Time

We all have demands on our time these days. Work, family, free time (whatever that is!). But we need to give ourselves the time to accomplish tasks, no matter how small they might be. It the world of teeth there is a lot of emphasis placed on time and productivity. Of course we need to keep this in mind while doing things, but this is not the way the world works or is successful.

Think of all the things that have to be done during a periodontal maintenance or "cleaning" appointment. We won't get in a discussion of timing things, but let's just understand that there is a lot going on there. Each patient deserves the appropriate amount of time for their individual needs. I have some patients that only have 2 teeth, now their appointment is obviously much less than someone with 32. But during this time, you still have to give the same value for that patient.

Hygienists are constantly in the battle of quality versus time with their dentists. Dentists think that more patients per hour is the key, and that is completely wrong. It has been proven time and again, not only in dental practice management studies, but in all aspects of the business world, that decreasing time is not the best way to increase profits.

With saying that comes the other side of the coin. If you have someone who is very slow at doing something, because that's their style, then you have to make an adjustment. It is not fair to you, your other hygienists, or your patients if you have someone who is just plain slow. They will end up costing you a lot of money over the years. But if you can equate everything, then you can get a good fee that is equally fair to the patients and to yourself and to the hygienists.