By: Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD, Publisher, DentalTown Magazine

My very good friend Willie Wyatt, DDS from Texas sent me a book a long time ago called The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. This was one of the best books I have ever read. This book completely explained what was happening at Dentaltown.com.

The Tipping Point explained how word-of-mouth recommendations and trends get started and grow. Gladwell says word-of-mouth referrals spread due to three factors. Not all dentists are equally important in launching a new trendy product. Rather, there are a few key dentists called connectors who tend to be very social and outgoing. These connectors already have diverse social networks and have a significant ability to spread information, trends, and products. Dental magazines and websites grow when they are adopted by connectors. Can you name the top dentist connectors on Dentaltown? Karl Lienfelder, John Kanca, Bill Strupp, Fred Barnett, Barry Musikant, Rod Kurthy, Michael DiTolla, Graeme Milicich, Geoffrey Knight and many more.

Mavens are another type of dentist involved in spreading a trend. Mavens are dentist who love to help other dentists. They take a particular interest in evaluating the quality of products or ideas. Because they are so well-informed about dental science and technology, mavens are often the first to promote quality dental products. Mavens are the early adopters of hot trendy new dental technology. Often some maven or connector must modify something to make it more acceptable to the larger population. Can you name the top dentist mavens on Dentaltown? Marshall White, Michael Melkers, Sameer Puri, Tarun Agarwal, Mike Barr, David Kimmel, Peter Balle, Thom Caspers, Mike Esposito, Robert Henkel, Mac Lee, Julio Maya, Scott Perkins, Dan Quevedo, Glenn Van As, Jerome Smith, Chaim Wexler, and many, many more!

With connectors and mavens in place, the next ingredient for a new dental product to take off is for the message to be memorable or sticky. Some messages don't stick in the minds of dentists while other messages do. The best way to create a sticky message is to test the message. Gladwell discusses children's TV shows Sesame Street, which like Dentaltown, were designed from the start to be sticky.

Educators tested two skits designed to help children read. Both involved having children read the word “hug.” How did Sesame Street producers know which skit was better? Eye movement photography measurements. The producers strapped little kids into chairs and photographed what part of the television screen they were watching. The key is to measure. The Townie Choice Awards measure which products 1000s and 1000s of dentists use. And we do this without strapping dentists to A-dec chairs!

Market share information is important in dentistry because dentists do not make fast decisions. Dentists epitomize paralysis from analysis. Dentists take forever to make a single decision. So if several thousand dentists have slowly and meticulously made an analytical decision to use a certain bonding agent or luting cement, that decision is very good. You only have to look at who won the 2003 Townie Choice Awards and you can automatically see how brilliant the majority of dentists are. The results of the award survey can be found on www.Dentaltown.com.

We also measure our self-creating content from the message boards at www.Dentaltown.com. We measure what the dentists are asking, answering, and reading. We measure each thread by the number of views and replies. If a dentist asks a question and no one answers that speaks volumes about the level of interest in the question. If another dentist asks a question, 400 other dentists reply and thousands and thousands view the thread, this thread is most likely very pertinent to you! We even have the button “Big Threads” which lists all threads from the most active to the least active. Just look at the titles of the top 50 threads and you will read until sunrise!

So, if you want to know what areas in dentistry are the most important to focus on then just look at the number of topics and the number of posts on our Dental Message Board Categories.

This month it is so important to logon to www.dentaltown.com and vote for your favorite dental products and services. It is especially important to the 3,800 graduating dentists who desperately want to know what everyone else is using. I am absolutely positive we can get at least 5,000 dentists to vote. To make the voting go faster, print out the ballot and give it to whomever orders your supplies to check each category. We also put several votes on a page to condense the voting to only 13 pages. You will need about 20 minutes to vote. If you can do this for me and your fellow dentists, then we can further strengthen our mantra––With dentaltown.com… No dentist will ever have to practice solo again.

Do your patients come to your office prepared to pay their portion at the time of service?

Is your staff prepared to collect the correct amount from your patient at the time of service? If you answered “No” to these questions, here is a list of possible reasons why:

1. The financial arrangements are “hidden” in your charting system – making it difficult to find at check out.
2. Patients leave your office without having their next appointment fully explained to them.
3. Patients leave your office without signing a treatment plan which includes their patient portion.
4. The financial arrangements are not communicated from one staff member to another.
5. Doctors get involved with the financial arrangements.

At Today’s Dental we have a system that works well for both our patients and our staff. Here’s how it works. Because we are a paperless office, our assistants enter all of the treatment plans in the operatories using SoftDent. They prioritize the treatment in groups for appointment purposes. Doctors are not allowed to discuss payment options with the patient! Doctors do dentistry; staff does financial arrangements; that’s the rule!!!

A new patient with treatment to be done will be brought up to the front check-out desk. There, the treatment plan is printed out, the insurance information form is reviewed, and the case is presented to the patient. The presentation includes the total cost with a breakdown of insurance estimation and the patient’s portion. We always remind the patient this is just an estimate of insurance benefits, our treatment plan also states this.

The next step is to discuss the specifics of the next appointment. A separate treatment plan is printed for the next appointment. Payment arrangements are discussed and documented on the treatment plan.

Our payment options are as follows:
A) payment is required at time of service,
B) Two-appointment procedures will be allowed a two-payment plan with a maximum three-payment plan with exceptions approved by the Patient Services Supervisor,
C) A new patient who is an emergency or walk-in must pay the full amount due before treatment is provided by cash, credit or debit card. We will submit their insurance once we verify benefits and the insurance monies will be sent directly to the patient, and
D) CareCredit financing is also available. This treatment plan is reviewed, signed and dated by the patient. A copy is made for the patient and the original is scanned into SoftDent.

The next day’s patients are reviewed by our patient services check-in associate (her name is Tracy and she was just accepted to hygiene school in Colorado––Go Tracy). She prints out a copy of the signed treatment plan to review with the patients when they come in for their appointment. Her conversation with the patient sounds something like this: “This is what we have scheduled for you today with Dr. Farran. Your deductible for this year has been applied along with our write-offs for (insert insurance company name here) are included.” While pointing to the patient portion, Tracy says, “This is going to be your portion at the end of your appointment.” Then she switches and points to the insurance portion and says, “This is what we ESTIMATE your insurance to cover.” Now, if the treatment plan is signed, she says, “You have already signed it, so if you don’t have any questions, then you’re all set.” If it is not signed she says, “I just need your signature and the date at the bottom, which states I went over the treatment plan with you.”

With this system in place, the check-out process flows very smoothly, because both parties are in agreement as to what is to be collected. I highly recommend you put this plan into action in your practice and see for yourself how your answers to the questions at the beginning of this article change from “no” to “YES”.