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In the modern world of dental care, leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping not only the success of a practice but also the quality of care provided to patients. This post digs into the critical importance of effective leadership within the dental industry, exploring how strong leadership skills can influence every aspect of a practice, from patient satisfaction and staff morale to operational efficiency and innovation. Whether you are a seasoned dental professional or new to the field, understanding the impact of leadership can transform the way you approach your practice and ultimately contribute to its success and sustainability. Join us as we uncover the fundamental reasons why leadership is not just a desirable attribute, but an essential component in the dynamic and challenging world of dentistry.  

Leadership in dentistry impacts both the practice’s operations and the quality of patient care. Here are 8 ways in which leadership matters in dentistry: 

  1. Creating a Positive Workplace Culture: Effective leadership fosters a positive work environment, which is essential for staff morale and retention. Leaders who communicate openly, recognize employee contributions and promote teamwork create a collaborative and supportive atmosphere. This not only enhances job satisfaction but also improves the quality of patient care. 
  1. Driving Operational Excellence: Strong leaders implement efficient operational processes and systems within a dental practice. They focus on streamlining workflows, optimizing appointment scheduling, managing inventory effectively, and ensuring compliance with healthcare regulations. This operational efficiency is key to a practice’s profitability and sustainability which benefits everyone. 
  1. Innovating and Embracing Change: The dental industry is continuously evolving with new technologies and treatment methodologies. Visionary leaders are open to innovation and actively seek opportunities to incorporate advanced technologies and practices. This forward-thinking approach keeps the practice at the forefront of dental care, offering the best possible treatment options to patients. 
  1. Staff Training and Development: Leaders play a vital role in the professional development of their staff. By providing training opportunities, mentoring, and constructive feedback, they help team members grow their skills and knowledge. Well-trained and confident staff are more efficient, provide higher quality patient care, and are happier in their roles. And in an industry facing staff shortages and high turnover, leading a team and keeping them happy is paramount. In the words of Marcus Buckingham, “People leave managers, not companies.” 
  1. Patient-Centered Care: Leadership in dentistry isn’t just about managing a team; it’s also about prioritizing patient care. Effective leaders ensure that their practice maintains a strong focus on patient satisfaction, addressing patient concerns empathetically, and striving to provide a comfortable and positive patient experience. 
  1. Financial Management: Good leadership goes well beyond expertise in the field of dentistry. It involves sound financial decision-making, ensuring the practice’s profitability and financial health. This includes budgeting, financial planning, and resource allocation, all of which are crucial for the practice’s long-term success. 
  1. Crisis Management and Problem-Solving: Leaders are often tasked with navigating through challenges and crises, whether it’s handling a global pandemic like COVID-19, dealing with staffing issues, or addressing patient complaints. Effective leaders are adept at problem-solving and can guide their practice through difficult times with minimal disruption. 
  1. Building a Strong Reputation and Trust: Dental leaders play a significant role in building and maintaining the reputation of their practice. Through ethical practice, community involvement, and excellent patient care, leaders can establish a sense of trust and credibility in their local community. 

A word about vision, mission, and values 

Vision, mission, and values are fundamental elements that define the identity and guide the operations of a dental practice. They are critical in shaping culture, influencing decision-making, and determining the direction and goals. 

Vision: The vision of a dental practice is a forward-looking statement that outlines what the practice aspires to become in the future. It acts as a guiding star, helping to align the long-term goals and aspirations of the practice. A well-articulated vision inspires and motivates the team, encouraging them to work towards a shared future. It also helps in attracting patients who resonate with what the practice aims to achieve, such as becoming a leader in cosmetic dentistry or providing the most family-friendly dental services in the region. 

Mission: The mission statement describes the purpose of the dental practice. It answers the question of why the practice exists and what it seeks to accomplish in the present. A clear mission statement helps in focusing the practice’s efforts and resources on its core objectives, such as delivering high-quality dental care, ensuring patient satisfaction, or advancing dental health education. It sets the tone for the practice’s daily operations and helps in making strategic decisions that align with its primary goals. 

Values: Values are the principles and beliefs that guide how a dental practice operates and interacts with patients, employees, and the community. They form the ethical foundation of the practice, dictating how it conducts itself both internally and externally. Core values might include integrity, compassion, excellence, innovation, and teamwork. These values not only help in creating a positive workplace culture but also build trust and credibility with patients. When a practice’s actions are consistent with its values, it fosters a loyal patient base and a committed team. 

Incorporating a clear vision, mission, and set of values helps a dental practice in numerous ways. That said, it’s not something you just set and forget or bring to life via posters and inspirational artwork. The vision, mission, and values must be lived by the leader first and foremost, and “managed” within the rest of the organization. When done well, it enhances internal coherence and consistency, aids in developing marketing and branding strategies, attracts and retains staff who share the same values, and builds a loyal patient base that identifies with the practice’s ethos. Overall, these elements are crucial in setting a practice apart in a competitive industry, ensuring long-term success and sustainability. 

Conclusion 

The significance and importance of leadership in dentistry cannot be overstated. Strong leadership is the backbone of a successful dental practice, influencing every aspect from patient care to team dynamics and operational efficiency. It is the catalyst that drives innovation, fosters a positive workplace culture, and ensures the highest standards of patient service. Leaders in dentistry are not just skilled clinicians but also visionary thinkers who guide their practices through an ever-changing landscape, ensuring adaptability and sustainability. By embodying effective leadership qualities, dental professionals can create an environment that not only thrives in the present but is also well-equipped for the challenges and opportunities of the future. Ultimately, good leadership in dentistry is about making a lasting impact – on patients, staff, and the broader community – affirming that at the heart of a thriving dental practice is not just expertise in dentistry, but also the power of inspired leadership. 

