Discover the equilateral triangle for dental practice success

Are you stuck in the limiting cycle of pushing to increase patients, volume, procedures, and more? If so, you are significantly diminishing returns. Yes, your numbers increase, but at the same time, the value of each appointment decreases. This leads to exhaustion, frustration, and a ceiling you can’t seem to break through, which is widespread in the dental industry.¹

This is a big trap, but it’s possible to escape.

The secret to exiting this demeaning cycle is to shift from transactional care to transformational care. Here, you have fewer patients and fewer visits, but increased value. This is the formula for growing a profitable practice while gaining the freedom and fulfillment you want and deserve.

Begin with leverage.

If you’re like most dental practices, you measure success by how many patients you see, the number of procedures you complete, how full your schedule is, and other volume metrics. But volume creates diminishing returns. You increase appointments, but the value of each shrinks, and you end up spending more energy, time, and resources while getting less in return.

Change this model. Focus on delivering more value in fewer visits instead.

This means you offer comprehensive care, bundle treatments, and create long-term health plans for your patients. You can have fewer patients and appointments, and every appointment turns into an opportunity to maximize outcomes and profitability for your practice. This is how you create more value and enhance the patient experience, free up your time, and grow profits simultaneously.

But it’s not just about seeing fewer patients …

You also need to review your existing schedule and create multiple streams of opportunity within it.

Every time you have a patient interaction, you have the opportunity to expand your impact:

1. Expand treatment.
   How can you expand and enhance care? How can you take each patient a step further? Are there additional health goals or procedures you can address? When you focus on comprehensive diagnoses and treatment planning, you open the door to more impactful, higher-value care.
2. Create a continuum of health.
   Look beyond one-time visits and create long-term plans for your patients instead. Keep them engaged and invested in their care with a pathway to their optimal health.
3. Reactivate.
   How many patients do you let slip through the cracks? In your morning huddle, identify opportunities to reactivate patients who you haven’t seen for a while. A simple reminder may be all it takes to bring them back into the fold.
4. Get referrals.
   Do you have a referral process in place? When you deliver exceptional care and maintain strong relationships, every one of your patients is a potential advocate. Make it as easy as possible for them to refer their family and friends to you.
5. Retain.
   Make an effort to keep your current patients. Build trust, communication, and consistent experiences to create loyal patients. If you have strong relationships, your patients will be more likely to stay with your practice long-term.

This change in mindset will help you see every day as a rising tide of opportunity. Instead of running through the motions of transactional care and just filling your schedule, you optimize every moment for maximum impact.

It’s a triple win when you align the dentistry, team, and patient experience.

Your practice can only thrive when you are not in isolation. Alignment between your dentistry, team, and patient experience are critical.

It’s what I call the equilateral triangle of success system where every part of your practice supports and enhances the others. Specifically:

1. The dentistry
   What type of dentistry do you want to do, what procedures energize you and what outcomes are you passionate about delivering? Design your practice around what fulfills you and generates the highest value for your patients.
2. The team
   Don’t forget that your team is the power behind your practice. Every member must be aligned with your goals and vision, so clear communication, intentional training, and a shared focus on delivering exceptional care is critical.
3. The patient experience
   Look carefully at every patient interaction you have. Every call, visit, and follow-up needs to reflect your commitment to comprehensive, relationship-based care. Ensure that your processes deliver value, build trust, and create a seamless, personalized experience.

These three elements create a triple win when they are in sync. This is because you do the work you love, your team thrives in a supportive and efficient environment, and patients receive excellent care that exceeds their expectations.

Start with education and visualization to create a high-value practice.

Visualize the success of the day ahead at each morning huddle. Look for key opportunities, which patients have untapped potential for expanded care, and how you can turn today’s schedule into a rising tide of value.

You’re not just preparing for appointments—you’re creating a mindset of success with education and visualization as the foundation of growth. Help your team understand goals, see possibilities, and feel invested in the outcomes, and they’ll become active participants in building the practice you envision.

Also educate patients. Remember, value isn’t just about the procedure; it’s about the vision. Patients do not invest in visits. They invest in outcomes. Help them see their health in a bigger picture and the long-term benefits of comprehensive care. Then, they’ll be more likely to commit to treatment plans that will truly make a difference.

Avoid addition and play with multiplication instead.

Most practices fall short because they play with addition instead of multiplication. You may seem like you’re growing when you add more patients, appointments, and volume, but this is not sustainable.

You break through this ceiling with multiplication:

1. Bundle treatments by combining related procedures into single appointments to save time and deliver more value in each visit.
2. Maximize outcomes and focus on treatments that provide significant, lasting benefits for patients and build loyalty, trust, and profitability.
3. Spend more time investing in preparation and engineering your schedule to ensure every day is optimized for maximum efficiency and impact.
4. Expand value and vision by helping patients see the long-term benefits of comprehensive care, and show them the value of the outcome, not just the visit.

By making the mindset shift to multiplication, you’re no longer limited by the constraints of a traditional schedule, and you build a practice that grows exponentially.

Start the path to a thriving practice. Make the simple decision to think bigger.

Instead of settling for transactional care and chasing volume, focus on building a practice that delivers more value in less time for you, your team, and your patients. It’s not about doing more; it’s about doing better. By aligning your dentistry, team, and patient experience, you create a system where everything works together to produce incredible results. Education and visualization lay the foundation for growth, and multiplying value instead of adding volume unlocks the true potential of your practice.

It’s time to break free from the limits of traditional dentistry. Think bigger, do better, and create the practice you’ve always dreamed of having today.

Learn more via Scott’s FREE on-demand webinar here, The New Era of Private Practice Dentistry.

Editor's note: This article originally appeared in DE Weekend, the newsletter that will elevate your Sunday mornings with practical and innovative practice management and clinical content from experts across the field. Subscribe here.

Reference

1. Maragliano P. DE's Business Lab: Has burnout reached pandemic proportions? Dental Economics. October 7, 2022. https://www.dentaleconomics.com/macro-op-ed/op-ed/video/14283959/des-business-lab-has-burnout-reached-pandemic-proportions