The 5 Bottlenecks for Dentists in Digital Smile Design with Dr. Christian Coachman - a podcast by ACT Dental

The 5 Bottlenecks for Dentists in Digital Smile Design
Episode #399 with Dr. Christian CoachmanBefore you buy great equipment, you need to build great systems. And to help you achieve that, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Christian Coachman, founder and CEO of Digital Smile Design, to give you solutions to five bottlenecks in digital smile design that is holding you back. Just having a scanner won't make you a digital dentist! If you don't know how to use it, or don't have a system in place for it, your fancy equipment will gather dust in the corner. For the best advice on improving patient care through digital technology, listen to Episode 399 of The Best Practices Show!
Main Takeaways:Create and implement great systems.
Have a vision for you and your team.Learn how to prioritize processes.
Understand the importance of human resources.Be disciplined in sticking to your routine.
Overcome the “gray zone.”Quotes:
“The future belongs to comprehensive clinics. It’s not dental offices anymore, but comprehensive clinics. It’s beautiful, it’s powerful, it’s life-changing, and it is a beautiful story that patients love to hear. When a patient understands what it means going to a real comprehensive clinic, there's no way back. They don't want to go back to a “normal” dental office. So, the future of high-end dentistry belongs to the ones embracing this new concept of comprehensive care that goes beyond just the teeth and really takes care of the human being, as a whole.” (11:14—11:52)
“The first huge thing, probably the major one we didn't learn in school is how to create systems. Building systems is the number-one bottleneck. We learned that the scanner does a great job, so we go and buy the scanner. And then, the scanner is in the corner, underutilized. Why? Because we didn't build a system to fit the scanner in to make the scanner the most powerful tool possible. So, we don't get the return on investment. Frustration, etc. And many times, when we have challenges in front of us, we end up going to the old way of doing things and we underutilize, or we let the new idea fade.” (15:16—16:06)
“The dental industry and the dental clinics all over the world, these people know how to build systems. They don't know how to treat patients; they don't know how to do dentistry — but they know how to build systems. So, dental office owners, we need to learn how to build systems before we buy fancy equipment.” (16:39—16:59)
“Everything that we do well, unconsciously, we created a system. But it can take years, because through the struggles and mistakes, we make decisions. And if we decide that we want to do this, and we do it over, and over, and over again, without even thinking, it becomes a smart system because that's the only way for us to do it well and repeat over and over and make money out of it. So, many things in our offices are already a decent system, just because we do it so much, and over and over again. Now, the trick is to find a shortcut to build a system faster, or to think about it and speed up the process of building a system.” (17:10—17:54)
“[Systems]need to be documented. It needs to be agreed on. It needs to be brainstormed with the team. Everybody needs to say, ‘This is what we need to do, exactly like that.’ It needs to be revisited from time to time to be repolished, refined, and improved.” (19:13—19:28)
“Only after you build a system do you ask yourself, ‘Whatkind of investments do I need? What do I need to buy? How am I going to fit these new ideas inside my system?’ And when you do investments after you have a system, you get much better return on your investment, on whatever you're buying to fit the system, and not the opposite like we usually do. We buy stuff, and then we try to figure out how to make something work with that. Every equipment that we buy is just a piece of the system. It’s not the whole system.” (19:53—20:25)
“If you're too busy working, you don't have time to make money, they...

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