Dentaltown January 2015 - (Page 10)

howard speaks column Why Too Much Clinical Dentistry is Bad for Business It's a new year, but I'm ringing it in with an old message, one that I've hammered on from time to time, and one that keeps needing to be hammered until we all ﬁ nally get it. Everyone who focuses on practice management (I'm talking about consultants, business gurus, ofﬁce managers and even practice-management software providers says dentists who own their own practices spend way too much time on clinical dentistry and that they don't spend enough time on the business of their practice. Is that you? See if you can answer any of the following questions (without asking someone in your ofﬁce * What was last year's return on asset? * What was last year's return on equity? * How many incoming calls did you have? * What percentage of your calls went straight to voicemail? What percentage of your calls were answered in the ﬁrst few rings? * What percentage of cavities you diagnosed last month were scheduled to be done? How many got done? Ask a dentist any of those questions or any question pertaining to the business of his or her practice and you know what? ost of the time they have absolutely no idea. hese are questions you need to know the answers to! You got As in calculus, physics, chemistry and biology and you consider yourself to be a good dentist. ut I could stroll into your practice, jump on whatever practice-management software you may or may not be using to its full potential, run a report and ﬁ nd out something like for every ﬁ llings this practice diagnoses, it's only doing of them. Would a ﬁreman be considered a great ﬁreman if he only put out one in three ﬁres? Would the sheriff of your town be considered great if he only caught one in three criminals? Despite missed ﬁ llings you still might be a great dentist, but how great are you in business? ome people are ama ing at the business of our profession. fter all, dentistry has its own billionaire. is name is ick Workman. e's the man behind eartland ental and he does everything you may not feel like doing. ick has ofﬁces, employs , dentists and , hygienists, and he hasn't seen a patient or done clinical dentistry in more than years. his is an e ample of corporate dentistry. o you like corporate dentistry? aybe not. Is corporate dentistry a threat to small practices? ometimes, yes. re corporate dentistry leaders paying a lot of attention to their businesses? es, and so should we. n that note, take a look at tephen horne from aciﬁc ental ervices. teve spent so much time focusing on the time and money factors of running a dental practice that he didn't even spend time going to dental school to learn how to practice dentistry. e thought it was easier to hire a dentist than become one. hese men are success stories in the dental profession and they only focus on the business of a dental practice. I'm not saying that you should do everything the way they do it or that you shouldn't care about being a super dentist I'm saying you should be a strong business person too. by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine continued on page 12 10 JANUARY 2014 » dentaltown.com http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown January 2015

Dentaltown.com Highlights
Howard Speaks: Why Too Much Clinical Dentistry is Bad for Business
Professional Courtesy: Coming Soon: More Denture Patients
Continuing Education
Sleep Apnea Screening and Treatment
Data Encryption: Count the Acronyms
Anterior Tooth Position in Restorative Dentistry: Applying the Chasolen Triad
Poll
Office Visit: Texas Hygienist a Diva of Dings
What is the Current Science Behind Socket Grafting to Preserve Ridge Height?
Pulp Capping: Improving the Prognosis
Industry News
New Products
Should I Extract That Tooth?
Townie Meeting 2015 Preview
Ad Index
Remembering Suzanne Mann
Diagnosis in Endodontics
Quickbooks: Ten Tips to Stay Organized and Efficient
Dentally Incorrect

Dentaltown January 2015