Guest Post: Anne Genge, Certified Information Privacy & Cybersecurity Professional

Imagine starting the day at your dental practice with a hot cup of coffee, ready to see patients, when suddenly, your computer screen freezes. A ransomware message appears and demands payment to unlock your patient records. Today, ransomware is the most common cybercrime used by cyber criminals where your data is encrypted using nefarious software that easily finds its way into the practice via email. Once it gets installed on one computer, it spreads to the others in your network as well as your server blocking access to everything.

This nightmare scenario is becoming increasingly common in healthcare. It complicates things since, these days, almost every patient management and diagnostic tool is digitized, connected, and often required for critical patient care.

Why is Dentistry an Easy Target?

Cybercriminals target healthcare practices, including dental practices, with ransomware attacks for several key reasons.

  1. Valuable Data: Dental practices store sensitive patient information, including personal, financial, and medical records. This data is highly valuable on the dark web (digital black market), making it a lucrative target for cybercriminals.
  2. Urgency and Dependence on Data: Dental providers rely heavily on access to patient data for daily operations. The urgency and critical nature of this data make dental and other healthcare practices more likely to pay ransoms to regain access quickly, as any delay can have severe consequences for patient care.
  3. Lack of Robust Cybersecurity: Many dental practices lack robust cybersecurity measures. This could be due to budget constraints, lack of awareness, or the complexity of securing increasingly digital and connected healthcare environments. This makes them more vulnerable to cyber-attacks compared to other industries that might have more advanced security protocols.
  4. Lack of Cybersecurity Awareness Training: Healthcare practices, including dental offices, often lack comprehensive cybersecurity awareness training for their staff. Employees may not be fully aware of the various forms of cybercrime, such as phishing emails, weak password management, and unsafe browsing practices. This can lead to unintentional breaches of security protocols, leaving the practice vulnerable to ransomware attacks. Cybercriminals exploit these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to the network.

The Rising Tide of Cybersecurity Threats

Data breaches are surging, impacting millions globally. In dental practices, where patient trust is crucial, a single cybersecurity incident can devastate your business. Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue; it’s as vital as CPR for the digital heart of your practice.

Cybersecurity in Daily Operations

Every email, patient record, and data transfer in your practice carries potential risks. Simple habits like creating strong passwords, recognizing phishing emails, and securing personal devices can significantly reduce digital infection risks, much like handwashing prevents physical infections.

The Critical Healthcare Connection

For healthcare providers, a data breach can lead to compromised patient information, operational disruptions, and damaged reputations. Given healthcare is a prime target for cybercriminals, dental practices must be as vigilant against digital threats as they are against dental disease.

Basic Cybersecurity Training: A Significant Defense

Cybersecurity might seem daunting with its technical jargon, but it’s manageable with plain language and a supportive environment. Dental-specific cybersecurity awareness training is the best way to ensure your team understands the different types of cybercrime they will encounter in their workday and how to avoid them in your practice.

Fostering a Cybersecurity Culture

Cybersecurity is a collective effort. It requires a culture where every team member, from the administrative staff to the clinical staff, understands their role in safeguarding patient and practice data. Regular training, briefings during staff meetings, updating policies, and communicating clearly are key to building this defense.

Practical Cybersecurity Measures

To enhance your cybersecurity, consider these steps:

Adapting to Evolving Cyber Threats

Cybercrime are constantly evolving, and so should your defenses. Stay updated on cybersecurity trends, participate in webinars, and refresh your training regularly. Cybersecurity is an ongoing journey, not a one-time task. There are free resources available specifically for dental practices.

The Role of Specialized IT Support

Just as dentistry has specialists like endodontists and periodontists, cybersecurity needs specialized IT expertise. General IT providers may not have the nuanced understanding required for the unique challenges in dental practices, such as protecting sensitive patient data and complying with healthcare regulations. Specialized dental cybersecurity professionals, with their focused training in breach and threat prevention, are better equipped to handle these specific needs.

Security Risk Assessments: The New Patient Exam Analogy

Think of a security risk assessment as a new patient exam for your practice’s digital health. This assessment, much like a comprehensive dental check-up, evaluates your IT environment to identify vulnerabilities in software, hardware, and user practices. It’s a diagnostic tool that helps formulate a strategy to mitigate risks and strengthen your digital defenses.

The Impact of Basic Security Awareness

Even basic security awareness among your team can significantly enhance the security of patient data. Training to recognize cybercrime and adopt safe digital practices is akin to teaching good oral hygiene to patients. It’s a fundamental aspect of overall care.

The Go-Forward Plan

In the realm of dental healthcare, the integrity of your cybersecurity measures is as vital as the quality of the dental services you provide. Education is key in cyberspace, and prevention is always preferable to remediation. By securing your practice, educating your team, and seeking specialized cybersecurity support, you can effectively combat digital threats.

Cybersecurity is challenging, but with a united effort, it’s a battle that can be won, one click at a time. Remember, you’re not alone in this; together, we can safeguard practices and patients’ data against the rising tide of cybercrime.

Together, we can make dentistry safer online.

About the Author

Anne Genge
Anne Genge | Certified Information Privacy & Cybersecurity Professional

Anne is the founder of Myla Training Co., Canada’s first-ever online privacy and cybersecurity training platform for dental professionals. With over two decades of experience, Anne has become a leading expert and trainer in this field. Anne collaborates closely with practice owners, managers, dental teams, and IT providers to ensure the safety of patients and practice data while enabling compliance with privacy regulations. Anne can be reached at anne@myla.training or call 877-363-9229 x702.

