Dentistry. It’s a lot like your New Year’s resolution to get healthy. You’re looking at the calendar today. Assessing the loss that’s been 2020. Lumping all bad eating habits in until Dec. 31. And marking your calendar for Monday, Jan. 4, as the day to get in shape. You’ll revamp your diet; you’ll hit the gym; you’ll get better rest; and by Feb. 1, you’ll be back on track.
Then Feb. 1 hits. Can you picture it?
After a lost year of COVID-19 lockdowns, vaccines are on board and Valentine’s Day is less than two weeks away. A few weeks later, it’s St. Patrick’s Day. April arrives and it’s someone’s birthday. May is Mother’s Day; June is Father’s Day. Fourth of July hits and we’re half way through 2021.
Where did the time go?
It’s just as easy to play this out and wake up in December isn’t it? The problem is, it’s just as easy to wake up 10 years later with no diet and no dental success stories.
So, I have only two questions for you. Are you willing to let everything you’ve worked so hard for slip away? Or are you ready to be better?
I titled this post “twenty twenty-one day success” because if you’re ready, that’s all you need to focus on. One, same-day dentistry concept and the following four areas of assessment:
1. Convenience
Just like you, your patients had a heck of a 2020. What they need moving forward, more than ever, is you to be convenient. We could talk all day long on why you may want to expand your hours. That said, one of the simplest strategies to be convenient for your patients is to maximize their time. Or simply, get more done during their visit.
- Shift from hygiene re-care only appointments to re-care plus restorative
- Shift from a tooth at a time to quadrant care
- Shift from multi-appointment indirect restorations to same-day CAD/CAM
2. Technology
As you can see, this goes hand-in-hand with convenience. Whether it’s Primescan, TRIOS 4 or Emerald S, your ability to scan and treat in the same day is a must in 2021. New patients are choosing their dental home on your ability to deliver what makes their life easier in 2021.
- Shift from physical impressions to digital
- Shift from scan only to scan and mill as soon as you are proficient
- Shift from the how much am I investing mindset to how much am I losing?
3. Google reviews
There are two take-homes on Google reviews. Number one, your patients are just like you. Before they purchase on Amazon, head to a restaurant, or select a dentist, they are reading reviews. Number two, your patients are assessing the number, the quality and how current those reviews are.
- Shift from your passive approach to targeting two patients per day and asking for a review
- Shift from inconvenience to convenience to make those asks easy
- Shift from chance to choice and measure your success in Eaglesoft
4. Insurance friendly
Our patients see their dental insurance as part of their paycheck. Read that again. Our patients see their dental insurance as part of their job’s compensation package. That means they value it. A lot. You don’t have to participate. You would be wise to happily help your patients get the most out of their packages.
- Shift from the insurance is evil mindset and into an insurance is a mutual win
- Shift from not tracking insurance details, to knowing and tracking every aspect in Eagesolft
- Shift from post-treatment guesswork, to pre-treatment preparation
Work on these four areas like a top 20% will work on their health in 2021 and your practice will be healthier than it’s ever been.
About the author
David R. Rice, DDS, is the founder of the nation’s largest student and new dentist community, igniteDDS. Dr. Rice travels the world speaking and connecting today’s top young dentists with tomorrow’s most successful dental practices. In addition to igniteDDS, Dr. Rice maintains a team-centered restorative and implant practice in East Amherst, N.Y.
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