Posts Categorized:Management

A dental or orthodontic practice can use ChatGPT and artificial intelligence (AI) in many ways to help operate the business more efficiently and provide higher quality service to patients.  Here are several ways AI can be applied: Customer Service Marketing and Advertising Human Capital Management Inventory Management Revenue Cycle Management By leveraging AI in revenue cycle management and accounting processes, dental and orthodontic practices can streamline financial operations, optimize revenue collection, improve compliance, and gain valuable insights into their financial performance. Sign up to receive valuable content exclusively for my subscribers. As an added bonus you’ll get the free Ortho…

Ivan Pavlov demonstrated that animal behavior could be established or erased by exposure to stress. In one experiment, he could make a dog react aggressively to caretakers with whom the dog was previously very loyal. This type of behavioral change as a result of exposure to stress has also been seen in prisoners of war. Stress increases our suggestibility. When we feel we have lost control over the situation, what we believe and like can completely change. In a study of 17,000 British civil servants, the workers with the lowest perceived control over their work environment had an significantly increased…

I see a lot of smart people giving dentists and orthodontists dumb advice. Your in-box and social media feeds are filled to the brim with mostly well-intentioned people trying to make a buck convincing you this one metric or that one metric will solve all your problems. They promise efficiency and growth in new patients, revenue, case starts; more of this, more of that. They sell magic weight loss pills while Grumpy Dustin tells you to eat your vegetables and go to the gym. I’m clearly not here to win any popularity contests. Listen. There’s nothing wrong with efficiency and…

The right dental practice management plan will result in an increase in patients. Review these key strategies to take your office to the next level.

Someone close to the AAO Council on Governmental Affairs told me an alarming statistic at the meeting in Chicago this weekend. This person said half of all AAO member orthodontists have now seen a patient in private practice where direct-to-consumer (D2C) aligners caused adverse effects (traumatic occlusion, gingival recession, jaw joint pain, etc.) At first glance, had I taken this doctor’s claim at face value, I could only logically conclude direct-to-consumer aligners are harming the public. Instead, I zoomed out and quickly ran the math in my mind. Smile Direct Club, the largest D2C company, has treated more than 1.8…

Up to 80% of dentist appointments are no-shows, according to recent statistics. No-shows have long plagued the industry, and cost billions of dollars every year. As life continues to get busier, these statistics will only get worse. That is, if you don’t change your dental practice management strategy. There are several changes you can make to take back control. And this isn’t the only area that needs work. Many practices aren’t fixing their financial mistakes with technology, outsourcing, and effective marketing. If each of these areas is improved, your revenue and growth will reach new heights. To help your dental…

For years, dental restorations, oral surgery and cosmetic enhancements have filled your days. Now, you’re thinking about selling your dental practice. You’re ready to replace your explorers and radiographs with adventures and time in the sun. You’re not the only one, either. Research shows that an average of 5,100 dentist openings are expected to crop up every year between 2021 and 2031. This can be attributed to retirements or doctors transitioning to part-time work as they look for prospective buyers or partners. Before you begin the process of selling a dental practice, though, focus on increasing its valuation. Here’s a…

In 2022, there are 178,867 dental businesses in the US. That means the competition is through the roof. If you aren’t managing your dental business properly, you will lose patients. Avoiding common dental practice management mistakes can save your business. It can also help retain existing patients and increase new ones. With that in mind, here are seven common pitfalls to avoid. 1. Neglecting a Superior Patient Experience Customers who had a negative experience with your dental clinic are less likely to return. The cost of replacing them is far greater than retaining existing patients. Here are five strategies to…

In his excellent book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King addresses the phenomenon of writer’s block. He says, “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” I agree. I’ve written thousands of pages of content, spread across ten published books, scores of special reports, articles and hundreds of marketing, management and leadership programs for dentists and orthodontists, several of which have been translated into at least five languages, that I know of. And, I can attest that a lot of it has typographical and grammatical errors. Some of it…

Before the 2021 Rose Bowl, Alabama Coach Nick Saban had quite an answer when ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi asked him for one thing he learned this disruptive year. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to keep everything in some kind of a controlled mechanism that I thought was going to lead to better performance, better production, more consistency, and this year, that hasn’t been possible,” he said. “There was a time, in my career as a coach, I would have never been able to tolerate some of the things we’ve had to go through. So that has made me better, I…

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