Operating costs remain high, which means dentists must find ways to plug cashflow leaks in order for their practices to thrive.
Two dentists connected with Becker's to answer, "What's losing dentists money right now?"
Note: Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Matt Carlston, DMD. Vice President of Marketing and Partner Recruitment at Comfort Dental: I feel like the place where dentists are losing money right now is obvious. They are losing money on marketing themselves as a high-end dentist and refusing to diagnose properly, [which is the] bread and butter of dentistry. By failing to properly create a full treatment plan, they opt for procedures that raise their overhead and most importantly, might not be in the best interest of the patient. Dentists essentially cherry pick the high dollar options and neglect to advise of the basic services that are required. Pain, infection and disease control should be treated prior to implants and crowns. Once the patient's mouth is healthy and the above three items have been addressed, then moving on to elective procedures should be the next step in the treatment plan. Too many dentists fancy themselves as prosthodontists when they should instead focus on periodontal disease, caries control and establishing good hygiene. By doing these procedures first, (like we were all taught in dental school) dentists will be able to do procedures that will generate a lower overhead, quit losing money and most importantly be in the best interest of the patient.
Phillip Isaacman, DDS. Bluff City Dental (Memphis, Tenn.): What we are currently losing money on is training/onboarding new people. There are heavy costs in time and money associated with hiring new personnel. We do learn from each experience, which is nice. We haven't found any quality from the job posting sites. It seems like those avenues have led to more suspects than prospects. As with our practice, word of mouth is the best referral. Humans are our most valuable asset, so hiring the wrong ones are our costliest mistakes.