Dentaltown June 2018 - 69

hygiene, etc.-and specific instruments are further designated with
the relevant color band. This means I have only what I need in the
room at one time, so if I'm doing a root canal and then prepping
it for a crown, the assistant can grab the next tote. It's also an easy
way for them to stay accountable and track what we have, which
helps to control our inventory costs. The other advantage is if
things get separated during sterilization, literally anyone can sort
and match them all back together-and we've had the business
team jump in a couple of times to help out.
What do you think is the biggest problem dentists face today?
It's not actually insurance companies, embezzling
employees or litigious patients-it's the dentists themselves.
Not enough people are getting involved in organizational
and legislative issues that affect the way we practice. I
recently attended a local CE course and was asked by one
of my peers, who's been practicing for 10 years, what was
going on with our state dental association. He'd told me
he wasn't a member because he didn't feel like there was
"value in it." The Maine Dental Association has been
primarily focused on developing ethical standards for the
midlevel provider because now that the bill itself passed,
we cannot allow a professional dilution of a patient's
standard of care. He looked at me with disbelief that
Maine even has a midlevel provider. It was voted in ... in 2014.
I explained that for the past seven years, the association has been
in a legislative battle trying to educate our elected representatives.
Three other dentists at this CE were also oblivious to advocacy
efforts at the state level. Unfortunately, human nature often assumes
that someone else is taking care of things, so there is a diffusion
of responsibility. This kind of bystander effect is going to kill our
profession, and all dentists have a responsibility to step up in fighting
these legislative battles.
What would you like to see dentistry do differently
or better over the next five to 10 years?
Stop giving so much weight to a patient's dental insurance when
treatment planning. Dental insurance first started in the early 1970s.
Dental insurance plans offered insurance a $1,000 cap in 1972, and
$1,000 bought a lot of dental care in those days. Today, the average
cap on dental plans is still $1,000, which in 2018 does not buy a lot
of anything. If insurance companies used inflation like the rest of
us do for cost, the equivalent 2018 cap should be $6,587. So why
does dentistry feel the need to follow insurance blindly?
What is something that remains a challenge for you?
My team teases me that I'm unable to function unless I have a
low level of stress operating as my baseline. There's no doubt that
dentists tend to be control freaks, which definitely makes for great
dentistry. So, in the past two years I've been attempting to back
off and allow my employees to solve problems within the practice.

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