Episode 609: Let’s Get Elevated Hygiene

There’s a lot to know under the umbrella of a hygiene department. Kiera and Tiff touch on what the ideal and most efficient hygiene department looks like — including each hygienist bringing in 3 times their hourly rate — and how to run an assessment to know where your department falls on a 5-star ranking scale.

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Transcript:

0:00:05.9 Kiera Dent: Hey everyone, welcome to The Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host Kiera Dent. And I have this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective, because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, biller, office manager, regional manager, practice owner, and I have a team of travelling consultants where we have travelled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep, we don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental, and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress, and create A teams. Welcome to The Dental A Team podcast.

0:00:51.1 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and Tiff. We are back guys doing these 12 theme system labour of love project for you where you can see how systematised your practice truly is. And we are on number 8 out of 12 elevated hygiene. Tiff, welcome today. How are you doing?

0:01:07.8 Tiff: Oh, I'm good. Our labour of love is just working out so well. We're busting through and I can't wait to see all this culminate and be created and people using it and thriving with it. I'm just so excited. I love doing this stuff.

0:01:22.2 KD: I do too. And if you guys are interested in our Etsy blankets, please be sure to email in. Tiff and I might put on our like, I don't even know. Tiff, do you even know how to sell? This is a real question. I don't know.

0:01:32.1 Tiff: Absolutely not.

0:01:33.2 KD: Okay, Tiff's amazing with a glue gun. I only know this because we had to hand make a hat at one of our presentations. And I convinced Tiff to bring a glue gun through security on a flight 'cause I didn't have one last minute. And so, this one Tiff doesn't know how to sell. So Tiff, I technically, let's use massive air quotes around technically. I technically have a sewing machine. I technically have made quilts. I technically have actually made a dress. It was hideous. I wore it like two times, but I did make it. And I did make myself a St. Patrick's Day skirt that was like honestly, a brown paper bag on my body. It was atrocious, but I did make those. So I'll take over the sewing on this. You'll be the design. You're gonna screen print our 12 systems for this result.

0:02:17.1 Tiff: Okay. Perfect.

0:02:17.4 KD: Okay, done. So with that guys, I know you're dying to hear how Tiff and I are gonna make these, but we will pivot for you to system number 8 out of 12. We are two thirds of the way through. I hope you guys have been keeping track, having a scorecard for every one of these, Tiff's favourite word, scorecard of every system. So just to go back, what was your score for management mastery and leadership on a one to five? What was your doctor optimisation on a one to five? What was your billing with ease on a one to five? What was your five star patient experience on a one to five? What was your smooth sailing scheduling on a one to five? What was your maximised case acceptance? Dental A Team was a hashtag 1.5 out of 5. What was your dynamite dental assistant world? Ours again, 1.5. We're being open and honest with you of our areas to grow. So today, elevated hygiene. Let's see where you guys are at. So Tiff, kick us off on how do you even know there's a lot under hygiene 'cause hygiene is such a big producer in the practice, huge portion of our patient care. There's a lot to know under this elevated hygiene umbrella. So Tiff, kick us off on what you feel offices should have for this hygiene department.

0:03:24.0 Tiff: Well, I think there's a lot of things. I think it's really fun. I love hygiene. I love dedicating time to the hygiene department because I think there's so many things that we can do over there. Rockstar patient experience, right? Making sure that the patient's getting everything that they need over there. And I think oftentimes we think like, "Ah, it's just a recare. They're just getting a Prophy." Like they're getting so much and we underestimate or undervalue sometimes what the hygienists are really doing because we're doing full mouth probes. We're doing hygiene therapy. Are we doing accelerated hygiene? Are we doing laser? We're doing sealants over there sometimes. They're doing x-rays, like all of these pieces and they're smashed into an hour. So what we tried to do was really take everything that a hygienist does so our elevated hygiene team. What are they doing to be an elevated hygienist? And then how are we going to manipulate it so that it's the most efficient way possible to get it done in that hour recare or 50-minute recare. I know a lot of my practices are running 50-minute recares and accelerated hygiene, they're doing usually 40 to 50-minute recares there.

