Efficiency is a struggle we all deal with, but the great thing about efficiency is that there are always ways to improve upon it. Taking initial steps almost immediately improves your team, as well as the patient experience. Here are some tips for ways to increase the efficiency and productivity in your dental practice.

1. Consider Combining Dental Treatments 

We often recommend that dentists combine certain treatments to save time. For example, it’s a great idea to combine dental crown preparation with other treatments that will take place so you can take advantage of the allotted time and get the most out of it.

2. Go Paperless

It’s no secret that filing cabinets filled with papers and other important patient documents causes clutter. When there is so much clutter to sift through, dental practice staff are more focused on tracking down these documents than they are on taking care of the patients that walk in and out of your office. 

Going paperless may take a lot of time, but making progress every day makes a difference. Before you know it, your office will be eco-friendly, digital, and efficient. You could start by putting new-patient forms on your website for easy access and go from there. Locating important documents will then take seconds and your team has more time to care for patients.

3. Scheduling blocks

Scheduling blocks are widely used across all industries because they allow for team members to streamline their focus on one kind of task as opposed to dedicating low-quality attention to their ever-growing to-do lists. We recommend that other dentists and their teams do this as well. For example, you may block out 3 hours in the morning for treatments only relating to Invisalign Clear Aligners and dental braces. These treatments could be braces fittings, adjustments, or consultations. Once your team gets in the habit of utilizing scheduling blocks, you will quickly find they get to spend more time away from the practice to relax and rejuvenate themselves, thus allowing them to come back to work more positive and motivated. 

4. Use Mobile Technology, like OrthoPhoto Dental App

There are many dentist apps out there that help improve dental practice efficiency and productivity. OrthoPhoto App is a HIPAA compliant application that allows dentists to take clinical images of their patients’ braces progress, right on their smartphones. 

The application automatically places the images into a template that organizes them in the proper format, and you can assign them to individual patient folders with ease. Additionally, the search function helps you search for specific records and delivers results instantly. Dentists and orthodontists no longer need to dedicate extra hours after the office is closed to handle a mountain of clinical images that document different phases in braces progress. Download it today on the App Store, free for a limited time.