Issue #41-3.18.08

Louis Malcmacher DDS MAGD Printer Friendly Version

The Most Important Team Member

Every article you read today in dental practice management talks about building and creating a great team. Dentists, you may be leaders of the team, but nothing gets done in your office unless you have a team, which includes your dental hygienists, dental assistants and front office staff. You need to take care of your team. Take your team with you to continuing education so that they are as knowledgeable as you are in the services you provide to patients. Your hygiene staff is very important, your dental assistants are crucial to your success and your front office people are the gatekeepers looking out for your best interest.

But wait, there is another important member of the dental team. When I hear some practice management speakers talk about the team, I believe that we have previously left out who I consider to be the most important person of the dental office team.  Every dentist reading this article needs to add this person immediately to his or her team with the respect and honor deserved. One of the best things about this team member is that he or she pays you. The most important person on your dental office team is the patient!

Some dental offices are so worried about their own in-office team that they almost forget about the patient. Many times in dental practice management, you almost get the feeling that there is an “us vs. them” mentality.  We have to try to manipulate the patient to do what we want, and that is when our team wins. If the patient doesn’t do what we want, then they win. I have news for you – you can’t force people to do anything they don’t want to do. And if somehow you are able to force them to do it, it will always come back to bite you. 

Once we get our patient into the office, we let these patient team members tell us where they want to go, what kind of treatment they want and how they want to be treated. We work with the patients as valuable members of the dental team.  They want the treatment, we want to provide the treatment and then we all work together to make it happen. That’s what team work really is. It is not “us against them”; it is us and them together so that everyone wins.

It’s not just in treatment planning arena where the team approach with the patient works well, but also in the financial planning. Using patient financing plans, such as Care Credit, is one way we have been able to forge this bond with the patients and make them valued team members. By helping them work through the financial aspect, we get paid. They are able to finance their dental treatment and affordably make payments. Working with patients in terms of their financing and treatment plans is crucial – if they get a little less financing, we can break up the treatment plan until they can afford the rest. In many cases, a company like Care Credit will give us more financing than we asked for if a patient has a good credit history and all of a sudden the treatment plan grows beyond what we initially talked about. 

Yes, there are unreasonable patients with ridiculous demands like, “Pull out all of my teeth and give me dentures.” When the patient, as a team member, is unreasonable or can’t be dealt with, we vote him or her off the island and are off the team. The truth is that most patients are reasonable and wonderful people who we are proud to have as members of our dental team. 

People come to us because they are looking for changes in their lives, big or small. Like any good team, we all make suggestions, work through alternatives if possible and come up with the best action plan. But that must happen with the most important team member, the patient; it does not happen without him or her. 

When you start treating patients as an integral part of your dental team, amazing things can happen for you. Certainly it’s nice to have a team member that pays you, instead of the reverse. When you get paid, this is a win-win situation for everyone in the office.  Start treating your patients as the most important team members watch your practice grow.

Dr. Louis Malcmacher is a practicing general dentist in Bay Village, Ohio and an internationally known lecturer, dental consultant and author and consultant to the Council on Dental Practice of the ADA. Interested in knowing more about how to truly enjoy dentistry?  Click here 

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To reach Dr. Malcmacher email him at DrMalcmacher@thedentistsnetwork.net or 800-952-0521.