Knowing your patient beyond their surface structure is essential. It is a process of discovery that is fueled by curiosity. In my view, the critical elements include:

1. Building trust
2. Understanding the value and uniqueness of each person
3. Uncovering the patient’s emotions about their dental health
4. Facilitating the development of heath, function, and esthetic goals
5. Exploring what is possible for them

Leadership Through Understanding

Why is this leadership? It is leadership because the practice leader is responsible for defining reality. The reality of what is important and how we act on those foundational beliefs. Those foundational beliefs that we call ‘values’ are the building blocks of our practice culture. That culture is defined by:

1. What is our WHY? Is our WHY what we reference to make our decisions and manage our practice?
2. What are the unique rules of behavior in this culture?
3. How do we spend our time and resources?
4. What defines success?

Knowing Your Patient

If practicing in a high trust relationship-based culture is what you desire, then knowing your patient is a cornerstone of your practice structure. It can act as a model for the rest of the critical relationships in and around your practice. If this is your culture, then all aspects of your practice are built around relationships.

Next are the relationships with and within your team. I was recently doing a presentation at a major dental meeting in which I was highlighting team roles and responsibilities. From the back of the room a dentist asked me how I attracted quality team members. My answer was simple:

“You have to be attractive to them.”

What I meant was that you have to study the marketplace and understand what the best candidates are seeking. Then, you actually have to deliver it.

To continue reading Part Two..…

How do you get to know your patient? 

One of the gifts of dentistry is that we get to drive our vision and create the practice that engages and fulfills us. There are really very few professions with such limitless possibilities.

If you dream about working three days a week, you can create that. If you want to work from 7-3 or 3-10 you can. Do you love doing endo procedures? Then you can do them. If you dislike doing pediatric dentistry, then you can choose to refer it all out.

How to Practice Dentistry in a Way That Fulfills You

There is no one way to practice dentistry. This is an incredible gift and for me makes dentistry one of the best professions. Having this amount of choice also comes with some challenges and responsibilities.

The first challenge is accepting the gift of choice. Dentistry is full of outside pressures that can drive how we practice if we choose to let them. These pressures may come from other members of our team, other dentists we know, insurance carriers, or our own beliefs.

Along with choice comes the responsibility for choices, their execution, and their outcomes. Creating the practice you dream about may not happen overnight. It will require a thoughtful plan and the commitment to execute it, but it is within your reach.

The place to start is to allow yourself to dream and dream big. Walk on the beach, find a quiet space, and just let go of the constraints of how things are now. Imagine what it would look like to practice dentistry and LOVE it.

As you imagine this preferred future, tap into your emotions. If you find yourself excited, energized, and propelled to action, then this is the path to start to walk down. Refrain from asking yourself “How” you will create it.

Once you have a vision for how you want to practice, now it is time to ask the “how” question and remember anything is possible. The question is what will it take to create it. Begin with a timeline and ask yourself how long from now you want to have the practice you just dreamed about.

On the right hand side of the timeline is that preferred future. On the left hand side is today and how things look today. Then work backwards from the future and place milestones in time and change along the way.

Remember, for everything you want, there will be something to give up or some cost, but it is possible!

How have you designed or wanted to design your dream practice? We’d love to hear from you in the comments! 

Dentists make thousands of choices during their careers. From practice style to how to shape retirement plans, we get to decide how to do things. No matter what style of practice the dentist chooses, the mix of services the involved dentist gets to pick from is ever expanding. Dental sleep medicine is one of the newest services we have added to the list and many dentists are curious about adding it into what they already do.

Practicing Dental Sleep Medicine

Dental sleep medicine may be the closest thing to practicing medicine any non-oral surgeon dentist will get. Managing a chronic disease – sleep disordered breathing – is much like managing another one, periodontal disease. More and more dentists every day are taking up the challenge of helping their patients breathe better during sleep.

Membership in Dental Sleep Medicine organizations, like American Sleep and Breathing Academy, has grown by double digits each year. The calendar is crowded with courses on how to make oral appliances. Dentists are finding the rewards that come with this area of practice energizing and fun. Whole office teams are being reshaped to learn new skills.

Dentists are taught some medical basics during professional school, but years of concentrating on what we do for oral health can dilute the attention paid to patient health history, pharmacology, and medical comorbidities.  

Since every sleep disorder is a medical diagnosis, collaboration with medical professionals requires the dentist to revisit whole body health and recover the ability to communicate with physicians with appropriate detail. Patients certainly expect their dentist to understand their diagnosis and treatment strategies.