Feeling overwhelmed? Missing important details? Wanting to feel more prepared when walking into the operatory or when answering an incoming call? You’re not alone. Here are 5 ways to get your team in sync using tools they already have to improve communication at your dental practice.

1. The Huddle – a daily team touchpoint 

Given how hectic today’s practice has become, it’s understandable that we’ve started to forget about the daily team check-in, aka the huddle. The huddle plays an important role in that it gives you a chance to discuss challenges and create a plan to resolve them together, enhancing communication at your dental practice.

It’s best practice to make it a habit, build it into your scheduled routines, and make it count.  

For those who have never experienced a huddle, it’s a chance for the team to get together to set goals, discuss patient needs, assign tasks and prepare for the day ahead, improving communication at your dental practice.

The typical huddle is anywhere from 10 – 20 minutes and is meant to be brief and direct. Having access to the huddle via a workstation in the meeting room or ClearDent Cloud can be a benefit when viewing the day sheet and patient charts. 

The huddle is your team’s communication hub. After a few meetings, you’ll notice the days are running smoother, the office is more cohesive, and the team is in sync. Your patients will notice too! 

2. Make digital the norm

The sentiment of “A place for everything and everything in its place” couldn’t be more appropriate in a digital world, especially when handling sensitive patient information and improving communication at your dental practice.

Phone Calls: 
First, we must abandon the urge to grab the pen and notebook when the phone rings! Make it a habit to open the patient’s profile and enter information in the appropriate place. Here is an example of a “best practice” conversation fully integrating digital into the discussion. 
 
Example: 

[Phone rings] 

Receptionist: Good morning, thank you for calling XYZ Dental, Lisa speaking, can I start with your name? 

Caller: Hi, it’s John Smith 

Receptionist: [Immediately] Hi John, give me just a moment while I pull up your profile. (Patient recognition) 

Caller: Ok, but I don’t have a lot of time. I am heading over to the school to pick up my son. He fell and I think his tooth fell out. 

Receptionist: [Who can see the family file] Oh my goodness, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope Danny is ok. I will let Dr. Smith know you’ll be heading over. Do you have any other information about his condition? (Empathize, restate the problem, let the patient know you heard them and are going to work with them, ask for more information) 

The receptionist can talk to the parent, enter notes, and view the child’s information, making interactions more personal. Remembering the child’s name builds trust and shows they are valued at your practice. 
 
All of the information gathered during the call is logged directly into the patient file – without the need for hand-written notes that must be added to the file later.

Sticky Notes and Notebooks: 

Next, let’s remove the labels and sticky notes from the monitor and front desk area. This clears the clutter and to incoming patients, makes the office look more organized. 

Reminders and notes may include: 

Find a digital home for all these items. Use the to-do list in your practice management software, place a digital sticky note directly on the scheduler, indicate lab case statuses on the scheduler view, and associate those lab cases with upcoming appointments. Even a reminder like turning off the monitor can be resolved by setting the proper power settings. 

Next, create systems using a digital to-do list to assign tasks to team members. Do not keep a paper notebook of tasks! Things will get lost or missed. Tasks written five pages back are often left outstanding and lose their priority and importance. If you are away for the day, is anyone going to pick up your notebook, decipher your notes and flag items that were due today? The goal is to keep all team tasks digital!  

Set start and due dates, use the priority option to flag items of high importance, associate the task with a patient, and even mark the task as private. Assigning tasks gives ownership to the team members and ensures that items are being taken care of consistently. A good practice management solution will have all this functionality built-in, and you shouldn’t have to purchase other third-party solutions. Here’s an example of how productivity tools enhance efficiency when managing multiple locations: 

The Office manager had a meeting with the clinic lead in location B and would like to create follow-up tasks. While the Office Manager is at location A, she accesses location B directly from her browser and adds the tasks to her clinic leads to-do list. 

Going forward, continue to find ways to digitize the clutter. Scan documents like insurance responses, referral letters, and requests for information directly into the patient file and then securely shred them to ensure patient privacy.   

Relying on a single team member to possess the answers to every question can create bottlenecks and inefficiency in office operations. It’s important to foster a collaborative environment where patient information isn’t confined to just one person. Sharing information openly among the staff ensures everyone is well-informed and can step in seamlessly when needed. When individuals (unintentionally) hoard information, it not only restricts the flow of knowledge but also poses a significant risk, particularly when that team member is absent. In their absence, crucial details may be inaccessible, leading to confusion and potential disruptions in patient care. By encouraging transparency and open communication at your dental practice, practices can operate more efficiently, ensuring that vital patient information is readily available to all team members.

Going digital doesn’t need to happen in a day. Set goals and take it step by step. The process of clearing the clutter will gain momentum naturally!

3. Follow up with follow-ups! 

Consistent follow-up is critical for revenue production, and failing to do so can create a perception of disorganization. Implement effective office systems to ensure daily tasks are completed, avoiding reliance on others to handle them later. 

Establishing a follow-up schedule provides a sense of structure, making things feel less overwhelming and allowing the team to concentrate on the task at hand without feeling pulled in multiple directions – leaving incomplete tasks everywhere. 

The office should set practical communication goals for the week. While exceptions and urgent situations will always arise, these goals serve as a framework to maintain organized lists and prevent tasks from being overlooked for an extended period. 

Here is an example: 

Every day:

Monday:  

Tuesday:  

Wednesday:  

Thursday:  

Friday:  

Patients will say yes more often if they receive personalized care from compassionate providers.​ 

4. Patient Communication: How much is too much?  

Effective communication with patients is important in any healthcare setting as it fosters trust and understanding. However, it’s equally important to recognize the boundaries of communication, understanding that there is a fine line between being proactive and overwhelming patients with excessive contact. Striking a good balance is key, ensuring patients are well-informed without feeling inundated. By being mindful of your contact policies, providers can maintain respectful communication, enhancing patient satisfaction and overall patient experience.  

