Latest / The Word of Mouth Podcast / Alternative Dentistry? Could be the move. | WoM Ep 006
Transcript
- Jeffrey Lunt: Alright, welcome back to the Word of Mouth Podcast, the weekly podcast where we discuss the business, trends and tech that are evolving the dental practice landscape. I'm your host, Jeff. Sarah Lunt: And I'm the co host, Sarah. Jeffrey Lunt: And today we're gonna talk a little bit about something that we touched on last week, but that the dental pr ⁓ market is changing and business owners need to develop innovative ways to grow their practice. And so ⁓ we're gonna discuss why that is, some of these articles that have come out in the news about different practices that are doing things a little bit differently, things that are opportunities for dentists moving forward and then How to develop a plan for your practice. so Sarah, let's talk a little bit and kind of recap what we talked about last week. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, so last week we talked a little bit about some laws ⁓ affecting dentistry nationally as well as in our home state of Utah. ⁓ so those listening to go a little more in on those topics, they can definitely ⁓ check out that podcast. We also talked about ⁓ the amount of patients deferring dental when they have other medical debt and ⁓ I mean those rates are just kind of staggering how many people are putting off dental care in the United States right now. We also talked about the dental market, which is predicted to double by twenty thirty three. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and the doubling comes at an interesting time because we know a lot of dentists who are seeing a decrease in their salary. And so dentists are making less money, meanwhile, more people are spending money on dentistry. And so today we want to talk about some people who have been in the news for innovative practices or some opportunities that exist in dentist in dentistry for dentists to ⁓ maybe find their foothold again and develop a practice that's a little bit more future proof. ⁓ we've just seen so many dentists kind of get locked into the same way of doing marketing and approaching dentistry in their ⁓ community that they're missing out on a lot of opportunities, but it's because ⁓ they're not adopting these new these new ways of doing things. So Sarah, why don't you talk a little bit about our first case study? Sarah Lunt: Yeah, so this first article focuses on Dr. Shaw, who is a professor at Rutgers, who works for the New Jersey NHL team as their sideline dentist. ⁓ he's an assistant dentist, so he goes to half of their hockey home games and he grew up loving hockey, and so it's a fun way for him to kind of mix his career ⁓ with his his hobbies, right? He is able to stay involved in the sport that he loves while working and getting some supplemental income. ⁓ which is just kind of a unique way to approach dentistry, right? And I think there are a lot of opportunities for dentists to use those skills that they have in their field of work in other areas of their lives, ⁓ their hobbies and passions. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it talks in the article about how his dad loves hockey. They grew up going to ⁓ hockey games together and now he gets tickets to all the games he's at and ⁓ so his family's able to go and enjoy with him. the NHL is a unique sport, especially in regards to dentistry. It's the only sport that you are required to have a team dentist on staff at games because in the article he talks about how he has to get these players out in during the intermissions and so between periods one and two he has 15 minutes to get these players ⁓ who have dental needs back out on the ice and so it's a unique challenge for sure but it also ⁓ allows him the opportunity to ⁓ practice dentistry ⁓ in kind of a way that's unique to his interests ⁓ and so I think we'll talk a little bit about that but it also highlights another opportunity for dentists and that's education and And ⁓ these we're talking about this article specifically because of those two things, but it's not the ideal isn't necessarily to go work for an NHL team or to go become a ⁓ professor in a college, but simply to increase the ideas for exposure in the community. So there's a lot of opportunities with sports or different hobbies, that can grow your practice, not necessarily from a pure income standpoint, but just from a community involvement. And then the same thing goes for education. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, exactly. Like you said, there there are probably lots of ways that we haven't even thought of to weave your hobbies into dentistry. Like ⁓ something we've been talking about is mouth guards for sports teams and kind of educating on that ⁓ recreational activities ⁓ or ⁓ you know, if you're into cooking, I'm sure there are ways to incorporate dental health into some of that education. I think, like you said, there are lots of opportunities to be creative and to kind of get out there for this community exposure, potentially some supplemental income, but also just ⁓ incorporating more of your hobbies into your into your work. I think is a cool aspect of dentistry that this article kind of introduced to me. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and I I mean, the opportunities are endless. ⁓ it's just being creative and honestly having some of those things, if you're giving mouth guards to the local football team, ⁓ you're now getting an opportunity to interface with each one of those players and potentially their families. So you're not necessarily making money necess from the mouth guards, ⁓ although There may be opportunities with working with the schools on that, but you are getting the opportunity to become more familiar with the players and their families and people do business with the kinds of people that they know, like and trust. And if you're doing that, you're good they're gonna know you. ⁓ they'll probably like you and they're gonna trust you because you're taking care of their kids. And so, ⁓ it's just an opportunity to increase kind of that referral that local referral network and That's the amazing thing about dentists are they are so hyper local. ⁓ so as a business there are so many opportunities because their market isn't three counties wide, it's a ten minute drive from their practice. And so, there's huge opportunities there. Also, education ⁓ is a great way. Community ⁓ community events, going to schools and and speaking and having com dental education there. There's a lot of opportunities there. So ⁓ I think maybe this is a good opportunity to transition into talking about working in schools and some of the opportunities there. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, let's talk about the study on school based caries prevention programs, er s C P Ps. Basically this study highlights the gap in in dental care for at risk children. These comprehensive school based programs have the ability to avert millions of dollars in emergency room costs, but they aren't as effective as as they could be. They saw that the kids that really need these programs are not taking advantage of them. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, definitely. I think ⁓ the the reason we want to highlight that is that there is an ⁓ opportunity for these at risk ⁓ children. ⁓ they may not be the big moneymakers, but again, if it's the kind of thing where you can leverage good PR out of it, it it allows people to know you, like you, and trust you. And so ⁓ having the opportunity to go into these schools, of course there's government funding for that. ⁓ but then also working with the schools to develop a plan to get the kids who are more at risk involved in dentistry. And then again, you you can get good PR from that. If it's your if that's kind of why you got into dentistry is to kind of help people who are at risk. This is a great opportunity to do so. but really what this highlights is there is a way to approach dentistry. And that's kind of the whole point of this episode, is that dentistry feels like a very straightforward kind of cookie cutter business. And I think the way the reason that that is is because dentists are educated and they're clinically so excellent. They have four years of great clinical education, but not a whole lot of ⁓ business education as part of that training. And so they kind of get into dentistry. And what we see with a lot of dentists is they're trying to do things kind of the same as everyone else, create that kind of ⁓ cookie cutter business. And what we're seeing with the growth in dentistry is that the opportunities aren't in doing things the same as everyone else, just as with any business. It's being ⁓ it's standing out, doing things differently. And so getting involved in the local school ⁓ ceilings program or ⁓ doing things based on around your hobby there's just opportunities for dentists themselves to shine individually and so like we've been talking about Sarah there's opportunities and hobbies there's opportunities in kind of community outreach ⁓ and think you also mentioned something that's super critical to understand and that's the emergency room visits. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, totally. another article we're looking at today, it tells us there are millions of people every year that visit hospital ERs for non-traumatic dental emergencies. Meaning people with dental problems are flooding the ERs that are already overcrowded. ⁓ and a large reason for this is because private practices are closed on evenings and weekends when a lot of these problems are occurring. And ⁓ the problem with this is not only that the ERs are overcrowded, but that cost for these hospital visits is astronomical, especially compared to these dental visits, right? They'd save thousands if they could just wait to go to the dentist office or ⁓ if the dental offices were open in their times of of need. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah. We just talked to a dentist last week, and she's working six days a week right now. And it's not necessarily she's just trying to make kind of things work financially for her practice, but if she's willing to work that much anyways, it may be the kind of thing where ⁓ and this may or may not make sense for this practice in particular, but a lot of dentists are having to work more hours. And if you just adjust those hours, so maybe you work one weeknight a week, ⁓ and then two Saturdays a month, and you make sure that those days are ⁓ advertised and that you're leaning into that emergency dentistry. Again, it's really finding kind of your ⁓ niche and then leaning into that with your practice and taking advantage of where there are gaps. So yeah, the article mentioned there's two million emergency room visits a year, and there has been since ⁓ 2022, and that's just in the US. And so that number hasn't really changed in spite of the fact that people are having to spend twenty five hundred, three thousand dollars at the emergency room, where if they just could go to a dentist, it could be more like five hundred to a thousand. And so These are the kind of patients that they come to you, they get to know, like, and trust you. We've talked about that a lot this episode. But if they're in your office, the opportunity to win that patient back for other services is certainly easier. And so it may be that not only are you getting that emergency dental income, but you're also seeing the opportunity to win win some of those patients as kind of regular returning patients. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ like just a few months ago I had a filling break and so I needed to go find an emergency dentist or a dentist that could get me in quick. ⁓ and that's the reason I go to the dentists I do, is cause they could see me the next day. And I called, you know, maybe five different dental offices that couldn't get me in for weeks. And so that I'm a perfect example of, you know, just having a dentist that could get me in quick. ⁓ made a huge difference for me and I am very loyal to the dentists I go to be because of that. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and I mean, good for those other dental clinics that are full, but obviously having some of that availability on your calendar for emergency dental, if you want to be that kind of dentist, there's opportunities there. Sarah Lunt: Right. Yeah, absolutely. Something else this article pointed out is there are some dentists that you really lean into this, like you've been talking about, and they post some of their pricing for their emergency services on their website so that it just makes it even more slick for these patients. I think, like you said, if there are dentists that are willing to do it to work weekends, weeknights, I think that's definitely something they could leverage and something that could really help their practice help stand out from other practices. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and I think there's also tu going back to the education component, there's some community outreach events that you can do to educate people on the cost of going to the emergency room versus coming to you, and then posting your pricing on your website. It just all increases that trust and that familiarity. that's so critical, especially in these relationship driven businesses that dentists are trying to create and are really the businesses that are super advantageous and they're the ones that are gonna grow for dentistry looking long into the future. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, definitely. I think we've been talking a lot about some of these bigger changes that dentists can make, you know, going out into the community, going to the schools, changing their hours. But I think there are ⁓ a lot of smaller things that these dentists can do in their dental office, you know, small changes they can make that can make a huge difference for their patients, help keep a patient for life and really help them, you know, form this relationship with with the dentists. saw a practice in Miami just this. ⁓ It's ⁓ APA aesthetics ⁓ in yeah, they're in Miami, and just wanted change your traditional clinical experience into more of a spa relaxing type experience for their patients and is really fascinating to see some of those minor changes they made that made a huge difference for the patient experience. Jeffrey Lunt: Totally. I think they have ⁓ offices in if I'm not mistaken, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Dubai. And they've really leaned into kind of that premium dental care. And of course they're focused on cosmetic care. That's probably where they make their money on veneer cases, full mouth kind of reconstructive cases, ⁓ even implants, ⁓ trying to get those people the kind of smile that they want. But watching this video of this interview with the the practicing dentist, it did talk a lot about just making that ⁓ experience feel super premium. And a lot of the things he touched on weren't super complicated or expensive. They were just simple changes really intended to help that patient feel more comfortable. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, definitely. He talked about music. They can choose what music they wanna listen to, shows or movies they wanna watch while they're getting their work done. He offers a blanket, water. He said sometimes the noise of the drills can stress out their patients. So he offers noise cancelling headphones for their comfort and something I thought that Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, i he made a really funny point about dental drills. He said, Yeah, we've improved a lot in dental ⁓ dental tech, but the silent drill is something that no one has quite perfected yet. And so having those ⁓ noise cancelling headphones, like I think in the video they had beats and they had ⁓ headphone covers so that they can just pull them off, throw ⁓ away, they were disposable. But they added T V on the roof so I can watch Netflix or whatever, but really trying to reduce any of the anxiety associated with dentistry, ⁓ was I mean, that's kind of their whole goal. Sarah Lunt: Yeah. I mean they even go so far as to offer nitrous oxide, which is a g you know, they just put the little tubes in their nose and it just helps them relax, helps the time go faster, and that's something they offer to all of their patients, which sounds, you know, which is very premium sounding and feeling. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I think I mean not nitrous is a super common ⁓ use. There's a lot of uses in dentistry, ⁓ for nitrous oxide, but offering it to every patient, obviously not all of them are gonna take it. A lot of people don't want to use substances to And not that there's anything wrong with using nitrous, but the people who for whom that's not interesting, they don't have to use it. It's not they're forcing all their patients, but just offering that, even for the people who don't, they kind of recognize, hey, these dentists really care. And so, ⁓ yeah, just making it feel premium. They take pictures of their patients regularly. So they have kind of before and after. ⁓ but they have like a full photo studio set up. And so you go in and it's effectively a professional headshot. photograph and the opportunities there. I mean, that's it, I hadn't even thought about this until just now, but going through and taking headshots for your patients, you can get someone super cheap, ⁓ to teach you or to show you how to just get a standard setup for a headshot photograph and then take headshot photographs for your patients. Make it feel at have that be a value add where they are walking out of there with a professional photograph. I mean using Fiverr for editing services, or you might have a hygienist or a front desk person who's interested in photography and wants to maybe grow their portfolio and now they have an opportunity in your practice to not only add value to your patients, but develop a skill or a hobby that they've they've been they've been interested in. And so ⁓ that's just another idea, just as we've been talking, to make make it feel super premium without adding a bunch of cost. ⁓ and that kind of exists across the board. That's kind of the whole point of this episode is really to say there are opportunities to make dentistry your or your dental practice your own ⁓ for all of these dentists. And we've seen it all the time, Sarah. ⁓ the dentists who are the most aligned with kind of why they got into dentistry, their practice ethos, ⁓ those are the ones that are really the most successful. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, definitely. I think if if dentists are willing to get a little creative and try some some new things, I think the payoff can just be astronomical and they can take advantage of this dental market that's that's doubling as we speak. Right. I think there there is money in dentistry, but I think doing things the old way aren't working anymore. But if you're willing to kinda try some new things, I think, you know, the payoff can can be really big. