To be maximally productive, a dentist must have properly trained staff members to help produce the treatment and enough of them!
Here is how to calculate how many staff members you need: For each room that you want to use, you must have either a chairside assistant, a dental hygienist or a hygiene assistant. A doctor really needs to be scheduled in two chairs, generally alternating the patients between the two chairs. Each of the assistants should be responsible for a particular treatment room. They should be prepared to see the patients who are scheduled to be in that room. The room must be immaculately clean and completely stocked at all times.
The assistant needs to know how to do treatments that the doctor does not have to do. This could include taking an x-ray, scanning an area of the patient’s mouth or removing cement after a crown is seated. When the doctor is checking hygiene, or working on a patient in the other treatment room, the assistant for that room should be doing treatment, visiting with the patient and also teaching the patient about the treatment that they are having that day or in the future.
The dentist just cannot be maximally productive without these staff members.
The hygienist is maximally productive if a hygiene assistant is used. Patients should be scheduled in two rooms with their starting times staggered. The hygienist is generally not in the room with the hygiene assistant, except when they are charting together. The hygiene assistant should do everything that the hygienist does not have to do. These tasks include taking x-rays, providing oral hygiene instruction, and making the next checkup appointment.
In addition, every hour that the office is open, there should be a hygienist present. You might think that it is expensive to pay all these staff members, but the doctor’s time is incredibly valuable in the practice. Utilizing staff in this manner, definitely contributes to the success of the practice!!