If you’re an orthodontist who owns your dental office, it’s a good idea to regularly get with your team to evaluate your practice’s performance and determine if there are any changes that could be made for the better. Here are some questions you can ask that will give your team some insight into how to improve your operations.
Do Your Patients Wait Longer Than 10 Minutes Before They Are Called?
Let’s face it, dentist appointments can be a dread for many, and patients need to go back to school or work after their appointment, so the less time they spend waiting, the better. Not only does waiting feel like a waste of time for many, but it also might increase dental anxiety in some patients.
If your patients have to wait longer than 8-10 minutes, it’s time to make some changes. We recommend gathering as much information as possible about patients before their scheduled appointment. Have your front desk staff ask if any patient information has changed. If it has, then it’s a great idea to only give patients the paperwork that needs updating. If none of their info has changed, then it’s much easier to ensure they get called back in time.
Another method of improvement is to automatically provide patient paperwork through an online portal or via email or text a few days prior to their appointment. Also, consider putting a late-patient and/or no-show policy in place to discourage schedule disruption.
Does Your Dental Practice Embrace Mobile and Tablet Technology?
Let’s be honest–technology isn’t going anywhere. When it comes to improving your workflow and the patient experience, technology solutions can be great for both your patients and you as their orthodontist.
OrthoPhoto App for iOS and Android is a HIPAA-compliant orthodontic application created by Dr. Kathy Nguyen. It allows dentists and orthodontists to take clinical images of their patients’ orthodontic braces progress and automatically saves the records for easy reference.
With OrthoPhoto, dentists and orthodontists can take pictures of their patients’ dental braces progress throughout their treatment right on the app. It automatically places the images into a templated file, which you can save and export with ease for dental record-keeping. Dentists and orthodontists no longer need to dedicate extra hours after the office is closed to handle a mountain of patient records.
Is Your Dental Office Creating The Right Environment For Anxious Patients?
It’s no secret that a dental check-up every 6 months is crucial for healthy teeth, but some patients suffer from anxiety when it comes to going to the dentist. In this case, setting up a relaxing environment can work wonders for easing patients’ worries and working more comfortably and confidently with them. Simple things like an updated paint job can make all the difference.
There Is Always Room To Improve Your Dental Patient Experience
It’s a good idea to always stay on top of your team’s day-to-day efforts so you can get rave reviews and grow your practice. Now is the perfect time to implement some changes so you can practice better dentistry and create a better patient experience.