The office should keep these things in mind when setting up communication templates, automated notifications, and reminders, as well as outreach by the team for surveys, inactivation updates, and follow-ups. Leverage technology to seamlessly connect with both your office and patients, enhancing communication at your dental practice and improving efficiency.

5. Communication is more than words 

Effective workplace communication is about active listening, the ability to understand unspoken feelings, and responding with genuine empathy. It’s in these subtleties that true connection and understanding are found, making communication a holistic exchange that encompasses the complexities of human expression and connection within a professional setting. 

Avoid Miscommunication

Choose the proper communication method: Knowing a patient’s preferences is key to effective communication, but so is choosing the proper communicator. In situations like treatment coordination, scheduling, or A/R collections you want to have the proper team member communicating with your patients. One team member may be a better fit according to their experience, efficiency, position or the audience they are going to speak with.  

Message: The message being conveyed should be clear and concise. 

Feedback: Feedback plays a pivotal role in effective communication by offering valuable insights into the reception and comprehension of a message. Actively seeking feedback allows the communicator to gauge the audience’s understanding, ensuring that the intended message aligns with the received one. For instance, in a professional setting, feedback can be instrumental in refining treatment plan presentations, proposals, or instructions. It provides an opportunity for the team member to identify areas of confusion, clarify misconceptions, and adapt their communication style to resonate better with the patient.  

Culture: Understanding the cultural context is important for effective communication. It means being mindful of the customs, traditions, values, and norms prevalent within a specific community or group. For instance, in some cultures, direct eye contact signifies confidence and sincerity, while in others, it may be perceived as disrespectful. Similarly, certain phrases or gestures might carry different meanings across cultures. Being culturally aware helps communicators choose appropriate language, tone, and body language, ensuring their message is received as intended and minimizing the risk of misunderstandings. 

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure that you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

Robert McCloskey

Conclusion

When feeling overwhelmed and seeking a sense of preparedness, it should be reassuring to know that many dental professionals share these sentiments. Using these practical solutions will help to bring your team back in sync. The daily team huddle serves as a valuable touchpoint, providing a structured opportunity to align everyone’s focus. Embracing digital solutions proves essential in streamlining communication at your dental practice and information sharing, enhancing overall efficiency. The emphasis on thoughtful follow-ups emphasizes the importance of consistent, yet respectful communication, avoiding overwhelming contacts. Communication transcends mere words; it’s about understanding unspoken cues, fostering empathy, and building meaningful connections. By implementing these strategies, teams can navigate their challenges effectively, ensuring a cohesive and well-informed work environment.

Word of mouth referrals are still as powerful as ever – think of the number of times in your life that you’ve looked for affirmation in your daily decision-making. But instead of seeking reassurance from your physical network of peers, word of mouth has taken online in a huge way, from daily purchase reviews to healthcare referrals. This shift emphasizes the importance of maintaining a positive online reputation, as potential patients often rely on these online reviews and testimonials when choosing a dental practice.

As of early 2019, 97% of consumers are reading local business reviews. Of that almost-everyone group, around 90% admit that positive reviews influenced their decision to try out a new business. In other words, your ultimate strategy will still need to incorporate a public online presence, even if this might be new territory for your practice.

Tools for managing your online reputation are fantastic at being able to consolidate information, automatically ask patients to leave a review after their appointment, and keep you on top of updates as they happen. Knowing when you’ve received a glowing review is a morale boost for your staff, but knowing when you receive a negative one gives you time to act.

Understanding how to respond to negative ads is a hallmark of better ratings. Being courteous, informative, and, when appropriate, apologetic is an opportunity to win them back to your side. With over 80% of consumers saying they read and factor a business’s response into their decision, accepting negative criticism and responding thoughtfully can be as important as getting a great review. Calling them a liar or troll will not get you very far, regardless of who’s right and who’s wrong.

Top Sites for Review

Reputation management software providing you with up-to-the-minute info about what’s being said allows you to quickly respond, making your overall rating easier to manage. Typically for small to medium offices, dipping below an average of 3.4 stars on reliable review sites will actively deter potential patients from even asking if you’ve got room for them. It’s also worth considering what a potential new hire may perceive or learn when Googling your practice’s history.

What if you’re having trouble getting patients to leave reviews online for you? Just like surveys, there are always plenty of ways to grease the wheels of your favourite patients. A review opening with the explanation of being given free dentures to voice their glowing opinion will raise an eyebrow, so it’s best to save the giveaways for just toothpaste and floss samples at the end of an appointment. Inciting your patients with a draw or giveaway, while also expressing that you want their truthful opinion, good or bad, is a fantastic way to get some momentum when increasing your online presence. You can always use your practice management software to set up a survey that automatically sends after every 4th or 5th visit. This makes it easier to grab feedback, without your patients feeling like providing their opinion is a part of each appointment.

As tempting as it may be to go the ‘bot’ route, these moves are becoming easier and easier to spot. Going from 35 followers to 10,000 in a week, without staring in a major movie or becoming a nationally elected politician, makes for obvious fraud. The same applies if every review you have is 5 stars, and the reviews themselves are the same 6 or 7 different sentences copied and pasted. Your patients and potential patients could come to their conclusion about why you’re spending the time and money to inflate perceptions online. Getting noticed for fraudulently inflating your presence inevitably comes with backlash that can even end with your online accounts being removed. 

