Dentaltown march 2016 - (Page 12)

howard speaks column Do Your Employees Feel Safe? On my Dentistry Uncensored podcasts, I am constantly interviewing dental consultants, and the same thing keeps coming up. Dental employees don't feel safe. The top consultants in the industry all tell me that a surprising number of dentists have created a practice environment in which they receive no feedback from the people who matter the most to the well-being of the practice. I'm talking about your office manager, your assistants, your hygienists, your receptionists, and your lab techs. And when these people don't feel safe or comfortable coming to you with problems or issues, big or even small, what ends up happening? The practice starts to suffer. The work atmosphere turns toxic. There's drama, or worse, turnover. So what does the doc do? He or she makes the decision to bring in a consultant, and $50,000 later the writing on the wall is clear: The employees don't feel safe. No safety in numbers I can't tell you how many seminars I've walked in to, only to be stopped just inside the door by an assistant, receptionist or office manager who pulls me aside and practically begs me to talk about some of the most basic problems a dental office encounters on a daily basis. I end up having the same conversation. I ask, "Well, why haven't you brought this up with the doc?" I watch their eyes get real big and they all tell me the same thing in a near whisper. "Oh my God, if I said that or asked that, I'd probably get fired," they all say. It's the same with lab techs. I'd say 80 percent of all the lab people I've known in my career are afraid of the dentists they work with. They feel that they can't call up the doc and say, "Hey, you need to retake that impression," or ask, "Could you not send me an impression with the bloody cotton rolls still stuck in there?" I've lost count of how many of these lab techs want to call up the doc and ask him or her to come down to the lab to work things out. Why don't they? Because they are afraid you'll just tell them, "You screwed up! Not me! I'll just get another lab." So why are the doctor's staff and the lab techs feeling so scared to communicate with dentists? It's because everyone thinks we're nothing but arrogant nerds who think we know everything. And you know what? Sometimes we can be. You're a doctor, and you're great at math, physics and chemistry. But that doesn't make you an expert in everything. The problem, doc, is you. It's in the adjectives Something I do every time I have to hop on a plane somewhere is ask the person next to me to describe a dentist in one word. Here's what I usually hear. "Arrogant." "Obnoxious." "Conceited." "Knowit-all." For kicks, I ask them to do the same word association with lawyers. It's always worse for the lawyers, but what can we do about that? The one adjective that never comes up is, "humble." It's a shame, because if there's one industry on the planet that could use more humility, it's dentistry. Back when I was fresh into my career-when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth-there was a great story in Reader's Digest. A journalist had study models and a full set of X-rays done and then went around to dozens of dentists and asked each of them what he or she would like to do for his treatment plan. No two dentists recommended the same treatment plan for that journalist. In fact, some of the plans ranged from $0 to $30,000, and each one was certain his or her treatment plan was the correct one. We like to joke around on Dentaltown.com that you can't get two dentists to even agree on what day it is. That's not an argumentative spirit; it's an arrogant one, and in the practice, it's the kind of thing that turns a doc's staff away from feeling safe about voicing concerns or problems. Here's what you need to do. Take a good, long, Continued on p. 14 by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, Publisher, Dentaltown Magazine 12 MARCH 2016 // dentaltown.com http://www.Dentaltown.com http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown march 2016

On Dentaltown.com
HOWARD SPEAKS: Do Your Employees Feel Safe?
PROFESSIONAL COURTESY: Wonder Women in Dentistry
Continuing Education Update
SECOND OPINION: Pedonomics and the Affordable Care Act: Emerging Economic Impacts That Can Propel Your Practice
Industry News
Rod’s Incredible Perio Protocol: The Remix!
Assistance with Provisional Fabrications
Transitioning with a DSO: How it Works
Function and Esthetics of Lithium Disilicate Restorations
What Happens if You’re Not There?
The Role of CBCT Imaging in Dentistry
Why Your Site Must Be Mobile-Ready in 2016
Make Lower Denture for Existing Upper Denture?
Product Profi le: AMD Lasers
Women in Dentistry: INTRODUCTION: FACING CHANGE
GIVING SURVIVORS A REASON TO SMILE
WOMEN IN THE BOARDROOM
“DEAR DENTIST...”
FROM REFUGEE TO RENAISSANCE WOMAN
IN THE VANGUARD
WHEN IT’S YOUR CIRCUS
CECILIA MESCAIN
Product Profi le: Schick
Implant Maintenance Protocol
The New Force in Dental Marketing
Product Profi le: OCO Biomedical
Practice Solutions: Perio Protect
Ad Index
Product Profile: Integrated Dental Systems
New Products
You Should Know: Kallpod Health
Poll
CONTINUING EDUCATION: An Observation on the Superiority of Articaine versus Lidocaine in Dental Anesthesia
Dentally Incorrect

Dentaltown march 2016