0:04:28.5 Tiff: All of those pieces, what can we do? So how can we prep better? Making sure our morning huddle preps are done, which goes back to, I think the management piece, right? And then reappointment rates, tracking stats, reporting weekly, getting our hygiene team also invested in looking at what are you guys doing? I think hygiene can be a highly emotional piece of our practice, just like a lot of it, right? We're very reactive and in hygiene we think like, I know I'm providing a good patient experience. I'm giving the best Prophy that they're going to get or the best SRP or perio maintenance or whatever it is they're getting the best of the best. But like, where's the proof in that pudding? Let's start looking at some numbers and looking at some tracking for you guys 'cause I want you to be excited about what you're providing, not only your patients, but your practice. You are a piece of the practice that's making sure the rest of the team has a job. You are a provider.

0:05:25.1 Tiff: You are making sure that we're making money, that we're making the production. The team is making sure, working hard to make sure that they're keeping your schedule as full as possible with your help right? But you're such a huge piece of the puzzle and oftentimes offices and practices and hygienists aren't looking at those numbers and really valuing how much that department is adding to the practice overall. So looking at that and really learning to be that elevated hygienist who looks at everything and adds in what she or he can to be even more for not just your patients, but for your practice as a whole, I think is a total mindset shift. And I love it because I want you guys to understand how much you're helping the business, which is providing jobs for other people. It's so cool to me to be able to think like that even as a treatment coordinator, as like anybody in the practice. If we just stop thinking as just healthcare providers and we start thinking like, "We are a small business and these are the pieces that add to all of these people's individual lives." I think it's just so cool.

0:06:29.5 Tiff: And that's something that we focused in on elevated hygiene was to really look at what can we do in the hygiene department that really ramps all of that up so that we're even more of a support to our team and our practice.

0:06:43.7 KD: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and you guys, how was your 2022? I want you to look back and tell me, was it the year of years or was it a really hard year? Did you crush it or did it crush you? This is the time guys for end of year Dental A Team Platinum is welcoming you, where we will physically fly to your practice. We will come and we will elevate your dreams and make them into a reality. And guys, space is limited and prices are going up. This is not a sales pitch. This is not something where I'm trying to scare you into it. I'm just facing the reality of, inflation is here, flights are expensive, and I want to see as many people as we possibly can and serve as many as we can. So if you wanna be part of our elite group of people, there are limited spaces 'cause our consultants can only see as many.

0:07:35.0 KD: We are taking on 10 new platinum offices by the end of the year and that's it. That's all we have space for. So if you wanna be one of the elite 10, come join us. Be a part of our top notch elite doctor community. Be a part of our office manager and hygiene and front office communities. Get your operations manual done and live the life that you've only been dreaming of today. Email me [email protected] and make 2023 truly a year that's unforgettable. We are a complete tax write off. And like I said, we are only taking 10 offices. So don't get left behind. Be one of those 10 and I cannot wait to give you the biggest warmest welcome to completely and utterly changing your life for good. Welcome to The Dental A Team. I can't wait for you to join us, [email protected]. Cheers to 2023 and making you your best self yet.

0:08:32.0 KD: And Tiff, I think that that's such a good way to view your hygiene department that they're helping to produce to create jobs and serve their patients. And so we've kind of got a little bit of a checklist here for you to just kinda see how is your hygiene department doing? Number one, do your hygienists have a goal? If not, do they know that if you're in a PPO practice, they should be producing at least three times their pay on adjusted production? So if they get paid, we're gonna make it real easy. $10 an hour, they should be producing $30 per hour. So three times their hourly rate is what a healthy provider should be doing. Do they know about... Do they offer fluoride? How's our fluoride? How's our perio percentage? Are we taking FMPs every single year? Do we have laser in our practice? What about sealants? What about FMX is being taken on their regular frequencies? What about morning huddles? What about reappointment percentages? What about tracking their stats and reporting weekly on how they're doing? Do they know their hourly dollar production? Do they know? Are they fully working with their doctors to be on time to their exams? Are they calibrating with their doctors to where they can co-diagnose 95% exactly the same as the doctors? Do they use exam cards? Are they taking intra oral photos on every single patient? Do they have perfect handoffs to the front?

0:09:55.7 KD: Do they know how to set appointments complete? Do they know how to batch claims? Do they know how to take payments in the back operatories? Do they have a perio protocol in place? What are the things that we have in our hygiene department? Are all of our hygienists doing the same thing? Are we calibrated so well that if Tiff saw hygienist A and hygienist B, she would have the same experience? Or is A and B radically different in your practice and they practice so differently? Do they know how to do scans on patients? Are they taking scans on every patient? Are these things that we've been able to implement into our practice? And that's how you can tell how your hygiene department is, is based on where are these items? How are their handoffs? Do they have a transfer of trust when our doctor walks in that is the same across the board for all hygienists? These are the areas that I feel really, really, really enhance and elevate a hygiene department when they're all working this way. I will tell you if I went back in time to when I was an office manager in Colorado, holy cow, I would not be doing great on my hygiene department.