Executing a well-developed, thoughtful communication strategy that uses templates to automatically engage patients over text or email isn’t quite as useful when you’re not allowed online. Your online reputation as a reliable and welcoming dental practice is everything. That reputation is equal parts word of mouth as it is online reviews. Managing your reputation means keeping a thoughtful eye on the feedback that you ask for, and the feedback that you don’t.

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While most people typically associate brands with their favourite snacks and drinks, in the world of marketing, a brand entails everything that customers – or patients – think about you and your dental practice. Without needing to be a catchy jingle or beautiful logo, the brand that represents your dental practice is how patients perceive you, and how you want to be perceived. Building a strong brand helps in creating a loyal patient base, ensuring that patients return for ongoing care and recommend your practice to others.

This topic is rarely covered on the path to your DMD or DDS, so it can feel a little daunting. If you haven’t considered the idea of branding your practice, try this as a quick exercise:

What are the three words you want your patients to associate with you, the care you provide, and your staff? 

Your answer will vary based on the type of person you are, the dental care you offer, and the suite of services that you offer to the mouths that walk through your front door. Aside from the benefits of aligning a team working towards a single goal, your brand works as a north star for every task you undertake. If you’re focused on providing reliable attentive care that always finishes on time, you might label yourself as Efficient. Focusing on creating better experiences for people that struggle to get enthusiastic about a checkup might have you land on Caring. However, you reach the three words that guide your practice and your work, these ideas also inform your decisions on how to communicate with your patients.

Whether we explicitly use the word or not, as a business, branding means almost everything to your patients and customers. Offering consistent experiences builds trust. Taking extra steps to properly outline the correct use of a prescription will make patients more confident in their treatment. Texting a patient to remind them that a pill should be taken on a full stomach tells them you’re invested in their health.

This volume of engaging communication can seem like an insurmountable task if your current communication plan is a pile of phone numbers to be called throughout the week. Keeping up with a couple hundred patients week to week is next to impossible for even two or three skilled communicators without the right toolset. Thankfully, many pieces of practice management software now provide options for templating your important missives. Just like an invoice, it’s paramount to have a reliable format that is straightforward and easy to replicate, especially because your business relies so heavily on them.

Pausing for a moment, you’re likely well aware of the topics that generate your most common messages. With the right tools, applying your brand to the emails, text messages, and updates you publish allows for opportunities to build on the relationships that keep your business afloat. If this happens to be the first time you’re thinking about engagement, take the time to sit down and focus on drafting a version of the message you know needs to be sent every day. Make sure it’s especially human and acts as a call to action.

As this system grows and becomes automated, you can establish routines that create expectations with your patients. After a few visits, expectations can turn into reliance as busy patients rushing to or from work know they’ll receive a reminder about the next appointment long before they double-book their precious spare time. That means fewer no-shows and cancellations.

This process doesn’t happen overnight. A brand is cultivated over time with plenty of hard work and vigilance, but the rewards for generating a loyal following that trust you cannot be overstated. Providing open lines of communication every time your patient interacts with your office is the easiest way to squash complaints before they happen, plus you’ll quickly discover patients that consider openness and availability in communication as an important indicator for their care providers. As it turns out, some people value your ability to fit into their busy lives as much as your distance from transit or their office. Those current and potential patients not only have better health outcomes but become evangelists for your business over time.

If you’re curious about what an evangelist is, remember your last social or professional gathering. There’s always someone who cannot stop raving about their recent purchase, newest restaurant, or latest show that’s streaming. When you’re offering a standout service that sets you apart from the competition, people will go out of their way to tell their friends and colleagues how amazing you are. That’s invaluable marketing for your practice, but most importantly – it’s free.

When patients happily spread the word of your proficient care and concise communication, they’re providing social proof. Dental practices have almost always relied on strong social proof, whether it was an eloquent quote, passionate testimony, or personal recommendations, especially now that 84% of people trust an online review as much as a personal recommendation. People can be nervous when it comes to the in’s and out’s of their own mouth. but knowing a practice works hard to provide amazing oral care that doesn’t start and stop with each appointment makes their decision all the easier.

Now that we’ve covered the importance of building a brand that permeates into every email and text you’ll send, think about actionable steps you can take that lead to success and loyal, engaged patients.

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If you were bold enough, you might ask 100 people what digital security meant to them, and you’d get about 100 different responses to the question. Luckily, cloud technology has long been at work adapting the highest security standards and even expanding on those already in place for standard servers or on-prem solutions. Whether it’s logging in or handling more complex tasks like payment acceptance, the security of dental practice data is safer than it’s ever been, offering peace of mind.

When hacking and digital security do come up in the headlines, it’s almost exclusively for volume. Reports typically show how many millions of people had their private, financial, or other data compromised. By comparison, it might be easy to assume that as a small business, you can fly under the radar of malicious actors on the Internet. In reality, small businesses are overwhelmingly the targets of illegal or inappropriate access. Since most small businesses rely on digital access to charge customers or even complete their banking but rarely have the budget to invest in digital security or proper training, they become reliable targets.

Having your offline, on-prem server behind a physical lock and key can make it easy to brush off risk, but without the aid of Internet access or a more complex network, you’re only slightly more productive and efficient than offices still working off of paper records with shelves of files.

Being every bit aware of risk does not mean having to live in fear. With advanced cloud security protocols and standards offered by all cloud providers, security measures are simple and easy, as long as you and your team stay vigilant.

