Solstice Provider Blog

There's no time like the New Year to take a moment to reflect on what you can do during the year to improve your patients' experiences both inside and outside your dental office. Here are 5 things you can do in 2015 to enhance your dental practice:

Recently, my mom had a negative experience at a dental office. She left feeling cheated and insulted. Needless to say, her plan is never to return to that office. Feeling horrible for her, I made plans the next week to visit the office with her and get a copy of her treatment plan and claim form. We arrived at the office and soon after, one of the ladies at the front desk started preparing the documents. While she did that, my mom started to tell her about her experience and why she was displeased.The dental assistant started off listening and then it disintegrated into defending. As the conversation progressed, I watched her make three mistakes dental offices should never make with an angry dental patient:

Business experts agree that rewarding and motivating employees can lead to greater retention and better employee performance, ultimately boosting a company’s bottom line. A serious concern among today’s employers is the ageing of the workforce, requiring greater efforts by businesses to keep, and motivate, their current talent. Incentive programs are a great way to accomplish these goals.

You may have hundreds of patients – but what good is it if each of them are unhappy or on the search for a new dentist? Performing dental cleanings and other procedures effectively doesn’t make a dentist “great.”  In today’s competitive dental world, it’s all about separating yourself from the rest and making your office a place patients look forward to visiting. Make your patients feel appreciated. So how do you create this atmosphere? Allow us to elaborate.

Dental office appearance is extremely important because what your patients see the minute they enter your waiting room helps shape their first impressions. And, first impressions are hard to change. Studies show that people do not take long to make up their minds!

Whether you are just starting out, or business has slowed down, getting more dental patients is a top priority for most dental practices. Even if business is great, it's vital to continually promote your services because patients move or stop making appointments for a variety of reasons. Fortunately, there are several ways to promote and market your services that are fairly inexpensive.

Dental offices can be seen as anxiety-provoking environments for patients who have an extreme fear of the dentist. These patients can be challenging for dentists and office staff. The following tips for handling difficult patients can help improve overall patient care.

Your patient is sitting in the chair and asks you about oil pulling. Huh? Yup, it's a "thing"...the latest wellness craze. It's an ancient Ayurvedic dental technique from India that claims to naturally whiten teeth, strengthen the gums and jaw, prevent gingivitis and cavities, rid the body of toxins, improve skin, clear sinuses, promote heart health and alleviate headaches and hangovers.

Living in the 21^st century, we are witnessing substantial advancements and progress in every facet of our lives. With the quick pace at which technology is advancing, the 21^st century is poised to surpass our wildest expectations. Profound technological enhancements will be seen across all health sectors including diagnosis, therapeutics, disease prevention and many others. Just as in many aspects of medical science, there has been, and will further be, a high convergence of scientific revolutions with clinical dentistry.