Once the person is diagnosed with sleep disordered breathing, treatment choices include positive air pressure masks, surgery, and oral appliances (mostly mandibular advancement devices). Dentists must have a working knowledge of each of these strategies, especially as we are relied upon for expert application of the third choice. Advancing the mandible to open the airway is the description of what we do, but the implications of that choice involve every bit of scientific based health knowledge dentists know. Incorporating sleep dentistry into your practice can bring new learning and new energy to your practice at the same time that you significantly improve the health and quality of life of your patients.

For more information join Steve at the Dental Sleep course.

Solving common problems in the dental practice is all about mindset. Solutions tend to come from a better inherent understanding of your practice’s values and vision. Clarity of vision makes problems simpler. Thus, one powerful way to use your vision is to make it the basis for how you practice. But first, you must revitalize or find it through a model such as the Appreciative Inquiry Model.

Revitalize and Problem Solve in Your Practice

Part of the problem solving process is finding the disconnect between what you say and what you do. Problems can be worsened if something is clear for the dentist and not for the team.

Vision is the life-blood of a practice. It is the dream that feels within reach, that is worked toward because it is understood to be achievable. So how do you figure out what yours is?

Using the Appreciative Inquiry Model

A problem solving model is not your friend in searching for a viable vision. Why is this? Problem solving models start by identifying a problem and analyzing it. This is then used to guide action.

The flaw in this seemingly sensible model is that it begins from a place of ‘wrongness’ or ‘missing.’ Instead, it is more productive to focus on what is currently good about what you have and how you can enhance it. This a subtle shift in perspective and mindset that sets the tone of the ‘problem-solving’ conversation.

What I’ve just described is known as the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Model. It begins with appreciation and valuing what is, then transitions to envisioning what might be, and concludes with a dialogue about what should be.

The envisioning portion is all about considering values, vision, and vitality. You look forward, not backward, because that is the best way to deliberately stumble upon a new or more inspiring vision.

What gives your practice life? It would be difficult to find out by focusing on the negatives. There is a kind of magic to looking around with fresh eyes and realizing the positive attributes you already possess.

AI enables you to ask what you want, rather than what you don’t want. It focuses on building from a foundation you already have, so that you are not resource poor, but in fact capable of changing based on the abundance you already contain.

What is your practice vision and how did you come to it? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 

Part of knowing yourself is knowing what you want. Is what you want crystal clear to you? Does it inspire you to action? Is it a powerful enough motivator that it can survive the resistance you will encounter in your pursuit of it? Do the people around you know what you want and why it is important to you?

These questions are just the beginning. They are also essential if you are going to move in the direction of your dreams.

Envisioning Your Dream

If you are not moving and seem stuck, then a powerful vision of your dream is both a requirement and a determinant. It is the spark to start your engine. Most of us struggle to gain a distinct understanding of what we truly want at any level, but especially at the deepest level.

A blind person wants to see. A lame person wants to walk. A person in pain wants comfort. There are no competing agendas nor is there any confusion about what is most important to them. That is what I mean by clarity and passion for the cause.

Leadership & Influence

Leadership is about influence. The most important person you will ever lead is yourself. You are influencing yourself 24/7/365. Knowing yourself and taking every thought captive toward becoming what you were meant to become is the most powerful weapon that you have. Use it.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Here are several:

1. Reflect on what you would be doing with your life and career, if you knew that you couldn’t fail. Do whatever it takes to get into the mindset to let go and believe.

2. Secure the best expertise that you can find. Build a relationship of trust and intimacy with mentors. Begin a very detailed and guided examination of yourself. Listen, observe, and experience what happens to you in this process.

3. Trust yourself. Act on what you discover. Do it again.

4. Contact me and we will celebrate your successes!

This post is a continuation of the leadership conversation I started in my previous blog. Check it out here.

For the student of the Pankey Philosophy, ‘Know Yourself’ is a familiar phrase. Dr. Pankey spoke often about understanding your own temperament, circumstances, and objectives. Those are the things that are usually known to us and the people around us.

Valuing the Deep Structure of Ourselves

Modern psychology might call that the surface structure of our thinking, feeling, and behavior. Knowing these things is critical to our decision making and moment-to-moment activities. Dr. Pankey was also a student of and eventually a master of the deep structure that is composed of our emotions and the memories from our life’s experiences that fuel those emotions.

Those emotions and memories are less well known to us and their impact is less appreciated by us. However, they are very powerful drivers of our current ways of thinking, feeling, deciding, and experiencing the world around us. The deep structure is the enormous part of the iceberg that is hidden underwater.

That part can represent great strength, endurance, and possibility. It can also be very unknown, dangerous, and limiting. How well we understand ourselves and what we do with that understanding will determine how much we limit our lives or whether we approach the limits of our human possibilities.