Let’s talk about some of the best ways to stay safe in the cloud:

Two-Factor Authentication

Revered as one of the current holy grails for login credentials, this process of identity verification adds an extra layer of security, rather than using password1234 as a golden key for access. Since almost everyone today is equipped with a smartphone in their personal or business life, technology companies can use your SIM card to verify your identity. When creating an account on a cloud platform, many companies now ask for your phone number immediately. By associating your account with a physical device, whenever a login attempt is successfully made, a verification code can be texted directly to the device as a final password before logging in.

In short, even if someone acquires a password for any member of your organization, they won’t be allowed access to any sensitive information without that person’s phone, even if they’re sitting at a desk in your office.

Say ‘No Thanks’ To Third-Party Access

By consolidating the technology into an always-available service that connects to any device with an Internet connection, you automatically remove the need for 3rd party access apps that provide remote access. While these sometimes convenient, and sometimes expensive additional costs provide some amount of ease in your work, they’ve always represented an additional security risk. Providing your login credentials to additional individuals or organizations is an incremental risk to your entire livelihood.

Bringing all your services to the cloud means that your security is increased, and by extension, the safety of your patients and their private health records.

User Privileges

Otherwise known as access control, this pivotal feature of software utilizes the principle of need-to-know. Some of the best software providers out there can independently weigh the data collected, creating firewalls of information based on the person, or user, accessing it. Some also allow you to define these roles yourself while creating your profile and account. In terms of your practice, imagine your front desk employee, while the address or phone number of a patient can be valuable information, a copy of their periapical or panoramic x-ray is not.

By controlling who has access to what data, based on their login credentials, you exponentially reduce the risk of any private information being made available to bad actors.

The Wrong Kind of Email

Phishing is the tactic of a hacker attempting to gain information or easy money by posing as someone the victim knows. This type of attack most often happens over email or text messages, coming from similar addresses. Let’s say you’re a Lydia@DentalClinic.com, an assistant or front office manager might get an email from Lydia@Denta1Clinic.com asking for records or passwords to be forwarded. To be clear, this is the most common way that accounts are compromised with cloud technology, as the technology itself is substantially more sophisticated than most people attempting to compromise it.

Defending against phishing is simple, especially with resources and training for your staff, like outlining the official channels you’ll use to communicate with employees and making it clear that communication outside of that should be seen as suspicious.

Above and Beyond the Privacy Policy

Even if you’re ready to have your practice join the cloud immediately, you’ll always have certain responsibilities as a practice owner and oral healthcare provider. Protecting the confidentiality of your patient’s private medical information is a key part of offering exceptional medical care. The responsibility of ensuring your patient’s personal information is protected at all times doesn’t need to be exclusively up to you. Reliable practice management software should come out of the box certified by Health Canada as a Class I or Class II device, and in the cloud, it’s essential that your dental practice data remains secure.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions about the security and the certification of any software that handles your patient’s sensitive information.

Data security is just one aspect of how cloud technology can move your dental practice into the future. Learn more about why it belongs in your dental practice – download our free eBook!

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When patients don’t show, up or cancel at the last minute, it can harm your dental clinic’s bottom line. No-show appointments equate to lost time, productivity, and profit for your practice. Patients also suffer from missed appointments due to delayed care as well as reduced available appointment times. You may be thinking, I can’t control my patients… what can I do to avoid last-minute cancellations?

Although these instances may feel out of your power, there are actions you can take to decrease last-minute cancellations and changes. Here are some suggestions on how to keep your practice operating at maximum capacity so that your patients can have the best experience possible.

Send multiple reminders

When booking an appointment, ask your patient how they prefer to be contacted–keeping in mind all of the different mediums such as phone, email and text messaging.

Maintain accurate and up-to-date contact information, including cell phone numbers, email addresses, and home addresses. Utilize multiple reminder methods with automated text messages and emails. SMS Text Messaging in particular has been shown to result in fewer no-show appointments, as it gives patients the date and time in an easily accessible place. However, it’s important to find software that can automate these tasks for you, and give your front desk staff more time to build relationships with your patients.

Then, develop a cadence for your reminder messages that prove to be most effective in reducing no-shows while also allowing your patients to identify unforeseen appointment conflicts with enough time for you to be able to re-book that appointment time.

This is the reminder cadence that we have found to be most effective:

Adopt a no-show policy

Setting a policy for no-shows, last-minute cancellations or late changes demonstrates that your clinic knows its value. There are many different types of no-show policies to consider. Not every policy has to include a monetary penalty, and in fact, many practices find these to be off-putting. However, adopting a no-show policy doesn’t mean that you don’t care about your patients. If someone doesn’t show up for an appointment, don’t alienate them–follow up with a caring message to see if everything is okay. When someone calls last minute to change their appointment time, offer alternative options to retain their business. Above all, demonstrate compassion towards your clientele to find the policy that feels best for both them and your business.

Schedule convenient appointments

How can you schedule appointments to avoid cancellations and no-shows? Keep a patient’s unique situation in mind when you’re booking their appointments to set them up for success.

Accommodate their needs to ensure they can make the appointment. If your clinic doesn’t already offer extended hours, consider if that would enable you to extend your client base. Taking a moment to understand your patient’s scheduling needs makes a big impact on their view of your practice.

Pre-book appointments

How can you increase patients pre-booking their procedures? This increases their investment in the appointment and sets a standard for your clinic’s post-procedural operations. After all, people are more likely to be thinking about their follow-up visit while they’re still in your office. Create a routine with your practitioners and front desk staff that includes having all patients speak to the front desk before them leaving. Even if no payment needs to be tendered, it allows your staff to ask the patient how their appointment went and allows the scheduling process to be more personal.

