So many of my clients desperately want to have more production from their dental practices, but what they do not realize is that the answer is right in the office. You already have a flow of patients every day, every hour in your office. I call the answer “Same Day Dentistry”!
Every patient who comes into your office should get every bit of dentistry that they need done that very day, if they are willing to have it done, and a financial agreement can be made.
Now the doctor has to be energetic and the cheerleader of the team. If it is at all possible for the doctor and staff to do the extra dentistry that day, then it gets done! The doctor does not get to say, “I’m a little tired today, we’ll do it next time..” Even an occlusal filling added to the schedule each and every day will make a huge difference in the productivity of the office. What do you think a crown added to the schedule every day does to the bottom line?
The hygienist should say to her patient once she sees that there is treatment to be done, “If the doctor could do that for you today, would you be willing to stay and get it done today?” If the answer is yes, then she enlists the aid of the assistants and it gets done that day!
Be creative. Some office personnel may need to work through lunch. It may be that the patient needs to wait 30 minutes before that extra treatment is done. The patient can even run an errand and come right back! They will be happy that they do not need to make another appointment.
Now there needs to be something sweet added to your policy for the staff members. One of my clients uses a grab bag. After there are 25 treatments added to the schedule, everyone gets to pick from a bag that has been stocked with paper money in various denominations from $5 to $100. Can you imagine how much fun this is for the staff?
In our practice, there were days that we would come into the office to find a very slow schedule. One of the reasons was that we always did the Same Day Dentistry and it gobbled up the future appointments. Then we would use that day’s hygiene patients and emergency patients to fill that day’s schedule. Believe me, this really works! You will be amazed!!