0:11:00.8 KD: My hygienists did not work super well together. They all argued about which kind of instruments we used. They didn't wanna help each other set up their rooms. Each hygienist did it their own way. My Friday crew was much different than my Monday through Thursday crew. It was banana town. They were not tracking their stats. I didn't know how to have them hit their goals. I was out of control. I didn't even know. So just so you know, that's where I started where it's okay. There's no shame. There's no judgment. It's just getting a baseline of where you guys are at and then seeing the areas that you can improve on would be where I would start on this. Just to see how is my hygiene department doing and where can I level up to help that department really produce, really take care of our practice, really take care of our patients and make sure that we're all on the same playing field as a hygiene department.

0:11:48.1 Tiff: Yeah, I totally agree. I think that goes back to, we talked about it a little bit with the dynamite dental assistants too, and just making sure that it's calibrated so that everything is the most efficient as possible. And like you said, before taking out some of the thinking, if we can remove some of that thinking, it leaves that brain power for other pieces, which means it leaves it for our patients and our continuing education for our patients or even just conversations. If you can free up some brain space, you get to fill it with other things.

0:12:20.0 KD: Exactly. So with that guys, it's time for you to do a deep dive on your hygiene department. How is it? Do your hygienist tee up treatment? Do they have perfect handoffs? Do they know how to batch claims? Do they know how to take payments in the back? Do they know how to run assisted hygiene if need be? Are they all great with sealants and fluoride and taking x-rays and prepping their charts? And if not, don't give yourself five stars. Let's take an assessment. Let's see where they're at. Give yourself a rating. This is where it's time to pull out the star chart guys. Are you a one, two, three, four or five star hygiene department? Okay. You answer it. And then I'm going to ask one of your last five patients choose random times of the week, would they give your hygiene department five stars or would they just give one of your hygienist five stars?

0:13:13.6 KD: Would they not wanna see all your hygienist? Do you not want to as doctors go see all your hygienist? Are there favourite ones where you're like, "Oh, their exams are so much easier." Well, all of your hygienist should feel that way. Do you have that with all of them? So give yourself a rating. This is the time where you guys figure it out. If your hygienist are not producing three times their pay, do not give yourself five stars. That is a problem. They need to be and we need to find out how to help them. Do we have a set plan for membership patients? How do we work with that? What about for laser? Do we have that in place? Are there ways that we can help advance our hygienists? Do our hygienists all have their CE done every single year? If not, Dental A Team does have CE. So guys, if you're in a last minute bind, go snag our hygiene one. Everybody can get CE for that. Are these things in play? So rate it up, give yourself a number and then let's see by the end of all 12 of these systems, does hygiene need attention for next year or is it doing all right?

0:14:10.6 KD: One, two, three or four or five. Five would be your hygiene is a dream. Every hygienist is almost identical yet with their own flair. They all have perfect handoffs. They know how to take payments in the back. They're all hitting their production numbers 95% of the time. Their patients are, they love them. They've got 98% reappointment for every single patient there. They use perfect exam cards every time. They have their appointments completely perfectly set up. Our recare is always perfect. Where it's got... If we did an FMP this time, we have our FMX next time. We have them all in continuing care. When we have an opening in our schedule, our hygienists go and call. They make sure that their schedule is always stateful. That's five star and that's all the time. If not, scooch it down and really give yourself a number on there and let's see what department you guys need the most help with next year. That way you can really ramp up, maximise and elevate your entire practice. So Tiff, thank you for joining me on elevated hygiene. As always, it was super fun. We're getting this patchwork quilt almost done. We're ready to roll into number nine. That's a pretty big deal. That's...

0:15:14.9 Tiff: I agree.

0:15:16.0 KD: We're almost there guys. So keep going with us.

0:15:17.8 Tiff: We're killing it.

0:15:18.5 KD: Thank you, Tiff. And for all of you guys, rate your number up and then be sure to join us next week where we talk about confident marketing. That will be our next theme for next week, so be sure to join us. Get ready to rate your department, your office on its marketing. Tiff, thank you. Thank all of you for listening and I'll catch you next time on The Dental A Team podcast.

0:15:40.1 KD: And that wraps it up for another episode of The Dental A Team podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.