Keep a waitlist

If you have patients with unpredictable schedules, offer to put them on a wait list. As no-shows or last-minute cancellations occur, they can be contacted to fill in these otherwise vacant spots in your schedule. If patients do end up missing an appointment or need to change last minute, offer to add them to the wait list so that they can still get their appointment completed without you having to risk another no-show.

Demonstrate gratitude

How can you show your patients that you appreciate them and their loyalty to your practice? Keep a calendar of birthdays and other milestones, and send notes through personalized emails, postcards, and text messages. Ensure that the time they spend in your office is centred around their needs. Practice active listening, and promptly follow up on any questions or requests. Special touches paired with consistent communication and reliable follow-ups create a unique and memorable relationship between your practice and patients.

Make your office fun✌️

Keep your customer base, and your staff, enthusiastic with holiday-centered giveaways and prizes. Set up a raffle that patients can enter every time they show up for an appointment on time. Allow existing clientele to receive a referral perk if they bring in new patients. Make sure your staff has input and responsibility for the events taking place around the practice. Not only will you be creating a fun working environment for your employees, but at the same time, you will be maintaining a warm and delightful experience for your patients.

Conclusion

While no-shows and last-minute cancellations are part of running a dental clinic, you and your staff can minimize their occurrence. In turn, this will boost your clinic’s bottom line and allow your office to operate at top efficiency, since no shows result in wasted preparation time in addition to the missed chair time. If you haven’t already analyzed whether automated software could boost your business, take a couple of minutes to chat with a ClearDent Solutions Expert or download our eBook: Your Guide to Choosing Dental Software.

There are many types of patients in the world. They range from enthusiastic go-getters that are eagerly awaiting your confirmation that they are cavity-free, to the slightly more apprehensive. Regardless of their disposition, understanding what your patients think of you and your team’s work is incredibly important. Understanding if someone enjoys, or even loves the work you do can give you insight into the likelihood that they’ll recommend your services. When it comes to word of mouth as a way to sell your business, there are few tools more powerful.

Beyond the value of knowing who is likely to spread your gospel, gathering feedback in a constructive or meaningful way will also give you insight into where you can improve across the care experience. People in general can be a little reluctant to provide feedback face-to-face, but when asked to do so, most people are happy to talk about their experience.

Let’s take a moment to talk about the ways feedback could help your business!

Take It Online

There was a time when many companies would reliably keep a pad of paper in front of a suggestion box. Now, reviews and feedback online make and break businesses. As more resources and integrations make their way onto practice management software platforms, feedback services are being made available through automated email. Heart to heart conversations with patients about their experience is always a wonderful way to connect, but if you’re looking for honesty, requesting feedback in an email after their appointment is the way to go. 

This route is especially pragmatic because of the variability you can offer. If you believe in a 5-star rating over an in-depth survey, many tools can be customized to accommodate. If you receive a glowing online review, you can just as easily celebrate by asking them to post it themselves. As humans search for social proof online, more and more potential patients are looking for reviews that can paint a picture of what’s in store while in the market for a new dentist.

Getting to the Heart of Your Questions

When it comes time to establish surveys or feedback, there are several ways to solicit a response. Whether it’s asking questions about how they were treated or a simple yes/no to meeting their expectations, the complexity of your questionnaire can have a deep impact on the quality, and quantity, of your results. There are two schools of thought on the matter: While open-ended questions often feel like the best way to bring out people’s opinions, shorter surveys get you more responses, especially when you advertise them. 

Simply asking if a patient would recommend you to a friend or family member is often all you need, with the option to explain the answer. This is commonly referred to as NPS, or Net Promoter Score. The other approach is to ask for specific feedback based on how they enjoyed their experience with their hygienist or other care provider. Although this can provide more insight into how your patients perceive the process, these surveys require significantly more tailoring and customization based on services provided. Either way, there is no wrong answer, just what you’re looking to learn about your own practice.

When Every Time Is Not the Right Every Time

It is obvious that every patient is different, but what is worth remembering is that every patient’s schedule is different, too. If you’re ready to gather feedback and hear what people think, asking them after every appointment can become bothersome. When courting feedback from your loyal clientele, think about how often you’re asking for their opinion, especially if they’re trying to get the most out of their insurance or coverage the week before a new year. 

Finding a way to randomize, or at the very least set maximum survey frequencies, will keep people feeling like you value their opinion and that they’re not just on the receiving end of a mailing list.

Feedback won’t always be what you want to hear, but receiving it is a great way to find areas of improvement and build on an already successful office. When you solicit people’s experience directly they’re often happy to provide it. And, if you can get that glowing review online, your business is all the better for it!

Primum non nocere, or, do no harm, is perhaps the most important value that a doctor holds. It guides the methodology and informs the course of a patient’s treatment and care. While care providers are passionate about improving lives during every appointment, patients can experience, or believe, harm has been done to them. With dental clinics across Canada structured like businesses, online complaints or grievances against a practice can run the gamut from poor customer experience, all the way up to serious health issues or outcomes. They are usually aired through social media or review sites, sometimes in the pursuit of free goods or services, and it’s been happening for as long as people have been able to comment online.

Understanding the best way to handle or react to complaints of all shapes and sizes can mean the difference between a tarnished reputation with fewer patients, and a thriving practice with customers that trust their dentist.

To Respond or Not to Respond

The timeless question since society was first confronted by the online troll, do you engage to protect your reputation, or simply ignore those with an axe to grind? The answer is frequently hard to put your finger on. An easy yes or no ignores the nuance in people’s grievances, and more importantly, the potential for existing patients who might read your response. If a patient feels as though they were treated poorly, but can easily be identified as disappointed instead of angry, they are worth your time to reach out.

