10 Tips on How to Manage a Dental Office

To create a successful dental practice, it is important to learn how to manage the office effectively. This will improve patient experiences and help attract talented staff. 

Dental office management involves a comprehensive approach. This approach will touch everything from the physical to social environment of your office and all the details in between. 

The following tips can guide you in shaping a great environment for both your team and patients. These tips are applicable whether you have a current dental office manager or not. 

#1 Prioritize a Clean and Patient-Friendly Office

An office that is clean, comfortable, and calming will help patients feel at ease throughout their visit. Take into account the dental anxiety that many patients feel when designing or updating your waiting area, lobby, and care spaces. Some steps you can take to create a patient-friendly office are:

• Choose neutral colors.
• Amplify natural lighting whenever possible. 
• Provide up-to-date reading materials (newspapers, magazines etc.).
• Ensure there is plenty of comfortable seating. 

Creating a space that is welcoming for patients can increase return customers and patient referrals. No one wants to go to a dental office that is dirty or uncomfortable. 

#2 Leverage an Easy-to-Use Booking System

Patient satisfaction is a priority when it comes to successfully managing a dental office. One way to make patients happy is by using practice management software that has an easy booking system. Consider how you can use email, SMS text messaging, or a scheduling app that is HIPAA compliant to allow patients to see, change, and schedule appointments with your office. A comprehensive booking system can also ease tension for your office staff. When patients can schedule appointments themselves, it gives your office staff more time to focus on daily tasks. 

#3 Have Clear Patient Communication 

Clear patient communication creates a superior patient experience. From the initial booking of an appointment through a cleaning or procedure and into the checkout process, aim for a streamlined practice that is easy for patients to understand. When patients are clear about your procedures for scheduling, charges for missed appointments, billing, and planning care, they’ll trust you and your staff, leading to higher patient retention. 

#4 Offer Flexible Payment Plans 

Flexible payment plans can help your patients maintain their oral health while supporting healthy cash flow and contributing to a profitable practice in the long run. By making financial arrangements, you can help patients who have different payment abilities. Successful dental practice management includes considering a diverse range of patient needs. 

#5 Invest in High-Quality Tools and Cutting Edge Technology

Your patients and staff will benefit from having access to modern technology that improves patient outcomes and makes your dental professionals’ jobs easier. Supplying staff with quality tools and giving those tools proper maintenance also ensures you won’t have service delays that impact patients or your practice’s revenue. Investment in high quality tools can also help attract dentists and specialists to your practice. Just make sure you offer comprehensive training on the tools.  

#6 Safeguard Patient Data

To become a reputable and trusted dental practice, you’ll need to have an all-inclusive understanding of how to manage a dental office regarding patient data and record security. Setting up your practice to be HIPAA compliant protects your patients, staff, and business from breaches that negatively affect patients or lead to expensive lawsuits. Consult an IT professional familiar with HIPAA to double-check your systems and compliance. 

#7 Update and Upgrade Your Staff Training Regularly

High-quality staff training is vital to successful dental practice management. Reviewing your training once or twice a year is a great way to verify that your materials are up to date for current staff and will also make onboarding new team members a more seamless experience. Plan extra training outside of your office to further strengthen teamsmanship on your staff and to teach staff to use new techniques and tools confidently. 

#8 Create a Strong Office Culture

The workplace culture of your dental practice is massively affected by your office’s leader(s). Successful dental practice management hinges on an office culture that does the following:

• Supports reciprocal respect amongst staff.
• Encourages learning and growth.
• Has clear team values.
• Prioritizes continual staff development. 

You may find that your office has its own cultural pillars, check in with your staff and ask for feedback to further shape your dental workplace culture. 

#9 Implement Favorable Scheduling

A streamlined dental practice benefits your staff by making it easier for staff to do their jobs, delegate tasks that aren’t within their scope of practice or area of expertise, and ensure continuity of care for patients. Streamlining your staff by offering favorable scheduling that balances structure, flexibility, and patient needs will ensure sustainability. 

#10 Manage Your Patient Load

In the dental care industry, burnout is very common. To protect employees and ensure good patient care, it’s important to manage your patient load. When your schedule becomes rushed and overbooked, your staff’s stress level increases, and patients are likely to feel the pressure as well. As mentioned earlier, having a calm office where you soothe patients’ dental anxieties is essential. And that’s best created by giving your employees ample time and space to do their jobs exceptionally well. 

If these tips for managing a dental office have made you think about improving your practice, let’s connect. Prodent has led hundreds of companies to staffing success, and we’d love to see how we can help you in your recruiting, engagement, and retention efforts. Just click here to contact us today!