Dental hygiene plays a crucial role in maintaining oral health and preventing various dental diseases. Dentists understand the importance of a well-functioning dental hygiene department, as it serves as the foundation for delivering quality dental care to patients. 

However, amidst the daily demands of running a dental practice, dentists face a significant challenge in optimizing the efficiency and productivity of their dental hygiene department. 

In this blog, we will explore this challenge and discuss potential solutions to overcome it.

The Challenge:

One of the major challenges that dentists encounter in managing their dental hygiene department is maintaining a balance between patient care and operational efficiency. Dental hygienists are responsible for performing a range of preventive and therapeutic procedures, including dental cleanings, fluoride treatments, and patient education. 

However, the time-consuming nature of these procedures can lead to scheduling conflicts, prolonged patient wait times, and decreased overall productivity.

Furthermore, dentists often find it challenging to align the workload of their dental hygienists with the number of patients needing dental hygiene services.

*If you are up-to-date with treating oral inflammation, you will need to expand your number of appointments for hygiene patients. How can you fit in more appointments in a day? Hygienists are not plentiful these days and efficiency becomes imperative to meet the needs of treating the high number of gingivitis and perio patients.

Variations in patient flow, cancellations, and no-shows can disrupt the workflow and result in underutilization or overburdening of hygienists’ schedules. This can hinder optimal patient care and compromise the financial stability of your dental practice.

Solutions:

To address the challenges faced by dentists in their dental hygiene department, several strategies can be implemented:

• Efficient Appointment Scheduling: Implementing an efficient appointment scheduling system can help optimize the utilization of dental hygienists’ time. By analyzing patient data and historical patterns, dentists can better anticipate demand and allocate appropriate time slots for dental hygiene procedures. Implementing electronic reminders and confirmations can also reduce no-shows and last-minute cancellations.
  • Ask us  how to simplify analyzing important data and how your team can have an important role in driving the productivity of your dental practice.
  • What you measure, matters, and what matters creates your future success.
  • Your team should look at the numbers just like they view the dashboard in their car before they arrive at the office each day!
• The Celebrity Smiles Club, a patient rewards, loyalty program will reduce those costly last-minute cancellations. Ask us more about this in the link below or schedule a coffee chat below.
• Delegating Tasks: Dentists can delegate certain tasks to dental assistants, allowing dental hygienists to focus on their core responsibilities. 

For example: a dental hygiene assistant can seat patients, perform preliminary patient screenings, take radiographs, set up and breakdown treatment rooms, sterilize instruments and set-up the hygiene trays with instruments, etc. 

By delegating these tasks, dental hygienists can maximize their time spent on direct patient care.

• Technology Integration: The integration of advanced technologies within the dental hygiene department can significantly enhance efficiency.
  • For example: Empower hygienists to use various digital imaging systems; digital scanners, to streamline the process of capturing and introducing abnormalities, potential treatment plans and diagnoses that will be made during the hygiene-patient- doctor exam.  
    • Help patients see what is happening in the mouth. Bring them into a partnership early in the hygiene appointment.
    • Help the doctor with educating the patient and helping them own their disease before the doctor exam begins.

The hygienist has the ability to take annual digital scans and/or an intra-oral video of the patients mouth. Hygienists’ will give the patient a tour of their mouth and show them what is happening in their mouth. 

All data collection and patient communication about potential oral abnormalities should be introduced to each patient by the dental hygienist, and always prior to the hygiene-patient-doctor exam. This saves time with the doctor exam and builds trust with the patient.

The hygienist has a great opportunity to help patients “own their disease.” Patients who see what is happening in their mouth vs. being “told” what they need are 75% more likely to schedule and pay for your care.

“People buy what they want, not what they need.”

• Continuing Education and Training: Encourage ongoing professional development and training for dental hygienists. This is vital to stay updated on the latest advancements in dental hygiene techniques.

Note: There are a lot of new advancements and technologies which will enhance patient care and dental hygiene appointment efficiency. Dentists must support their hygienists to attend workshops, conferences, and online courses so they stay at the forefront of their field.

• Performance Monitoring and Feedback: Regular 360 performance evaluations and feedback sessions can help identify areas for improvement within the dental hygiene department. Dentists should provide constructive feedback, recognize achievements, and set realistic goals to motivate their hygienists and enhance their performance.

Allow the employees to offer their feedback and suggestions for improvement. 360 degree employee evaluations allow employees to be heard. Empower each employee to become a leader in a specific area of the dental practice.

Conclusion:

The dental hygiene department is a critical component of a dental practice. Optimizing the hygiene department efficiency and productivity is an ongoing challenge for dentists.

By implementing efficient appointment scheduling, delegating tasks, integrating technology, investing in continuing education, and providing performance feedback, dentists can overcome many of their challenges and ensure the highest quality of patient care while maintaining a thriving practice. 

Dentists do not need to manage but when they delegate they now inspect, what they expect of their employees. Many employees report that they don’t understand what the dentist expects from them.

Finding the right balance between patient care and operational efficiency in the dental hygiene department is an ongoing journey, but one that is essential for the long-term success and growth of a dental practice.

Dentists and dental hygienists should not feel as if they live on an island. Dental Practice Solutions has various solutions to optimize your hygiene department, streamline systems and grow your dental practice.

Consider a quick coffee chat and discover how you can quickly achieve your next level of success.

Click and schedule here.

Or feel free to contact us here and discover how to upgrade your hygiene department and empower your team.

* Reference. Percent of Adults with Oral Inflammation: https://bit.ly/47percentgumdisease Accessed July 19, 2023.