When patients leave your chair, do you wonder when – or if – they’ll be back? With estimates that most general dental practices have an average recall time of 11 months, a new patient retention rate of 40% and an average of $1 million in unscheduled treatment plans, you’re not alone.
Making a strong connection: Dental office front desk best practices
Excellent dental patient communication relies equally on skilled front desk staff and streamlined operations. RevenueWell shares some front desk practices when handling patient communication over the phone or in-person for your dental practice.
5 in-office communication tips for happier patients
The folks at Solutionreach have put together five tips and best practices to help ensure your patients not only get great patient engagement leading up to and after their appointment, but during the in-office visit as well.
Calming techniques for pediatric dental patients
Despite your best efforts, some children may still develop a fear of the dentist. Here are some practical techniques for keeping children calm and engaged during the dental visit.
9 Tips for Creating a Patient-Centered Schedule
The patient schedule is a focal point when creating and managing a patient-centered practice. If you want to create a strong, productive patient base that understands the urgency and value of their appointment, consider these nine tips when creating your patient-centered schedule.
How One Dental Office Adopted Solutionreach Just in Time for COVID-19
One of the challenges the pandemic posed was increased cancellations due to illness or exposure to COVID-19. Solutionreach allowed for a fluid schedule the practice needed. Electronic intake forms, patient text messages and remote access all worked together to keep the practice running smoothly.
The Key Hire Every Productive Dental Office Needs To Make in 2021
If you ask any dentist about the biggest problem they have in running their practice, invariably the answer will point, in one way or another, to staffing issues. But new hires is not always the best solution. Automating tasks like processing new patient information, triaging after-hours emergencies, medical prescreening, and curbside check-ins relieve your overburdened team members to be able to do what they do best; take care of patients.
How No-Shows Become Lost Patients
Patients become no-shows for a variety of reasons, and the impact that has on a dental practice is well documented. Finances, fear, forgetfulness, transportation and last-minute issues can all lead to a no-show. But there is another side to the no-show issue that is important to recognize: a no-show patient may be looking to receive care from somewhere else.
7 Ways to Increase Dental Office Productivity
Finding new ways to increase dental office productivity can improve the agility of your staff, boost the patient experience and help you bring in new patients. Improvement in any of these areas can help increase revenue in the process.
Tech Insights: 3 Winning Technologies for Dentists During COVID-19
Dental practices that have seen continued growth throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have largely relied on technology. Some have put current technologies to newfound use, while others have invested in new dental technology to bring in extra revenue. Continue reading for three technologies dentists have relied on to keep schedules full and revenues up during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How One Dental Practice Found Success with Teledentistry Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic
Michael Cruz and Dee Dee Meevasin, DMD, were running critical business operations at full sprint when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Las Vegas, threatening to stop them in their tracks. The technology-forward dental practice found ways to remain operational when faced with taking emergency appointments only. Teledentistry from OperaDDS allowed for virtual consults, triaging and as a general screening and communication tool.
3 Steps to Create a Positive Patient Experience in the “New Normal”
Keeping patients updated with paperwork, reminders for their appointments and a list of what to expect when they get to the office will help ensure they keep their appointment. Here are three steps to create a positive patient experience and help make sure your schedule stays full and breaking appointments is a rarity.
Patient Messaging During COVID-19: Digital Communication Tools from Solutionreach
As part of its webinar series on supporting a new digital patient journey, Solutionreach recently shared some of the key areas of focus when communicating with patients during COVID-19. As patients look for a variety of up-to-date information, their healthcare provider could likely be their best source of trusted information.
Provide a Touch-Free Patient Experience with OperaDDS
Social distancing massively effects the dental industry, forcing us to change what our standard procedures are. In this new reality, we can’t just go paperless, we must go touchless. Continue reading for steps dental practices can take to provide a touch-free dental experience.
How to Construct a Curbside Waiting Room
Curbside waiting rooms and curbside check-in have become a necessity for dental practices. The experts at RevenueWell share how to successfully communicate, and create, this new reality to patients.
