patients began to understand about the importance of their oral health and how this plays a role in living a longer and healthier life they will do what is necessary to live a healthier life. Patients who are at moderate to extremely high risk for caries now need to be seen every 12 weeks for oral hygiene instructions, review of oral homecare, biofilm or salivary assessments and a fluoride varnish treatment. This can be done by the dental assistant and takes no more than 30 minutes. When you provide this valuable service it can be completed in a consultation room and the CDT7 codes support this preventive treatment. When you understand that non-surgical periodontal treatment can increase your revenues by $120,000 you will now add this preventive treatment worth $15,000.00 to the annual revenues.
Great results still continue to come from this new CAMBRA* model for treatment of moderate to high and excessively high risk for decay. The benefit to risk value? A lot less money spent in the dental office on restorative treatment and missed work. Now it is $30.00 for the quick visit to prevent caries which includes a fluoride varnish treatment, etc. The periodontal patient comes in every 12 weeks and some who have isolated areas of more aggressive periodontal disease come in sooner.
The success of your dental practice and increased revenues will come with just a few of these ingredients added for a recipe of success.
Your daily practice needs to remain stress-free for the dentist the team. If you have the correct team (one important ingredient) then all you need to do is empower and train them. Appreciation for them is always graciously accepted as well. These are two of the ingredients for a recipe of success. Talking about providing preventive treatments can not only provide you with a smart treatment and business model but your patients will receive improved overall health and added value. Preventing disease is an important role and something to feel proud of. You will love what you do at the end of the day.
Next week we will write to you about a secret to increase your revenue another $60,000.00. Stay tune!
The team at Dental Practice Solutions
* Caries Management by Risk Assessment