Ep 132: Current Challenges in Dental Hygiene with Wendy Briggs (Part One)

Do you need more new patients in your dental office? Are people in your community able to find you and learn more about your practice?  And if you do need more patients, should you outsource your marketing or do it yourself? How do you ensure you’re spending your advertising dollars wisely? Dr. John and Wendy sat down with Cassidy Dustin of Gargle to answer your questions about marketing and patient flow. Listen to today’s episode to learn how to build a predictable, manageble stream of patients into your practice each month. Gargle is a preferred partner of The Team Training Institute. If you need help with marketing and patient flow, learn more about them here: https://www.gargle.com/

Rising dental hygiene wages and shrinking reimbursements are creating major challenges in dental offices. Many practice owners are asking themselves, “Is it even possible to be profitable with hygiene, or should I find ways to cut these losses?” With the right tools and training, dental hygiene can not only be profitable, it can be a thriving part of a dental office. We’ve seen it over and over again in practices across the US and Canada.  Recently, Wendy Briggs hosted a call with practice owners to discuss these challenges in hygiene departments and make recommendations. In part two of this presentation, you’ll get insights into how to provide comprehensive hygiene care to patients efficiently and profitably each day.

Did you know…? According to the ADA, dental assistant and hygienist vacancies have resulted in a 10% drop in dental practice capacity nationally. The ADA's Health Policy Institute also estimates that 1/3 of dental assistants and hygienists plan to retire within the next 5 years.  Additionally, insurance reimbursements continue to fall and overhead continues to rise causing a financial squeeze in dentistry. In today’s episode, we’re sharing a recording of a recent call Wendy Briggs hosted with dental practice owners to talk through these dental hygiene challenges and her recommended solutions. In this recording, you’ll get insights into how to run a hygiene department efficiently and profitably while providing comprehensive care.

How does The Team Training Institute help dental practices grow?   In this 3-part series, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are sharing the details of their practice growth model so you know how to make improvements to your practice and empower your team to deliver the very best patient care.  In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to create optimal patient flow in your office. Patient flow is crucial for a successful practice. It’s important to have enough patients to sustain the business while also ensuring the team can deliver world-class care during every appointment. Today, you’ll learn how to determine whether you need more new patients and strategies for filling the schedule. You’ll also learn how to alleviate any capacity issues that may exist in your practice to allow you to provide comprehensive care to your patients. *In this episode, Wendy mentions that our quarterly Practice Growth Retreat is coming up October 18-19 in Denver, CO. At each retreat, we allow a select few guest practices to attend with complimentary guest pass. If you’re interested in joining us, click here to learn more: https://theteamtraininginstitute.com/guest  

How does The Team Training Institute help dental practices grow?  In this 3-part series, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are sharing the details of their practice growth model so you have insight into how to make improvements to your office and empower your team to deliver the very best patient care. In today’s episode, you’ll learn how to create a more efficient dental office. Efficient delivery of care is essential for a smooth-running practice. When efficiency drops, appointments run behind, patients get frustrated, and fewer procedures get completed.  Keep in mind, efficiency doesn’t necessarily mean moving faster. Hustling can cause mistakes and hurt the office atmosphere. Listen to today’s episode to learn exactly how your office can become more efficient and effective each day. *In this episode, Wendy mentions that our quarterly Practice Growth Retreat is coming up July 12-13 in Miami, FL. At each retreat, we allow a select few guest practices to attend with complimentary guest pass. If you’re interested in joining us, click here to learn more: https://theteamtraininginstitute.com/guest 

How exactly does The Team Training Institute help dental practices grow and thrive?  Plenty of consultants and experts claim to help businesses grow, but it’s difficult to know their approach and their strategies until after you’ve invested significant time and money into the process. Today, Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs are sharing a behind-the-scenes look at their practice growth model so you have clarity on exactly how The Team Training Institute works with dental offices. They are sharing the details of their approach and which systems they focus on when they work with dental teams. In today’s episode, you’ll learn what this practice growth model looks like, the 3 key components, and how these pieces work together to transform offices.  Over the next couple of weeks, they’ll be diving into each area of this model and sharing more information about how to grow your practice.

Dr. Eric Tobler began his career as a dentist in his family’s office, working alongside his dad and his brother. As his career progressed, he learned more about practice management and developed an interest in dentistry’s innovation and technology. Today, Dr. Tobler is the Clinical Director for Mortenson Dental Partners and helps integrate new technology into their practices. He has keen insight into what’s useful in dental practices and how to introduce new equipment to teams and get results quickly. In this episode, you’ll learn: The importance of early success with new technology How to get the team on board with new equipment What to do when a new piece of technology is rejected by the team How to evaluate new technology and decide what to purchase Recommendations on what technology to bring into your practice Dr. Tobler will be taking the stage at our upcoming practice growth conference, The Champions of Dentistry Summit, happening April 25-27 in New Orleans. He’ll be talking in depth about which emerging technologies are worth investing in and how to seamlessly implement new equipment into your practice.  In-person and virtual tickets to the conference are still available at http://www.championsofdentistry.com 

Dental practice success depends on getting patients into the chair for the care they need. Without effective phone calls and scheduling, practices miss opportunities to deliver treatment.  Today, Cory Pinegar is joining Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs on The Double Your Production Podcast to talk about the challenges of converting phone calls into appointments. Cory is the CEO of Reach and he’s sharing how to capture more incoming calls and boost the conversion rate. In this episode, you’ll learn: How missed calls impact practice performance (on average, about 30% of incoming calls are missed) Scripts and scheduling tips for reactivating overdue patients How dental practice call volume fluctuates throughout the day and how to staff for those peaks How to supplement call support in your practice to get better phone call results   To contact Cory or learn more about Reach, go to https://www.getreach.co/ 

Victoria Roos Olsson is an expert in leadership development and has coached leaders across the world for the past 20 years. She works closely with the FranklinCovey innovations team and is one of the authors of FranklinCovey’s bestselling book, “Everyone Deserves a Great Manager: The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a Team.” Today, she’s joining Dr. John Meis and Wendy Briggs on The Double Your Production podcast to talk about the leadership skills needed to create a strong, positive atmosphere in your dental practice. In this episode, you’ll learn: How to spark real employee engagement (and why reasons for engagement differ from person to person) Why intentionality is crucial in building and maintaining a great company culture How to keep a company culture strong and positive (and how to correct behavior that doesn’t align) How to maintain good energy throughout the day by managing 5 key things We’re excited to announce that Victoria will be joining us as a keynote speaker at our upcoming Champions of Dentistry Summit, April 25-27 in New Orleans, LA. To join us for the conference, register at http://www.championsofdentistry.com 

Dr. Paul Schempp is a behavioral scientist and professor at the University of Georgia where he studies decision making. Through his vigorous research, he’s uncovered how to make better decisions consistently and how to avoid bad decisions. Today, he’s sharing: How great decision makers use data to predict their future environment One skill that separates great decision makers from those who are mediocre How to make good decisions in the midst of uncertainty The neuroscience behind high-pressure decisions Why it’s important to think through contingency plans How the Dunning-Kruger Effect impacts decision making And more… Dr. Schempp will be joining us as a keynote speaker at this year’s Champions of Dentistry Summit in New Orleans. At the conference, he’ll be sharing the science behind the most impactful dental practice decisions.  We can’t wait for his session and we’re honored to share the stage with him this year. If you haven’t yet, you can get your tickets to the 2024 Summit here: http://championsofdentistry.com/