Starting your own dental practice is a very interesting and rewarding experience. You don’t just get to make dentist appointments, you also get to see all the happy faces of the patients that have been waiting for months for you to open your doors.
You’ll be able to find a great office space in the city that you want to build your practice in, and if you need financing – there are many companies out there with loans available that will help you get started.
If you’re ready for the challenges of being an independent business owner, starting your own dental practice could be the perfect opportunity! As a new dentist, you will be responsible for managing patients, staffing your business, managing your dental practice, and marketing your business.
In this article, we will discuss the importance of having a dental practice checklist to get off to a good start.
Decide on Your Business Structure
A mall general practice is the most common business structure in which the dentist owns and manages the practice. In this model, owners work on their own schedules and decide what they will work on when and how they will work.
They also hire employees as needed to help with some of their duties, such as cleaning teeth or taking x-rays, as well as pay for all overhead costs of running a dental office – salaries, insurance, taxes, supplies – out of his or her own pocket.
Assuming you have decided on starting a small general practice, then most of the responsibility of setting it up falls on your shoulders, then the first thing to consider is the business structure of your dental practice.
How you set it up will determine things like how you make money, how you run the office, and who handles what aspects of your business.
As a new dentist, start by consulting with an attorney, financial advisor, and business experts to know about malpractice insurance, tax laws, and other regulations that come with practicing dentistry. Some attorneys can even help you find financing options including government grants or private loans.
Get Sufficient Insurance Coverage
A dentist has to take care of the dental claims made by patients as well as navigate through health and dental insurance claims. In order to meet these responsibilities, a dentist needs to know about state laws and regulations.
It is essential that the dentist uses this information correctly when it comes to filing for reimbursement from third-party payers such as insurance companies or managed care organizations (MCO). To make sure your work is done correctly, you must go through the appropriate protocols in order to ensure full reimbursement.
The key role of the dental claim process is in ensuring that the patient receives proper treatment under their coverage and needs while also providing accurate information about the claim process.
You must also be sure that you have a plan in place in case your practice does not provide adequate coverage for certain types of treatment.
As a new dentist, it is important to stay on top of all the current changes that are occurring in the industry.
Adhere to Regulations
It is important to adhere to current regulations and guidelines in dentistry. This will help prevent an array of dental problems that can affect a patient’s long-term oral health.
You need to be familiar with the latest state and federal regulations and understand how the dental profession is changing as more patients are moving away from traditional practices and more people are going out of their way in order to find new treatments for current and future medical problems.
The most important thing for any dentist, just as with any profession, is the constant learning process which includes staying up-to-date on new developments within their industry and updating their skills so that they can provide patients with better service.
Develop Guidelines on Waste Management
The generation of waste can be a large cost to the practice. Many practices currently don’t have a method for properly managing waste generated in the office.
Dental waste can be generated by toothbrushes, floss, mouthwash, water, bibs, gloves, and masks that require proper disposal.
Dental practices can reduce waste and improve their environment by adopting a few strategies. They can use office automation tools to organize the workflow and reduce paper usage. They can also introduce technology in order to manage production waste, such as generating patient reports digitally rather than on paper.
Some of these wastes can be recycled, such as office stationery, while others, like used medical equipment, need to be disposed of in a safe and sanitary way.
Many organizations have already taken steps towards creating a more sustainable dental practice. Some use composting toilets or single-stream recycling bins in order to reduce their waste output without compromising on patient care.
Ensure Comprehensive Staff Training
A new dentist requires an extensive and ongoing staff training program to effectively provide care for patients. This is because the average dental visit lasts around 20 minutes, making it easy for a new dentist to miss important procedures or information
The dental industry has been evolving rapidly, with new technology and techniques being introduced in both the private and public sectors. Consequently, to keep pace with these changes, dental offices are increasingly relying on staff training to ensure that their employees are up to date with the latest developments.
A critical aspect of ensuring your practice success is training your staff to follow Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)regulations, guidelines, and requirements.
Dental assistants have a fundamental role in the dentist’s practice. They are responsible for supporting the whole team, from admin work to patient care. They are also expected to put an emphasis on continuous learning and education so that they can keep up with new technologies and trends.
They do not just have a one-off training course for when they start the job – they are also continuously trained during their workday to ensure that they can handle any situation that arises.
Some of these training may be online, some may involve visiting a neighboring office, and some may even involve attending training seminars or conferences by themselves or with colleagues.
In order to continuously enhance their skillsets, dental assistants might take courses offered by their employers or through external providers like universities.
As the market becomes more competitive and saturated, it is imperative for businesses of all sizes to invest in staff training in order to improve their productivity and customer service.
Marketing Your New Business
Once you’ve completed setting up your dental office, you need to start marketing your business.
Dentist marketing is a complex task that requires an understanding of the market, competition, and the mindsets of your potential and existing clients.
In today’s world, marketing has become an important and crucial part of the business. You will need new patients and establish a strong brand presence in your industry.
Here are some ways that you can market your dental practice:
1. Build a Website
As a dentist, it is important to build a website that is professional enough to attract potential clients. You can highlight your expertise easily by listing your qualifications on the website so people can find out more about you or contact you for more information. To attract visitors to your site, search optimize your website, and get paid ads with Google or paid ads on the social media platforms, such as Facebook ads.
2. Get Listed
There are also directories for healthcare providers, including dentists, as they rank healthcare professionals based on their qualifications and experience.
Some directories are free while others charge a fee to get listed or featured on their directory.
Vitals and HealthGrades are free while directories and appointment schedulers such as Zocdoc and doctor.com are paid services that require a contract and subscription.
While all these directories are great, they are not exclusively for only dental patients to push to their directories.
By comparison, denTEL is an exclusive dental platform that has a directory and a professional profile that pulls dental-specific information. It also has higher converting factors, such as reviews and case studies all in one profile. Since denTEL is focused on dental patient traffic only, all exposure and traffic coming to denTEL will be your target patients.
With denTEL, you can create or complete a FREE professional profile, add your availability, case studies (if applicable), make offers, and highlight specialties–features that will all be searchable by patients. In fact, denTEL is the new way patients find dentists. More new features will be rolling out in the upcoming years, such as treatment quote requests, virtual consultations, patient financing pre-approvals, insurance coverage on treatment plans, local dental offers directory, and many others. It is free to get your profile. Click here to create your profile page.
Here’s why this is important: getting listed on denTEL, rather than only on general healthcare directories, improves your chances of attracting a more target clientele, people actively searching for a dentist online. Not only will more potential patients find you, but they will also learn more about your practice, pay careful attention to your before-and-after case study results, and read various online reviews about your practice from around the web. They will also be more open to any dental offers you might have to offer as well as be more interested in your dental specialties.
Once you complete or create your profile with denTEL, you will be verified as a dental practice that is accepting new patients. Your availability will then feature in search results.
3. Create Social Media Profiles
There are social media like LinkedIn that allow their members to create professional profiles. Creating a profile of your business will help you get clients as a dentist.
You can also use marketing strategies like social media ads or email newsletters to share your expertise with the public and build a steady client base. By using these platforms, you can acquire new clients using online marketing strategies without having to network or try other more traditional business building practices.
In conclusion, while the path to setting up your dental practice may seem overwhelming, you should not be discouraged. You will need to start small and work towards building a practice that is sustainable. While the path to ownership may seem a daunting task, starting out armed with a helpful checklist is a good way to manage the priorities and take off on the right foot!
