Australasian Dentist Issue 89

Category 118 AustrAlAsiAn Dentist D ear Dr Toni, You seem to have a lot to say about how to be nice to patients and staff. Here’s a different question for you: how do I make more money? Dr LN, Tas. i love this question! Here’s the reality: dental practices are private businesses that do need to make money. You’re not charities, you’re not government-funded, you’re not hospitals or universities. But i also understand that it can be hard to admit that making money is important. Because of public perception that we’re all driving Porsches and going on cruises, we often over-compensate by being too nice, diagnosing too safely, and giving away dentistry (discounting). While we’re doing that, our team request pay increases, government regulations cost us more, and our suppliers increase prices all the time. so you can embrace making money, while also giving excellent patient outcomes, and wins for the team as well. How about seeking a model of dentistry that is about “abundance for all”? if that is your mindset, then develop a vision that’s consistent with that, and make sure that all your decisions are made consistent with the vision. From a practical point of view, you then need to develop an annual plan that budgets for all the abundance you want. Make smart decisions about the shiny toys that have a strong return on investment, and budget for them. Make sure that you budget for sufficient well-trained staff that they can help you create excellent patient outcomes; skimping on staffing is just as bad an idea as being overstaffed. Budget for a pay increase for yourself, too! From there, you need systems in place to support creating that abundance. For example, you need to have your appointment book structured so that you have space for high-value patients. You need to have your front office coordinators capable of converting potential leads on the phone. You need to have comprehensive exams. You need to effectively manage emergencies so that they don’t mess up the appointment book, and so that patients are trained to think comprehensively. You also need to do marketing that attracts patients who are both willing and able to have comprehensive dentistry. in other words, your marketing should target patients who need work, and who can be motivated to say “yes” to treatment. that also means exceptional customer service, so that your patients love coming to you and refer other good patients. no single element of this will work on its own; all the elements fit together to create the financial outcomes you seek. Contact me to find out more about how we can help. D ear Dr Toni, Help! I’ve got quite a few associates and some are older than me, and some are quite newly qualified. I want everyone to just do good dentistry but I keep finding that not everyone is doing things the way I want them to. How do I get the older ones in line and also make sure the younger ones aren’t learning bad habits from them? Dr JJ, ACT. this can be tough! it can be hard to approach more experienced dentists and get them into alignment with your treatment philosophy. My first bit of advice is to be clear in your own mind that this is YOur practice, so you need to learn to be comfortable with that. You’re the one who’s invested the time and money into the practice, you’re the one who’s taking on the stress, and you’re the one who’s taking on the risk. it’s your practice’s reputation that’s important in the long run, so you get to establish the treatment philosophy. the second thing to consider is this: what exactly does it mean to you when i talk about treatment philosophy? For example, what does it mean to you to treat comprehensively? Dentistry is not Q&A with Dr Toni Surace Best praCtICes Q&a It’s always best practice to develop business skills, systems, techniques and industry knowledge that could impact your practice. BEST PRACTICES Q&A is a forum allowing you to ask the tough questions to Australasian Dentist columnist Dr Toni Surace. Dr Toni Surace BDSC (Melb) Managing Director, Momentum Management Mentor, coach and international presenter. an exact science, so you need to work out what are the types of treatment plans that your dentists can have some leeway on, and what are the ones that you’re going to demand get handled a particular way. Once you have a clear philosophy and a business owner’s mindset, you need to create structures that allow you to act on them. initially this will take time out of your book, but it’s going to end up more productive overall than avoiding taking action. You also need to ask yourself: are you confident that all your dentists are good enough clinically that they can meet your standards? if not, you will have to move them on, or ask them to get more clinical training. Assuming that they’re clinically capable of meeting your standards, i suggest meeting with the older ones individually. this may be uncomfortable, but sometimes that’s the reality of practice ownership. let them know how much you appreciate the good things they bring to the practice (and be specific). then say something like “it’s precisely because of the good things you do that i want to be on the same page about everything else we offer the patients. i’ve noticed that there are a few things that you do differently fromme, and i want to get some agreement about how to have standards more consistent in the practice.” i can’t script the whole conversation with you here, but you can contact me if you need help. As for the younger dentists, you can meet with them individually or as a small group. At random, pull a couple of their charts to bring for discussion. set this up with them as mentoring, training and support and create an environment that feels collegial rather than punitive. Bring a case or two of your own that you’d like their input on, partly to see how they think and partly to encourage mutual feedback. introduce any clinical guidelines you’ve developed, and explain it in a way that the guidelines feel supportive rather than punitive. For example, you might BEST PRACTICES 4 “ “