When you take away the medical component, a dental practice is at heart a business. And like
a lot of businesses, there are several components that work in conjunction with
each other.
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| Knowing how to run a dental practice is all about the details| For more information, give us a call (800) 704-8494 |
Don't Forget Your Dental Hygienists
Do you know what helps to drive your dental business? Well, in addition to your patients,
obviously, a big source of revenue for your business is your dental
hygienists. A hygienist does a lot of stuff
that the dentist doesn't do, such as cleaning and initial assessments.
In addition, a dental hygienist
handles periodontal administrative work such as charting and updating patients
records. It is crucial that hygienists provide a face to the business in case the patient is not there to see the dentist. One skill a hygienist must have is soft skills such as care and empathy towards the patients. They also have to work well with the next component of the practice: the dental front office.
How to Run a Dental Front Office
There are several components that have to be in place in any business. If you want to know how to run a dental front office, you have to make sure that you have three key components. These components are: equipment, personnel, and customers. The customers are easy, they are your patients. The equipment is everything from the brand new digital X-ray machine you've just put in, your chairs and dental tools, as well as everyday things such as telephones and computers. As for the personnel, that's easy. You obviously need a dentist who is the center of the practice. You need dental hygienists, as we covered above, and tying all of it together, you need someone who knows how to run a dental front office, namely a dental office manager.A dental office manager may or may not have dental experience. Their key strengths lie in the administrative area. They are the link in the chain that you can never pinch pennies on. In part two of this article series, we will cover skills of a dental office manager as well as those of a medical billing clerk.
For now, know that a dental practice is a chain. You need all of the links working together to increase your profitability. You also need all the right equipment. And above all else, you need good people. Then you are on the way to running a successful dental practice.
For more information on how to run a dental office, please read part two and part three of this series as well.
DentiMax, LLC
(800) 704-8494
