600: Solutions to the Hygiene Crisis - Dr. Sam Low - a podcast by ACT Dental

from 2023-07-10T03:00

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Solutions to the Hygiene Crisis

Episode #600 with Dr. Sam Low

We’re all asking how to attract hygienists. But there's another question you should be asking. How do you keep the ones you've got? To help you motivate the right hygienists who are already in your practice, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Sam Low, associate faculty member of The Pankey Institute, with his insight into what hygienists truly want and the best ways to provide it. To learn how to keep your hygienists happy, listen to Episode 600 of The Best Practices Show!

Episode Resources:


Main Takeaways:

Don't wait to give your great hygienists a raise.

Empower hygienists with CE and provide opportunities.

Add technologies that can decrease your hygienists’ stress.

Understand what your hygienists actually want from your practice.

Hire hygienists for their people-person personality, not just their skill sets.

A huddle is not an option. Do morning huddles with your team every morning.

Quotes:

“I know that dentists have always appreciated a hygienist. But I'm sure they never appreciated them till they didn't have one.” (2:07—2:20)

“When we go to any kind of service, we like to see the same people. We don't like somebody different. Like likes like. And so, our patients, who are used to Sally being their hygienist for 20 years — now, Sally's gone. Now, Martha's there. ‘Who's Martha? I don't know. Martha's going to be in my mouth. Is she the same as Sally?’ And then, they say, ‘Well, maybe I don't want to go back there.’ Especially if you have, what? Constant turnover. How many times have you heard patients say, ‘I don't know what's going on over there. Every time I go over there, there's somebody different’?” (3:44—4:28)

“The most frequent, perfunctory appointment in a dental office is a dental hygiene prophylaxis. Nothing else repeats itself like that. It’s predictable. You kind of know what's going to happen. So, if that's the situation, to me, it would be like a process. First of all, how much time do you want for each one of those perfunctory appointments to occur? Now, here's going to be your problem. There is no way, with third-party reimbursement, that you can pay for a dental hygienist and the operatory with what you're going to get off of a prophylaxis in one hour. We've worked the numbers. It's impossible. In fact, if you're not careful, it'll be kind of like Medicaid — you're going to be paying them.” (7:14—8:16)

“Dental hygienists spend 50% of their time scraping on teeth — 50% of their time at that one hour — with antiquated scalers and curettes that they will not let go of because that's the way they were taught, and they were taught that, ‘If I ever give them up,

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