Roger P. Levin, DDS, MBA
The role of the dental hygienist and hygiene department in building a successful cosmetic dental practice is critical. To achieve a target percentage of elective services a dentist desires to perform, the task of achieving those goals falls largely to the hygienist — the leading patient educator in the practice. The following case study on the hygiene department focuses on increasing the amount of aesthetic dentistry performed in your practice.
Situation analysis
A new Levin Group client had a general practice that was open four days a week. Located in a large Midwestern town, the client had a desire to expand the amount of cosmetic dentistry performed, but was not finding high levels of patient receptivity. After attending several long-term, aesthetic continuing-education programs, the dentist was disappointed in his progress.
Findings
As is often the case, Levin Group found the doctor had increased his clinical expertise, but had not changed the practice in any other way. Although he had mentioned cosmetic options to patients, nothing else had been changed to increase aesthetic case acceptance. Levin Group consultants observed that 87 percent of patients were receiving single-tooth treatment, the hygienist was not discussing aesthetic dentistry or any other type of dentistry with patients, the front-desk staff had no formal education about aesthetic services, and the appearance of the practice was presentable but not necessarily pleasing.
Solutions
Levin Group focused on the dental hygienist as a communicator and champion of aesthetic dentistry. In addition to revising basic systems such as scheduling and finance, she was trained to use scripts to discuss aesthetic dentistry with every patient. The doctor took time to help her understand the wide scope of aesthetic dentistry and treatment options. She was then trained to educate and motivate patients concerning aesthetic services.
A template was created for the schedule, allowing time for aesthetic cases because patients previously had been told they would have to wait three or four weeks to begin treatment. Levin Group believes that a patient who is ready for aesthetic treatment is usually somewhat impulsive and wants to begin as soon as possible. Waiting three or more weeks gives patients too much time to reconsider and drop out of the aesthetic treatment process. Only by leaving time in a schedule and establishing careful monitoring will a practice be able to focus on providing aesthetic services. This dentist had been more concerned about having an open half-hour of time than about redirecting the entire office toward the desired goal.
The front-desk staff members were trained to discuss aesthetic services, because many patients followed through on recommendations they made following a treatment-presentation appointment.
The hygienist was an unusually pleasant and outgoing individual. She immediately adopted a positive orientation toward aesthetic dentistry and became a major proponent of aesthetic care. The hygienist had her teeth whitened, and four veneers were placed on her anterior teeth. After this treatment, she became excited about cosmetic options and participated fully in patient education, motivation, and communication about aesthetic services through subject-specific scripts.
Understanding the schedule allowed her to recommend certain times patients could begin aesthetic treatment. She enjoyed her role of having patients excited about aesthetics, and having the doctor confirm that the recommendations were in the patient's best interests and answer any final questions. The doctor was surprised that, at times, he would enter the hygiene room and hear the patient exclaim, "I'd like to have six of those porcelain veneers just like Sally's."
Results
In the 12 months following the initiation of this program, the practice increased aesthetic gross revenue by $168,000. The dentist is excited that he was using the new skills he acquired through his continuing education and that patients seem highly interested in aesthetic dentistry. His final comment was, "I can't believe the difference. Now that the whole office is focused on aesthetics, patients are actually asking me rather than me asking them."
Roger P. Levin, DDS, MBA, is founder and CEO of Levin Group, Inc., a leading dental-management consulting firm specializing in implementing documented business systems into dental practices. Levin Group is dedicated to improving the lives of dentists through proven dental-practice management and marketing-consulting programs that help practices reach higher levels of success and profitability. Levin Group can be contacted at (888) 973-0000 or at www.levingroup.com.
