Staffing challenges, payer reimbursements and work culture were among some of the topics dentists spoke with Becker's about this month.
Here is what we heard in January:
Top challenges facing independent dentists in 2023
Colleen DeLacy, DDS (Sandusky and Lexington, Mich.): There are many challenges we face regularly, but for the first time in my career I am very concerned about the lack of potential staff. I consider myself lucky that my team returned in its entirety after the shutdown (I was closed for 13 weeks) in 2020. I am concerned about the lack of individuals with any sense of loyalty or pride in the work. This is not a career I feel you can just jump into and do it. Additionally, the backfire of the increased spending people appeared to have immediately after the beginning of COVID is starting to become more evident. With the inflation that is present, discretionary spending is going to come to a fast end.
The most controversial trends in dentistry
Peter Perera, DMD. High Mountain Dentistry (North Haledon, N.J.): Honestly, for most of us general dentists working our practices, dental insurance reimbursement schedules are our biggest concern and the dilemma of whether to accept a particular plan or not may swing hundreds of patients in or out of your office. There are dozens of more exotic, flashy topics to call controversial, but most of those don't affect most of us day in or day out. Having to write off 30-40 percent of our fees when the insurance companies are charging more for premiums and paying out less in benefits is about as controversial as it gets.
Why 1 dentist wants others to invest in themselves
Paul Rotunda, DMD. Vice President and Chair of the Department of Dentistry and Oral Maxillofacial Surgery at Jersey City (N.J.) Medical Center: As has been noted by many successful people, the best investment is in yourself. This is true no matter what the profession, and dentistry is no different. Continued learning is of paramount importance in our endeavor to provide a consistently excellent service. For me, it was being personally trained by Peter Dawson, DDS, founder of the Dawson Academy. But no matter where you learn it, the anatomical and physiological principles will always apply irrespective of any new technologies or techniques. And understanding them will enable you to provide that consistently excellent service. That will be the best dental investment you can make.
Robert Baskies, DMD. Dental Health Associates, P.A. (Phillipsburg, N.J.): I have been a dentist for 45 years. During this time, I built a large multispecialty group practice. Because I employed a periodontist, an endodontist, and a dental anesthesiologist who also placed and restored implants and did all of the oral surgery, I never bothered to [learn] the new dental procedures nor kept up with all new technology. They retired and I was left doing dentistry as if I had just graduated. It took a long time to retrain. In hindsight, if I spent my time taking courses to keep up with the state of the art of dentistry I would have been more productive, made more money and enjoyed being a dentist. So, invest in yourself. There is no better return on investment.
5 trends dentists are following in 2023
Benjamin Joy, DDS. Joy Dental Pines (Pembroke Pines, Fla.): Dentists should continue the trend of digitizing and automating as much as is reasonable in the dental office in 2023. If you’re still on paper charts and processing film, start there with practice management software and digital sensors. Then, consider an intraoral scanner (we use the iTero). Smile design software such as Smilefy or exocad would be a great follow up. 3D printing those smile designs on even a hobby-level printer like an Elegoo would be next. Then would come milling crowns from those digital impressions in house (Glidewell has a good one). Then consider adding radiograph reading software (Overjet). Done all that? How about an app that lets patients book appointments, pay bills, review treatment plans, etc. Digital is the way.
How dentists can leverage work culture to attract, retain staff
Andy Droel, DDS. Droel Family Dentistry (Lino Lakes, Minn.): A workplace that is built around enriching its owners financially as its primary goal will always struggle to retain employees. Increasingly, healthcare employees want to work in settings where they can show up and be recognized as individuals, contribute according to their own personal and professional strengths, and feel like they are making a real difference in clients' lives. There are no shortcuts, playbooks or quick fixes to make this happen in a workplace. It takes earnest, sincere, sustained effort on the part of leaders to build such a culture, significant aspects of which will be unique to each practice that succeeds in this realm.
The best way to avoid losing staff to competitors, according to 1 dentist
Rajdeep Randhawa, DDS. Innovative Dentistry (Colts Neck, N.J.): All dental employers and DSOs have to ensure not to resort to policies that end up making a toxic workplace. Toxic workplaces trigger burnout and loss of highly trained workforce to the competitors. It is always very tragic when a highly trained and experienced dental workforce decides to migrate to other professions or retire early. If your current staff is happy, enjoys working at your practice, and you have already retained them for over 10 years, then getting new staff if needed is not a problem as the old "word of mouth" works for attracting and retaining staff too! If you have a workplace culture where, after attracting staff with sign-on bonuses, you are losing them within a short period of time and start talking about work-life balance to overworked, stressed-out staff then, "Houston, we have a problem!"
What 7 dentists want from the tooth fairy in 2023
Frank Nelson, DDS. Advanced Dental Implant Center (Phoenix): I have been in dentistry a long time and seen an incredible transition in our digital world. If I could get one thing from the tooth fairy in 2023, I would like to be able to help as many people as possible enjoy their life more due to being confident in smiling as well as being able to eat whatever they want. Modern dental implants combined with technology and new materials made restoring a mouth with implants truly an investment, not just a required cost. It really can, for the first time, last the rest of their lives and be better than what they had for years.