Dentaltown April 2022 - 25

newdent18
$400k because $240k comes from each patient paying $100 2x/year for a prophy, so then he
just has to do $160k/year in $100 fi llings or $50 " offi ce visits " + PA. Or $200 (at cost!) denture/
partial repairs.
The plan with staff? One of two hygienists is back. The fi rst wants as many hours as I can
give her and is absolutely lovely. The second isn't back yet because her boyfriend was diagnosed
with throat cancer and is dealing with all of that. For the rest, I'll keep them as long as they want
to stay. They're all ~2 years from retirement anyway, so if they want to stay, it's fi ne by me. This
is a weird case where I think the staff makes a difference in patient retention. They seriously
know everyone and the conversations I hear in passing really seem to matter? I do know younger
folks who I think could become hygiene/assistant/FD within 6 months if needed. But my plan
is actually to let the front desk retire when she's ready and be replaced by my husband (who is
already quietly learning and taking over electronic claims and statements) and let the assistants
retire when they want and maybe never replace them. This is an OON/FFS " country' " practice
with stupidly low overhead. It's a reality that I could work by myself for the dentistry (maybe
have one assistant if I feel like it) plus support one or two hygienists. ■
8/15/2020
Fart face
LOL! 50 years old and I'm becoming the selling doc already! Practically only doing prophies
and composites. A few root canals and crowns here and there, but only if I just have no other
choice. Somebody, please shoot me if I'm still practicing in fi ve more years.
Good luck and keep us posted on the progress. Should be an interesting (and probably pretty
profi table) journey! ■
Be very careful on how you approach these patients. They are not used to crowns and endo
8/17/2020
SEOK
and high-end dental issues. If you go in and tell them they require a lot of expensive treatment,
they will leave and not come back. They are fee-for-service patients and will be welcomed with
open arms at any offi ce they choose. Just an observation! ■
8/17/2020
newdent18
An update six weeks later:
This is harder than I thought. I have had assistants and front desk crying frequently because
they're afraid of getting fi red. I get a little pissy over the fact that they can't take a PA (the
previous doctor apparently took all PAs in the rare event he took one). But still, I've never
been known to be mean, which they apparently think I am. When the staff has no other work
experience outside of this offi ce for 40 years, things can be weird. They take any correction as
world-shattering-or maybe I am super mean, who knows? But if you're reading the paper in
the breakroom at 10 a.m. and I ask you to fold the towels or sterilize some instruments, that
seems reasonable to me. Additionally, 3/4 of my staff physically can't make it down the stairs
of a regular basement to bring up extra supplies, and even walking from OP to OP is a little
challenging for them. This may be an HR minefi eld.
Patients have some serious dental negligence to attend to. I can easily see fi ve-plus broken/
cracked teeth every day, in addition to the number of patients with moderate/severe perio disease,
sub-G calc, root decay, etc. It's wild. I think the assistants are starting to get it. The hygienist
defi nitely gets it because she's worked part-time in another FFS offi ce for the past 20 years where
the doctor is fantastic, so she's totally on board to elevate the standard of care. I fi nally got some
control on the schedule by coloring in blocks on the paper schedule and allotting four to six
emergency slots per day in the second column.
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Dentaltown April 2022

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