I would like to share a couple of emails I recently received from two different dentists. These show the difference between a pessimist and an optimist: a pessimist sees the difficulty in an opportunity, and an optimist sees the opportunity in a difficulty. It is amazing to me how, when presented with the exact same opportunity, two dental professionals can have vastly different outcomes in response from patients and in building their practices.
Dentist No. 1 completed the American Academy of Facial Esthetics (AAFE) Botox and dermal filler live-patient training course approximately six months ago. Here is the email Dentist No. 1 sent me:
“Ever since I introduced Botox and fillers into my practice, I am now doing a minimum of six procedures a day, each of which takes me 15 minutes or less. My patients readily accept treatment and love the results, and this has added an additional $20,000 of income per month to my practice. I can’t thank you enough for offering the AAFE Level I course. You were right—my patients were getting these treatments elsewhere and love the convenience of having these treatments done either in conjunction with their hygiene appointments or in my dental practice. It has added new excitement to my team and my practice. Once I learned how to perform these treatments, they were easier than just about anything else I do in my office.”
Now let’s take a look at the email I received from Dentist No. 2, who has had a different experience:
“I do not really do Botox and fillers on a regular basis. I have very few patients in my practice who want Botox. I can’t get anyone to pay for it. I practice in Saturatedville, where people can find a million other places to get Botox and dermal fillers.”
Here’s the interesting thing about these two dentists: Dentist No. 1’s dental practice is approximately one and a half miles from Dentist No. 2’s dental practice. They have the exact same opportunity, serve the exact same upper middle–class patient population, practice in the same suburban location, and yet have had vastly different experiences.
What do you think the differences are between these two dental practices? To put it simply, Dentist No. 1, the optimist, sees only the opportunity, and Dentist No. 2, the pessimist, sees only the difficulty.
Before and after treatment with Botox, dermal fillers, and polydioxanone (PDO) thread lifts
Dentist No. 1 is an optimist who overcame the difficulty of immediately integrating Botox and dermal fillers into the practice and trained the team right away. The excitement in Dentist No. 1’s office is palpable to every single patient walking in the door. Of course, the practice is doing extremely well with these new services—in fact, the practice does well with all of the dental services it provides.
Dentist No. 2 is a pessimist. The office was presented with exactly the same opportunity, but Dentist No. 2 only sees difficulty in integrating these new treatments into the practice. This dentist thinks nobody wants any of the services and that patients are paying for Botox and dermal filler treatments elsewhere. The hard truth is that patients are buying Botox, dermal fillers, and all kinds of other needed and elective services . . . but not at this office.
Dentist No. 2’s office obviously struggles with case acceptance for all of the dental services it provides because patients are not “buying” this doctor and office, not because the practice is surrounded by many other practices and no one wants to pay.
AAFE faculty member David Kimmel, DMD, teaching the finer points of injectable treatment
With more than 10,000 AAFE members who have the optimistic attitude of Dentist No. 1, the last 10 years have shown that dental professionals—when properly trained in both the clinical and practice management aspects of facial injectables, such as Botox, dermal fillers, and PDO thread lifts—can safely deliver these services with excellent treatment outcomes and a high ROI for their practices.
Let 2018 be the year you add Botox and dermal fillers to your practice. Get trained today!
Author’s note: Go to FacialEsthetics.org to sign up for a free monthly e-newsletter or for information about live-patient Botox and dermal fillers training, PDO thread lifts, frontline TMJ and orofacial pain training, bruxism therapy, and dental sleep medicine.
Louis Malcmacher, DDS, MAGD, is a practicing dentist and an internationally known lecturer and author. He is president of the American Academy of Facial Esthetics (AAFE) and serves as a consultant to STATDDS. Contact him at (800) 952-0521 or [email protected].
