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

While earning my MAGD I often couldn’t keep a straight face listening to dentist after dentist preach sermons about how easy it was to sell a complete makeover if you only did the ultimate complete exam; while the dentist preaching had broken down brown teeth that looked like he could eat corn on the cob through a chain link fence. Can you say – “hello, earth to ego!”?

I think the unconscious dichotomy was that most dentists are conservative when it comes to enamel and politics and simply do not want to file down their own teeth. This is also what your patients think, and this is why Dr. Bob Ibsen’s “No Prep” permanent whitening veneers are taking off in spades. I have seen the numbers going out the door, and it is simply breath taking.

So if you really want to be a “Cosmetic Dentist,” you might want to look in the mirror. Due to your obvious bias, you might want to have the dentist next door look around your oral cavity and let them tell you if your smile looks sexy, white and dazzling. From what I have seen, you have about a 40% chance!

Do you want to practice some “No Prep” veneers? First ask your long term staff hygienist or assistants if they would like FREE regular prepped teeth veneers. When they say “No thanks,” think about why they would refuse. Then ask them if they would like some FREE “No Prep” veneers as thin as contact lens glued to the front of their teeth. When they say “Heck Yes” then you have an “In-House” model which will sell cases everyday!

There is another makeover that I am talking about today, your office. Did you know that most franchises remodel on schedule every seven years? Do you know how many dental offices I have been in? Do you know how many dental offices are old and dingy? Your patients’ first impressions are set in stone. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Your supply rep probably sees three or four offices per day, five days per week. Ask your reps how your office stacks up. If they hesitate, you know the worst. Do you know how fun it is to walk into a brand new remodeled fresh office? Talk about a cure for burnout and boredom! Make that first impression a WOW!!! And when you go for a remodel, just do it! Don’t hesitate! Don’t do the half way whiny dance!! Just knock it out of the ball park!

While you are in the remodel mood, this would be the perfect time to join the digital revolution and go paperless. Digital x-rays, computers in every operatory, and a vow to go paperless! I, the good doctor, take you, digital technology, to be my lover, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better upgrade or for worse, for richer than I thought, for poorer results than I thought, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until the next best thing comes along and we part.

Say goodbye to analog! Say goodbye to yesterday! You will never have a great future until you give up all hope of a better past. I do not care what your practice is or was for the last five, ten, or twenty years. Starting today you can take a vow to re-launch your office into a brand new future. All you have to do to create a perfect future is to become fearless today.

Call your rep today and tell them that from now on you walk on water. Tell them that your office doesn’t quite match up with someone who has just recreated their own dental destiny. Your rep has seen it all. Just buck up, listen up, shut up, and do it. Redefine your new destiny and everyone around you will be so glad you did it!