Howard Speaks by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD

It seems that almost every dentist, physician, chiropractor and politician thinks the main reason people don’t get healthcare is because they can’t afford it. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDCP) has been doing serious research for years that proves otherwise. According to the CDCP, the two most common reasons 56,399 people gave for not having a dental visit in the past year were:

1) 44.6%—Perceived they did not have a problem
2) 26.6%—Was cost1

The two most common reasons edentate adults (no teeth) cited for not going to a dentist in the last year:

1) 89.5%—Perceived they did not have a problem
2) 2.5%—Claimed cost was the barrier1

One of the most important tenants of management is if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Knowledge isn’t power until YOU implement it! Let’s measure something in your office, today!

The first thing I want you to measure...
Have your receptionist ask every patient coming in for a hygiene recare visit if they had any dental treatment diagnosed at their last appointment. I love it when dentists tell me they don’t need an intraoral camera in each room! You will find what the CDCP discovered, in your own office. Roughly 44.6%, which is two out of every five patients, tell you that at their last visit, they were okay! “The doctor said I looked fine,” says the patient while you are looking at the chart where it clearly says the patient was diagnosed with a MO flossing filling on #3 and a DO flossing filling on #4.

It’s not what you say, but what the patient hears. It’s not what the patient hears, but how they filter everything you say. A picture is worth a thousand words, so take an intraoral picture and print it out! Better yet, take a red felt pen and draw on the picture. In my practice, intraoral cameras are considered standard operating equipment in each of our eight treatment rooms. If you don’t have an intraoral camera in each treatment room waiting to go, then it doesn’t get used. It becomes too big of an effort to go and get the camera, set it up, and turn it on. The next thing you know, you’re not using it and your patients don’t remember six months later that you recommended they needed dental treatment.

Intraoral cameras increase value!
Value is defined by three parameters: Best Price, Best Product, and Best Service. Best price is the most dangerous, indefensible business strategy any business, dental office, can adopt. What better way to show your best product, than occasionally stopping during a procedure and explaining to your patient, with an intraoral camera, exactly what you are doing and why! After all, ‘Doctor’ (dök’ ter) noun, comes from the Latin word Docére meaning to teach. So the best doctors are really the best teachers! So pick up that intraoral camera and start teaching.

Your hygienist should be your best teacher! It is not practical to have your hygienists share an intraoral camera. Gordon Christensen, DDS, says that if a patient sees and understands what’s happening, they will want dental treatment. If the patient can’t see it, then the communication is all verbal, and you haven’t established rapport with them. Imtiaz Manji says that in the old “Want and Need” syndrome, people will find money to buy what they want without addressing their needs because they see value in what they want. The dental practice that truly succeeds is the one that creates a high need and a high want.

Read the book Selling The Invisible: A Field Guide To Modern Marketing, by Harry Beckwith. In this book, Harry explains why the maid places the slip over the toilet lid. You were not there when the maid cleaned the bathroom. The little paper slip is to remind you of the invisible service that took place. Why does the maid place that little cardboard lid over your glass? Because you were not there when the maid cleaned the glass. The little cardboard lid is to remind you of the invisible service that took place. Almost everything we do in dentistry is invisible to the patient. So intraoral cameras can sell the invisible.

The second thing I want you to measure…
Have your receptionist count exactly how many patients checking out are still asking dental questions. The average receptionist tells me that over 90% of all patients checking out are still asking dental questions. Meanwhile, the dentist is telling me that he or she explains everything perfectly. So, measure it! When your very own receptionist tells you at the end of the week, that in your very own office 90% of your patients are still asking dental questions when they check out, maybe then, just maybe, you will break down and buy an intraoral camera or start using the one you already have!

On the message boards at DentalTown.com Townie, Rodger Kurthy, DDS, says, “An intraoral camera is probably the one investment that has given me more return than any I’ve ever made. Just think of it. You have a built-in, non-biased second opinion on your video monitor that your patient can see. Seeing is believing.” DT