A New Normal in Dentistry: The Touch-Free Patient Experience
As dental offices re-open and face the challenges created by COVID-19, how can a practice maintain the patient experience that patients have come to expect yet create reduced contact points within the practice? Ann-Marie DePalma, RDH, shares several ways to create a touchless patient experience.
The Road to Reopening: One Dental Practice’s Path to Safely Getting Back to Business
When Melissa Brown, DDS, founded Murray Hill Family Dental, she worked hard to prepare for many different business situations. But needing to close and reopen her practices due to a global pandemic isn’t one she could have imagined. Along with her husband, Troy Walton, director of business operations, they have built a loyal customer following and are an active and important part of their community.
3 Ways to Assure Your Dental Practice Comes Back Stronger than Ever
With most dental practices in the U.S. open for emergency care only, it can be easy to stress about the future of your practice. Amid the uncertainty, it’s important to remain optimistic and think of ways to turn the negatives into a positive. Imtiaz Manji, the co-founder and chairman of Spear Education, recently shared his ideas on how to navigate the coronavirus crisis and how dental practices can use this tough situation to improve their business and come back stronger.
The Modern Dental Office: 3 Things to Expect When Going Paperless
As the world moves toward digital operations, it’s time to start considering what life in paperless dental offices will look like. Be it electronic forms or a patient portal, dental practices are finding more ways to engage with patients, sans-paper.
Could Your Dental Practice Benefit from Scent Branding?
Complimentary beverages, relaxing playlists and new patient office tours are all easy ways to improve patient comfort. But what about scent branding? Tapping into the sense of smell can elevate the quality of an interaction and the possibility of creating a loyal patient.
Patient Communications: Say the Right Thing More Often
Whether right before patients come in for an appointment, while in the waiting room, when they’re in the chair, just after their appointment or in between visits, you should always be communicating.
How to Automate Patient Engagement
Patients who are engaged with their providers value dentistry more and are more willing to commit to case acceptance. With engagement and education, patients begin to see the importance of oral health. Here are a few tools for improving patient engagement.
Camp Little Tooth: Combining a Passion for Pediatric Oral Health and the Outdoors
Campers instead of patients, canoes instead of exam chairs, a treehouse instead of a waiting room, and counselors instead of staff. Dr. Raelene Fulford combined her passion for pediatric dentistry with her love of the outdoors to create a one-of-a-kind dentist office.
3 Ways to Take Your Team Off Autopilot
How many times did you step on your breaks this morning on your way into work? Did you put laundry soap in the wash load? Close the garage door? When...
8 Ways to Infuse Your Practice With Summer Vibes
The days are long, the sun is hot, ice cream tastes extra delicious, and outdoor concert season is in full swing. There's no denying it: we're in the heart of...
![10 Ways to Celebrate Lips Appreciation Day [+Free Printable]](https://www.offthecusp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/feature-634x288.jpg)
10 Ways to Celebrate Lips Appreciation Day [+Free Printable]
Lips: Whether they're thick, thin, pouty, or plump, we've all got 'em - and thank goodness we do! They help us speak, emote, eat, drink, and they have the all-important...
![8 punny dental valentines [free printable]](https://www.offthecusp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/8-punny-dental-valentines-offthecusp.png)
8 punny dental valentines [free printable]
We’ve put together 8 free, printable, dental-themed valentines that feature the universal language of love…PUNS! Surprise your patients and coworkers with one of these fun cards.
8 Ways to Make Your Practice More Comfortable
When new patients visit your practice for the first time, they come with a unique set of experiences that may or may not include feeling at ease around doctors and...
12 of the Coolest Dental Offices in the Country
Everyone is familiar with the idiom, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Well, you can think of your dental practice's office design in much the same way. If your patients...
8 Ways To Score An A+ In Oral Hygiene This School Year
The beginning of a new school year can get crazy, as your lazy summer mornings turn into mad dashes to the bus stop. In the hustle and bustle of back...