Using Personal Insight to Develop Leadership Skills

Twenty years ago, I did not know myself very well. I knew about my surface structure and very little about my deep structure. That knowledge got a huge jumpstart in a leadership workshop with Brian DesRoches, Phd.

Brian artfully blended the use of assessments, the teaching of contemporary brain science and modern psychology, as well as small group experiences to help each of us deepen and broaden our understanding of ourselves.

Subsequently, my professional coach has helped me to continue that development. Just as we rely on superb clinical teachers to develop our clinical skill sets, this kind of work requires the expertise of a trusted professional. That kind of helping relationship provides insights, observations, expertise, experience, and accountability.

Each of us needs this to see ourselves as we truly are. In my view, it is necessary to have professional expertise to grow your understanding of yourself. Knowing yourself is the foundation of change. You can’t start soon enough. There are no substitutes. It requires collaboration, intention, and patience.

When we ask patients what they really want, we can drastically improve our case acceptance. 

In my last blog, I talked about the path that led me to start asking patients: “Is there anything about the way your teeth look that you would like to change?”

Surprisingly, this one sentence has transformed my practice. The answers often surprise me. Countless patients with chipping, crowded, discolored teeth respond without hesitation, “Nope!” and many others with what I think are quite lovely smiles respond with a laundry list of things they would like changed.  

Transforming Your Dental Practice

Now that I wait for patients to tell me what they want, I no longer waste time on case work-ups that never turn into productive treatment. And because I found a way to zero in on the cases that I like doing the most, I have transformed my practice into one where I get to do more of the procedures that give me a higher level of satisfaction and happen to also be quite profitable.  

My message is this: First, figure out what your dream practice looks like. I think the best way to do this is to pursue high quality continuing dental education, get a great foundation in comprehensive dentistry, and find the areas you like most.  

Second, figure out how to do more of those things. Find ways to give patients permission to ask you for that treatment. If you love treating TMD, allow patients to uncover problems that will get them excited about the treatment you can provide to alleviate their pain. If you love seeing infants with tongue-ties, include questions on your new patient paperwork about breastfeeding. If you love placing implants, make sure your patients know you can provide them with long-term solutions for missing or hopeless teeth.  

Now that’s not to say that all I do all day is esthetic dentistry. I do plenty of posterior composites and single-unit crowns. However, having some challenging esthetic cases in progress, the ones that give me a lot of gratification and really do change lives make dentistry so much more enjoyable.  

Define your dream practice and eventually you may find yourself living it.  

Why is it sooo difficult to manage people? Probably because we spend time trying to “manage” people.

I’ve come to the conclusion that people aren’t meant to be managed. Scary words from a CEO, right? The truth is, I’m not very good at managing people, so instead I strive for creating clear expectations, responsibility, and accountability.

I believe that everyone has unique gifts and we should position people to utilize their strengths. When someone isn’t performing up to my expectations, communication is the key to affecting change. I have learned that the ultimate outcome is completely in the hands of the team member.

So how do we hold people accountable and what happens when they repeatedly fail to live up to their responsibility? The key is effectively communicating the expectation for their performance and developing ownership around the outcome. I find it most effective to do this during face-to-face meetings with a system called the 3 Fs: Fair, Firm, Frank.

3 F’s of Effective Communication

Fair

When a team member underperforms, I schedule a short meeting with them to discuss the situation. During the discussion, I begin with questions about their behavior or performance to determine what led to it and how to correct it.

The objective: To make certain the team member understands the expectation of the level of performance, acknowledges where they fell short, and creates a commitment and a plan of action which results in achieving the expected level of performance.

In this meeting, you want to be FAIR – listen to the team member while creating clarity around what happened and what the preferred action would be to avoid repeating the situation in the future.

Firm

Sometimes the “fair” conversation doesn’t have the desired results or the team member improves for a period of time but then slides back into old habits. In the event that this happens, you will have to schedule another meeting. During this second meeting you have to be FIRM.

The objective: To have the team member, immediately, bring their performance up to the expected level.

Briefly review the area of underperformance and remind the team member of the commitment and plan of action they made during the first meeting. Be clear that if the team member chooses not to immediately bring their performance up to the expected level, that will indicate to you that they are not a willing, contributing member of the team.

Frank

Despite having the “Fair” and “Firm” conversations in an attempt to correct performance, there are times when a team member simply does not upgrade their performance to a consistent and acceptable level. If that occurs then it is time to be FRANK.

The objective: To clearly explain that the consequence of a failure to immediately perform at the acceptable level will be termination.

As with all leadership, you should find your own style, language, and habits. I tend to try to be encouraging and remind the team member of why I believe in them, while emphasizing the need for the team member to perform up to expectations.

I also like to email a team member after the meetings recapping what they committed to. This confirms I heard what they intended and that we are working off of the same expectations.

