5 mistakes that are costing you thousands, part 2

By Rachel Wall, RDH, BS

In Part 1 (which you can read by clicking here), I outlined five mistakes that I often see dentists make that result in a hygiene department that’s not living up to its potential and I gave you several action steps. In this article, we’re going to break a few of these down so you can really take action today.

Here they are:

Do a chart audit. Look for current perio charts.
** Ask your office administrator or manager to start this process.
** Pull 20 charts belonging to adult patients that have been seen in hygiene in the last 12 months.
** Count the number of these charts (paper or computer) that have a complete perio exam recorded (at the very least, pocket depths and bleeding points).
** Divide the number of charts with complete perio exams by the number you reviewed. Example -- Two charts had a complete perio exam/20 charts reviewed = 10 percent.

Communicate to your hygiene team that you'd like them to do a complete perio exam on every adult patient.
** Set up a meeting to share your findings from the chart audit.
** The tone of the meeting is not accusatory but rather, “How can we work together to be sure this exam is being done AND recorded on every patient at least once/year?”
** Share with the hygiene team your expectation for a complete perio chart and what that looks like to you.
** Ask the hygiene team what support they need to be sure this happens consistently.
** Be sure you see the complete perio chart every time you do a hygiene exam.

Be sure you have a clear, written protocol for perio diagnosis and treatment
** Get it in writing and get everyone on the same page!
** Click here to download your copy of our Standard of Care Worksheet.
** Set aside time to complete the worksheet with your team to create a common, consistent standard of care that everyone believes in and supports.

These simple first steps will take you a long way to maximizing your patients’ health and hygiene’s profit potential.

Do you have specific questions about how to put these action steps into play? That's exactly how we work with our clients and Mastermind members. We help them create specific strategies to tap into hygiene profits! To learn more go to www.InspiredHygiene.com.