Patients and customers who make valid online complaints require a prompt response. Many businesses see success by responding within an hour to formal complaints or within 24 hours to social media posts. While it can be pretty easy to spot a canned response, preparing a few messages ahead of time can save you plenty of headaches and that ticking clock feeling down the road.

One golden rule, regardless of what you read, is to never delete a comment, and never argue with the person posting.

The Difference Between Fact and Opinion

The Internet has done wonders for spreading information about small businesses, creating marketing opportunities that would usually require an expensive team of creative talent. The downside of democratic equality is that personal opinion can be shouted from the rooftops while being treated as fact. RateMDs.com, Google Reviews, and a variety of other rating-based sites offer first-hand experiences that influence curious prospects. These reviews, whether positive or not, are some of the first things that are likely to be searched by prospective patients when choosing a new clinic. Checking up on your online reputation is a healthy habit that businesses of all shapes and sizes must undertake.

When addressing negative comments, it’s worth considering the fine line between fact and fiction. It can be hard to believe, but a post that’s easily debunked as false isn’t worth much of your time. Remember to never argue online. On the other hand, if a patient feels as though they were not treated the way they deserved, through a cancelled appointment or spending too long in your waiting room, responding thoughtfully while outlining ways your practice intends to change sends the signal that your patients and their experiences are being listened to. 

Handling online complaints professionally can help maintain your reputation and show prospective patients that you care about their feedback and are committed to continuous improvement.

A Proactive Practice

There is no doubt that you’re putting in hard work. Whether running a business or treating patients, people rely on you. The work that goes into maintaining the many relationships that keep your office afloat can be exhausting. So, why wait for people to create a deficit that you need to work your way out of? Offering discounts, promotions, contests, or just asking politely for satisfied patients to leave a rating online goes a long way. Building up a strong base of four and five-star ratings from customers who find you calm, supportive, and caring will make a handful of complaints, fact or fiction, seem trivial.

Just so long as you’re asking for open and honest feedback on your site or service of choice, people will speak from the heart and create plenty of recognition for your hard work. You’ll have a counterbalance for negativity, and a fantastic resource of quotes and testimonials to re-enforce how great your practice is.

Managing an online profile for your business means tending to both good and bad feedback that comes your way. Handling online complaints with the right tools and approach can soften blows, bring dissatisfied customers back to the table, and provide a large pool of encouragement for patients you haven’t met yet.

Cancellations, no-shows, and missed appointments are a constant frustration with anyone running their own dental practice. Making sure patients arrive on time can feel like a gamble with busy schedules, but it’s not necessarily life that’s getting in the way of some patients making their appointments. Quite often, reasons to cancel appointments stem from anxieties with dentists in general.

Engaging with patients can sometimes be a difficult process if they’ve had poor experiences with a previous dentist. Some studies through Statistics Canada suggest up to 40% of Canadians have some level of anxiety towards their dental visits. Deep anxiety was reported as a substantial driver for early and last-minute cancellations and no-shows alike. If you’re ready and willing, providing a caring experience will reward you with a patient that’s calmer and more at ease, but also indebted to you. The patient that you go the extra mile for will deeply appreciate your hard work. So what can you do to calm the nerves of someone with post-traumatic dental stress?

Offer Up an Ear

If a patient is brand new to your practice, it may be worthwhile to expand on their medical history. Taking time to establish their previous experiences with dentists gives you an idea about how much care or attention they may need. Asking about their previous dental experiences to learn about possible sore spots is a great way to actively listen, but there’s no need to simply dwell on the negatives. 

If there were positive memories, beyond the toy reward during a childhood visit, bringing them to the surface can help to identify paths forward and even persuade them that their dental experience can turn into a good memory. Some dentists also find success by adding certain questions to their intake forms so that the information can be kept as part of the patient’s file. 

A Calming Welcome

Sensory input is a big cause of anxiety. Smells, colours, and surroundings are the first things that set off our nervousness, and all those things are staples of dental offices. Depending on the size of your office, you might be able to curb that sterile chemical smell with a hypoallergenic air freshener, so when a nervous nelly enters for the first time, they don’t immediately feel as though they’re on the defensive.

While we’re on the topic of your reception area, are your walls a clinical off-eggshell, or have you added a splash of paint or an accent wall to spice things up?

A soft blue or green are both shades that naturally put people at ease. If you prefer neutral colours, then consider filling your walls with unique art centred on nature or historical sites, both of which can calm our brains. Other options include adding a TV that can distract, or cover up a particularly loud drill. Creating a welcoming and calming environment can help reduce patient anxiety and minimize no-shows, ensuring a more efficient and pleasant experience for everyone.

Focus on Distractions

When it comes time to take a seat in the dentist’s chair, that same sensory input we talked about before is now in full swing, and there’s not much you can do to limit the sounds, smell, or feel of the room. Presenting distractions for your patient to focus on can relieve a lot of their tension.

Start by reserving any spaces with natural light, windows, or a more spacious layout to allay any feels of claustrophobia. If you’re lucky with the layout of your office, you may have a secure enough ceiling to position a TV or screen that’s aimed at any reclining individual. The combination of sound, images, and stories is a surefire way to distract from discomfort and pain. If you’re concerned that the sound may distract from conversations between you and your assistant, let your patient know they’re free to wear headphones while they get lost in a podcast, audiobook, or music.

The stresses that compile into a bad dental experience may not always be under your control, but how that anxiety and nervousness is handled in patients of all ages is yours to command. When a patient goes from fearful to optimistic about their impending cleaning or cavity filling, they know exactly who to thank, and they thank that dentist or practice with a loyalty that can last for a lifetime. Reducing patient anxiety can also help minimize no-shows and cancellations, ensuring a smoother schedule for your practice.