On October 1, 2018, I retired from my solo private practice of twenty-eight years in the rural town of Wolfeboro, NH. During my years of practice, I sought continuing dental education from organizations like The Dawson Academy and The Pankey Institute to advance my technical skills. At the same time, I was a student of communication reading numerous books by authors like Travis Bradberry, Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey, Kerry Patterson, and John Maxwell. In 2009, I received a master’s degree in strategic communication and leadership from Seton Hall University. My story is one of joy, fulfillment, and financial success.

For twenty-eight years, I practiced dentistry without the influence of dental insurance, never participating with any PPO’s or Premiere programs with set fees. And in spite of that, my practice thrived. Was it because I was good at my craft? Maybe. I attribute my joy, my fulfillment, and my financial success to the deep relationships I fostered not only with my patients, but also with my staff.

An Unhappy Time in My Life

Early on in my career, I admit that I focused too much on the “numbers” or the financial side of my practice. My mood was often like a rollercoaster. When the numbers were “up,” I was “up.” When the numbers were “down,” I was “down.” In addition, patients frequently refused my treatment recommendations. It was an unhappy time in my life, and I was heading towards burnout. I was often angry and frustrated making everyone in my path miserable.

On occasion, my wife would tell me, “I know that in your heart you mean well, but sometimes your delivery stinks.”

I knew I couldn’t continue this way, and so with some trepidation, I set out to change. I knew this self-examination would be humbling as I took a hard look at myself, my poor communication, and my poor leadership. I knew that before I could lead my staff, I had to get myself straightened out.

A New Focus on “We”

In my searching, I learned that “you can’t give away what you don’t own.” Through lots of study and reflection on my less-than stellar communication skills, I was able to change my “me” focus into a “we” focus. Instead of my usual focus on money or “the golden eggs,” I started to focus on my staff and my patients, the “geese that laid the golden eggs.” And as a result, an interesting thing happened regarding the income of my practice. Instead of “me chasing it, it chased me.”

Lots of the practice management courses today emphasize the transactional or money aspects of running a dental practice: scheduling, collections, website design, marketing. There is no question that these areas are important and are necessary aspects of running a dental practice. However, in my opinion, lasting change and growth in a dental practice starts with the dentist’s thinking and his/her ability to communicate effectively.

In Part 2, I will outline some transformational life-changing concepts with the hope you, the dentist, and your team will experience the benefits of improved communication.

The dreaded single central crown… How many of us feel confident that we can deliver an acceptable restoration on the first try?

We even prepare our patients for the inevitable follow up appointments to “fine tune” the shade. Let’s not even start the discussion of how to charge for this. So, maybe we just veneer the other central for a better match, even if it didn’t need the restoration. If we are hoping to preserve as much natural tooth structure as possible, then obviously this is not ideal.

An Incredibly Technical Task

Shade matching in the anterior, especially for a single tooth, is one of the most difficult endeavors in dentistry. The level of accuracy has to be so high it can become frustrating for the dentist, ceramist and patient very quickly. The subjectivity of this incredibly technical task only serves to further complicate the results. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then it takes a novel to describe a single anterior tooth!

The eLab Alternative

What if we could quantify shade in a way that guided the technician in creating the restoration? What if we could perform a “digital try in” with a high level of accuracy? What if we could know with a higher level of certainty what truly isn’t right about the shade and make the correction in the lab? This is what the eLab protocol provides us: quantitative shade matching using calibrated polarized images, a digital try in and more success.

At the 2019 Annual Pankey Meeting in September, I will present the eLab protocol and describe image acquisition and calibration so the technician can use this information to aid in both fabrication and verification of the final restoration.

Wouldn’t you love to work more predictably with your technician, even when in different geographic locations? Join us from September 12-14 to see what’s possible!