Nothing to do?

As lockdown drags on in Victoria and NSW many dentists are under-occupied. They can do emergency treatments but routine care is off limits. You're there, the team is there but most of the patients aren't.

What to do? How can you turn this quiet time into a productive time? I've got a suggestion.

Practice (and planning) makes perfect

When was the last time you and your team sat down and looked at how you do your work? When you do a crown preparation or a filling or an extraction or an examination, how does it run?

For example:

• What is step 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8?

• If you did step 4 before step 3 would things run better?

• Do you really need to do step 2 at all?

• If you tried a different material would step 5 be faster and easier?

• Why does it take so long to get started with step 1?

• Could steps 5 and 7 be combined so the occur at the same time?

• Could a nurse do step 8 so the dentist can move on to the next patient?

If you and your team had a brain storming session you might find you could cut 20-30% or more off your treatment times. I've seen so many dentists who are very inefficient with time and yet only do things in a certain way because "that's how I've always done it". Now is a great time to step back and think again.

Once you get a new way of doing things worked out the next step is to practice it. Have a nurse play the patient and then go through the procedure step by step and see how it runs. Things don't change immediately just because you want them to. You need to practice so the new systems become ingrained.

When things return to normal in a few months, you want to be able to make up for the lost production. The patients will return and if you have worked on your productivity during this slow time you will be miles ahead of the game.