Regardless of your leadership style, the 3 F’s provide a solid guide for how to address underperformance in the unfortunate instance when it is progressive.

Note of thanks: Dr. Rachel Pullsen shared “the 3 F’s” with me and the other women who came together this past July for the first annual Pankey Women’s Retreat. Thanks so much, Rachel, and give a big thanks to your sister-in-law who I believe is the originator of the 3 F’s. We all grew as a result of your sharing!

A bedrock value of Dr. Pankey and those who have chosen to follow his visionary teachings is that the welfare of patients is first and foremost. 

Putting the patient’s needs first is the lens through which all other professional decisions we make as caregivers must pass. If something doesn’t pass the test of being in the patient’s best interest, as ethical dentists we must give it a serious review.

Why Technical Skills Alone Are Not Enough

The response to this commitment by many dentists is to dedicate themselves to perfecting their technical skills, whether that be during their dental school days or in frequent post-graduate studies. Dr. Pankey encouraged this, harkening back to the days of his parents’ dry goods store, saying it is necessary to “have it on the shelf.” 

While a necessity, simply being a good technical dentist is not enough. We live in a world of marketing sensory overload and patients experience a tsunami of messages when trying to make healthy choices. How can a good dentist stand out from the crowd and benefit more patients?

Empathetic Understanding Is Key

Dr. Pankey’s mantra was “Know Your Patient, Know Your Patient, Know Your Patient,” but limiting that knowledge to the patient’s clinical condition short-circuits the concept’s power.  Knowing the patient’s circumstances is priceless and allows you to understand some potential barriers they may have to moving forward with treatment, as well as when now is the right time to pursue optimal dental health.

Combining excellent clinical knowledge, an empathetic understanding of a patient’s circumstances, and earning the patient’s trust can open a powerful pathway to optimal health for our patients. Knowledge, understanding, and trust, coupled with our dedication to what is best for the patient, allows for the possibility of true partnership.

Treasured learning from Dr. Pankey and the Pankey Institute are the tools to partner with our patients – to walk with them, hand-in-hand, on the path to optimal health. The marketer sees the patient as a prospect – someone who will bring business and profits. The technician sees the patient as a collection of defects that need expert fixing. It is the master dentist who brings skills, both technical and behavioral, to partner with patients as they guide and support them toward their vision of health.

Cost vs. Benefit of Building an Online Presence

Blogs are all the rage for company websites and an increasing number of dental practices are using them. You may have already dipped your toe in by starting one or wondered if it’s worth it.

The answer is: Sort of.

What’s a Blog and Why Do I Need It?

A blog is simply a short or long amount of written information added regularly to a specific page on a website (this is getting pretty meta, isn’t it?). It’s a place where people write public thoughts, opinions, etc. Usually, it’s more casual than most other website copy. In the dental practice world, you might use it to explain common questions patients have in more detail, relate patient success stories, or talk about your practice values/events.

Saying you need a blog though is like saying you need a new paint job in the office. Unless the place looks like a barnyard shack and paint is peeling down entire walls, it’s hard to determine exactly how much of an effect the improvement is having.

Understanding the Pros and Cons of a Dental Practice Blog

Blogs – in marketing a business – are used mainly to improve Google ranking. A higher Google ranking for keywords related to your practice like, ‘[insert state/city] dentist,’ means you’re one of the first links a potential patient sees. They aren’t likely to look past the first page.

Your initial instinct might be to post randomly generated nonsense using ideal keywords. Unfortunately, Google is too smart to let people game the system that easily (not to mention it looks crazy next to the rest of your gorgeous website and people will actually try to read it).

Blog content has to be readable and it has to be mostly real/unique. Effective blog posts are Frankenstein monsters of actual relevant content and arbitrary computer info that helps Google do its thing (i.e. keywords interspersed a maximum and minimum % throughout, meta descriptions, titles of a certain length and structure, headings, overall blog length, and so on). There are WordPress plugins that will help you manage the latter.

Here’s the clincher. Your ranking won’t be boosted to any useful degree by posting an ideal blog once a month or once a year. For the system to work, you have to post regularly. The exact amount of times a week or month is unclear, but at least once a week is preferred.

If you don’t have the resources, time, or desire to make decent content and post it often (or have someone else do it), there isn’t much point to doing it occasionally. It’s going to be off-putting to potential and current patients browsing your website if the latest post on your blog is many months to multiple years old. It looks unprofessional and makes it seem like your practice went off the radar for a long period of time.

Basically, if you can’t hire someone for the amount of time it takes to completely paint the wall and/or don’t have the ability to finish it yourself …. well, why even start in the first place?

What has your experience been of incorporating a blog into your practice website? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!