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah. I mean, DSOs are a great example of why dentists, private practice dentists need to be more creative. DSOs have basically templatized the dental practice as we knew it, where it was kind of regular routine care and you don't need to stay super connected to your patients. They just kind of come back. And now people are their business exists more dynamically for dental practices. And so There is an opportunity, ⁓ but it's kind of getting away from the DSOs or kind of the other practices in your market that are maybe sort of similar to DSOs. You're not trying to outcompete people ⁓ in their playing field. You're trying to create kind of your the old ⁓ business model or business idea of red ocean, blue ocean, where red ocean is very crowded. Everything's kind of the same. Blue Ocean is no one really exists there. So how do you create in your market your own little blue ocean? That's that's really what all dentists should be asking themselves. And we've created a resource for dentists called our DSO defense wall. And the reason we use DSOs is because they kind of represent that red ocean dentistry, just the routine cleanings, fillings, kind of volume dentistry that ⁓ is ⁓ maybe the idea of a lot of people's form of dentistry, but in practice isn't the most effective business model and continues to be a losing battle. ⁓ but again, we're talking about this is a losing battle, but the opportunities are so immense on the other side. And so ⁓ we've created this resource and I don't know if you want to talk through maybe just a little bit of what's in there. ⁓ has has the guide and the worksheet for dentists. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, so this ⁓ DSO defense wall kind of breaks ⁓ there are kind of three steps to to it to help dentists identify their ideal patients and to of ⁓ identify how they want to position their practice in a unique way that sets them apart from from DSOs, kind of like you mentioned. So ⁓ This first step is kind of just choosing the patient you actually want, right? We don't want to play the volume game anymore. That's what the DSOs are trying to do. So it's kind of identifying the type of cases you want, the types of patients you want. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, are those cosmetic, emergency, veneers, invisalign? What what kind of is your ideal patient? And of course, there's no problem with having a regular patient base of cleanings and ⁓ routine maintenance, dentistry. But the ideal is to have that base and then develop the relationship with your patients that hey, we also do Invisalign, we also do implants. So that if those patients are looking for those services, they don't kind of go somewhere else. And so the idea behind some of these documents is to create your identity for your practice that allows you to talk to your existing patients and any new patients in a way that helps them understand that's what you do. We see so many dentists who say, Yeah I've lost patients to implant centers because they just didn't know I did implants. And so ⁓ that's that's really what are your ideal cases and how do we present that to patients. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and then The next step is defining what the patient actually cares about, what's important to the patient. Do they want, you know, a smooth, painless experience? Do they want confidence? You know, a straighter smile. Kind of what matters to these patients? Because patients don't choose dentistry, they choose what dentistry offers them. They choose the outcome ⁓ that they want to get from dentistry. And then this third step is to have just clear messaging so that patients can recognize it and understand it. Like you said, there have been plenty of dentists that have lost patients to implant factories because they weren't clear in saying, We do implants right here, we can get that done for you. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and I mean it used to be a lot of cross referral in dentistry, but a lot of our orthodontist clients and the people we speak with are losing their cases to general dentists and general dentists are ⁓ they used to maybe refer out implants, but the technology's gotten good enough that now they just do those in-house. And so the idea is to build the practice that you as a dentist are interested in, and then those are the dentists that we see being really successful. Is those who kind of follow this three-step plan, they're able to develop a kind of core identity, a brand almost for their practice. And we see that with Apidal, that man, they just have a brand down, and you know when you go in there exactly what you're gonna get as a as a patient. And so if you care about that kind of premium ⁓ boutique, spa-like experience that the dentist. Well, now it's no brainer to choose them. And that's because those are the kinds of patients that they want to attract. Those are the kind of patients that have the cases that they want to do. And it's helped them grow their practice immensely. So ⁓ I think that this is a great resource for dentists. It's normally something that we charge ninety seven dollars for, to get kind of access to this this back end system. But for listeners of the podcast, we are gonna put a link in the description so you can get it for free. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, this is an awesome resource for dentists. And if you've used this in your practice, please let us know in the comments what your experience was and what you've seen from making these small changes in in your practice. We'd love to hear from you. ⁓ but I think that's all the time we have for today. It's always interesting to hear different takes on some of this news that's coming out about dentistry. ⁓ And if you, as the listener, are interested in ⁓ hearing more about what's going on right now with dentistry, where it's headed. We release these episodes every week, every Tuesday. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, these episodes are released wherever you listen to podcasts. ⁓ you can come watch us on YouTube, hang out with us there, or you can listen on Apple Music, Spotify, anywhere where you're listening to podcasts. Please subscribe. and comment. Let us know what things you're looking for and what information would be helpful for you and your practice. ⁓ we love interacting with dentists and helping them grow their practice. That's really what we're ⁓ trying to do here at Opke. And ⁓ ultimately we love to see these small businesses. succeed. We think dentists are kind of the the core of the small business or a core of the small business community and ⁓ really look forward to seeing your practice grow and we'll see you in the next one.