Women in Dentistry - Blog

By: Jennifer Turner

When I think back to dental hygiene school, many things pop into my mind but clearly one that does not is learning about the business of dental hygiene. Are you like me and had to figure it out yourself along the way? For years working as a clinical dental hygienist, I was focused on the patient care I was providing, ensuring that I had good clinical skills and really listened to my patients' needs. I had no idea what was really going on in the operatories beside me or what the business needed from me.

There is a perception out there amongst many dental hygienists that metrics and key performance indicators are a bad thing because we are health care providers and are not in the business of selling anything. We do not sell anything but provide options for our patients to be in a healthier state. It surprises me that even today inside many dental practices the business of dental hygiene is not even discussed. I relate this to going on a road trip without your GPS or a map. How would you know where to go if you don’t have the resources and support to get there?

You will often hear me quoting across Canada that “we are in healthcare followed by a business”. Dental hygiene is the foundation of oral health before any comprehensive treatment should be completed by the dentist. How many times has a patient turned to you after the dentist has left the operatory and asked you if they should get the treatment that the dentist just discussed with them? Why, because they trust you. That to me is not selling anything but after building a relationship with your patients, they trust you and value your opinion.

The Business of Dental Hygiene: A Closer Look

The business of dental hygiene should be looked at from a variety of angles. There are so many reasons that you should want to understand the business of dental hygiene, so let’s take a closer look.

Many dental hygienists ask me, how do I ask my boss for a raise? One of the first things that they tell me is how many years they have been working at the dental practice. Although I fully respect loyalty, to me that is only one factor to determine a raise.

Assessing Quality of Care as a Team

As a team, do you know what is taking place in the other dental hygiene operatories? An exercise that I find extremely valuable with dental hygiene teams is to select one week in a month and perform chart audits to assess the quality of care provided, billing for time, record-keeping, unscheduled treatment, and pre-appointing rate. Everyone is busy and is trying their best, but we must see the quality of care from a higher level as a team. This exercise shows factual proof from within your practice without emotion, the health of the dental hygiene portion of the business. It is a wonderful time to celebrate what is working in the practice and assess together if the dental hygienists are meeting the Regulatory guidelines and identifying inconsistencies such as performing periodontal assessments/probing.

Understanding Production and Pre-Appointing Rate

Did you know that on average 30% of dental hygiene production should come from the dental hygiene team? How would you know where you stand if it is never discussed? It is healthy to understand why dental hygiene production matters. I always share that underbilling is bad and overbilling is just as bad. If we treat our patients like we would want to be treated, care for them properly and bill for all services provided we will never have a problem.

Planning and Budgeting for Dental Hygiene Instruments

This is a major industry-wide miss in my eyes. I have heard dental hygienists ask for thousands of dollars of instruments on a Friday and hope they will arrive on Tuesday. If you want to set the dental hygiene team up for success, then you need to plan. I often share with dental hygiene teams, set out at the end of a year in December what you will need for the next calendar year. In business, we work within four quarters of the year. Decide what you need then divide it into four quarters or buckets. Set yourself and the practice up for success to purchase what you need to provide optimal patient care throughout the next year.

The Importance of Pre-Appointing

Pre-appointing or pre-booking rate is critical to help keep patients focused, cared for, and on track with the recommendations that the dental hygienist provided during their dental hygiene appointment. If you do not book the patient back, do you know when the administration team might call them to come in? The industry standard goal is 90% for a pre-appointment rate?

Celebrating Patient Retention

Patient retention is a large portion of any practice. When you have a list of patients that come to the practice because they want to see you and only you because of the quality of care you provide this should be celebrated. One way to improve patient retention is to recommend systems that work. It can be as simple as recommending the latest stannous fluoride or an oscillating rotating brush.

Monitoring Reviews and Case Acceptance Rate

Think about the last time you went to a new restaurant or planned a vacation. If you are like me, you went straight to Google or an online review site to assess the reviews. Does your office manager share monthly the great reviews that have come in about the team and/or the reviews that can be used as a teaching tool for the team? If you don’t know what is being said about you how can you learn and grow?

Clinical conversations to elevate a patient’s knowledge and understanding of their oral health is very important in them moving forward with proposed treatment. The more a patient understands, sees with digital technology, intra oral camera pictures or even a clean hand mirror the better the treatment acceptance rate is. Have you ever asked what your case acceptance rate is or how it is tracked?

Measure What Matters

Everything that we do as a dental hygienist must be focused on providing optimal patient care. To set yourself and the business of dental hygiene up for success, we should always measure what matters.

Key Takeaways:

• Review and know your numbers within your office.
• Book your patient's next hygiene appointment and ask for reviews.
• Understand your office budget and plan out the items you will need over the next year (e.g., new cavitron tips, a laser, hand instruments, etc.).
• If we treat our patients like we would want to be treated, care for them properly, and bill for all services provided, it is a win-win.
• Provide your patients with products and systems that will improve their oral health and your office retention.