Chairside Chats

Dental CoPilot here! Ok, let's get awkward and talk about money!  Why does the mere mention of money bring up anxiety for so many people?  Money is merely a tangible exchange of services.  You scratch my back I scratch yours.  Simple as that.  We value something we exchange something we value to receive it.  Its not scary!  But as I visit your offices and watch team members awkwardly trying to collect money I have come to realize that many of our team members don't understand what money is and how to ask for it. Let me give an example.  I was recently in an office the patient had just been brought to the front desk to "check out".   The team member hands  the completed treatment plan to the patient and says, "Wow! That's a lot of money!  Let me go see if he can give you a discount."   The patient hadn't made a comment or showed any concern.  The patient was an older well dressed woman.  She smiles tells the...

Does your dental team understand the law and how it applies to their job?  Before you assume they do- read on.   I overheard a conversation in an office yesterday that really shocked me, and I'm not easy to shock! The dentist was out of the office and after we finished our training the team members were discussing a patient they had seen earlier in the week.  The patient had a lot of dental issues and many of his teeth were in trouble. The dentist had done a full exam and had recommended full extractions and upper and lower dentures. The patient called that morning asking if he could just have the few teeth that were hurting extracted. He wasn't ready to move forward with the full treatment plan. The hygienist was complaining about the doctors treatment plan. In her opinion (based on a few years experience) he was over diagnosing and some of the patient's teeth were save able.  She had checked the bone health and felt the pockets around the ...

There is a popular add that shows what we smell and then what others around us smell. It highlights odors people have gone "nose blind"to. I like this idea of asking what we see vs what others around us see.   When it comes to our dental offices, what have we gone"dental blind to"? Not long ago I walked into a dental office that got me to thinking about first impressions and what it is that our offices are saying about us.  Upon entering I noticed right away that the patient waiting room was in need of straightening up.  Magazines were tossed here and there and most were several months old. There were some bits of paper on the floor and a candy wrapper underneath one of the chairs.  The disarray only eventuated the dull outdated look to the room.  Even the art hanging on the wall looked old and dusty. I hoped their wait times in this room were short! The receptionist's desk was also in desperate need of organizing. There were piles of charts, an explosion ...

I can honestly say I was never going to be a person who wrote a blog.  But lately I've realized that I'm in a unique position that allows me to share my experiences and insights with other dental professionals that don't have the opportunities I do.  And I'm thinking this may be the best medium available. What's my unique position? I'm in a new dental office almost every day. What does that have to do with you? Early on in my career, the dentist I worked for (more about his amazing influence on my life later) wanted to update his office.  He was looking for a new look and better ways to serve his patients.  Time was one thing he didn't have. so he sent me out to observe 4 or 5 of what he considered to be the best offices in our valley.  You would think that it would pose some kind of conflict of interest, however the dentists who owned these offices were excited to share and were honored that we would ask. I spent many hours with a notebook in hand, obs...