The year ahead...

Years ago I was was visiting a friend.They were a great dentist and a thoroughly nice person. They had a staff that loved them, a supportive spouse, a modern, spacious office and abundant patients.Everything should have been perfect, but it wasn't.This dentist was tired and beaten up by the day to day stresses of running their office and doing dentistry. Even though they had everything they needed to be on easy street they weren't.I wish that I could say this is just an isolated instance but it isn't.I've watched many dentists at work and a lot of them are doing it hard — or at least much harder than they need to.I see offices where dentists are working with sub-optimal materials and equipment.I see offices with sub-optimal staffing levels.I see offices where the dentist runs around putting out fires all day long.I see offices where the dentist is performing a plethora of tasks that could easily be delegated.I see offices where getting case acceptance is a tedious, stressful, long-winded procedure.I see offices where the systems are chaotic, poorly understood by the team or even non-existent.Doing good dentistry is difficult. Very difficult. That's even when you have everything 100% in your favour. But if things are not 100% right then it becomes exponentially harder.Things did not finish up well for my highly stressed friend which was a great shame.That's been my inspiration behind producing a new course entitle The Art of Efficient Dentistry.The whole intent of the course is to make the practice of dentistry as simple and stress-free as possible. This is done by perfecting the materials, the team, the dentist and most of all the systems in the office.In 2016 you really should work at making dentistry easier for yourself and more effortlessly profitable.Coming to The Art of Efficient Dentistry in Melbourne on 13 February or Sydney on 5 March would be a great start.