Supplement to Section 3: Hygiene and Recall Posted December 1, 2015 by David Hough, Principal, Dentistry Simplified
Many dental owners view hygiene as a service with limited scope: patients receive a periodic cleaning, wave at the dental team and vanish for six months.
Successful dental owners know this visit can be so much more.
Certainly, the periodic prophylaxis is a main service.
But this is also the prime opportunity for your hygienist to educate the patient in all things dental.
Many of your patients will only visit you every six months. That’s not very much exposure for such an invested relationship. Think of all the effort, time, discussion and communication that not only went in to creating that relationship but in establishing that patient as an on-going patient of record.
Now think of all the ways that patient is exposed to new and competing dental practices in-between your six month visits: new practices opening up closer to the patient’s residence, practices having evening and weekend appointment availability, practices with discounted specials and offers, and practices with more insurance acceptances, for example.
That’s why private practices today need a fully-optimized hygiene and recall visit to not only provide the clinical services mentioned but to re-affirm the relationship between patient and practice.
Your hygienist must be given the directive, then support, to pro-actively engage the patient in all potential dental issues.
This may include the following:
- Reviewing all the day‘s scheduled recall patients to renew information about those patients (your hygienist can lead the discussion at the daily huddle)
- Assigning the hygienist to mini-huddle with the patient advocate, especially in instances where the patient has had significant treatment in the past or who will need significant diagnosed treatment not yet scheduled (the patient advocate should also take time to re-bond with these patients)
- Planning for communication between the dentist and the hygienist, and vice versa (the same approach/game plan for any patient when diagnosed treatment is needed)
- Having the dentist at least stop and say hello to any patients having questions, or patients the hygienist has indicated as possibly needing more care (even those when no exam is scheduled)
A truly committed hygienist who understands the practice’s goals and objectives will embrace the opportunity to have a greater role in practice development. Rewards should follow performance. The hygienist has a greater chance of listening, communicating, educating and bonding with the patient than anyone in the practice. When the hygienist “sets the table“ the dentist’s role is easier. The patient is already educated and primed and will likely follow through with whatever treatment the dentist recommends.