A well organized and motivated dental team makes everyday life in the dental office a breeze

An effective practice team, a dental office manager and innovative tools assist in optimizing many aspects of everyday life in the dental office.

A well-rehearsed, motivated dental office team is the heart and soul of any dental office without which life would come to a standstill. In your role as practice owner, what can you do to ensure that the day-to-day life of your dental team runs smoothly and harmoniously? There is no easy answer to this question. Here are some suggestions:

Dental team: sharing and implementing strategies

All members of the dental team should be aware of the philosophy, or core values, of the dental office. They should identify with them and live them in their day-to-day work. In this way, your patients will subliminally be given a good feeling and a general sense that there is a certain level of safety in your dental office. It goes without saying that it is also important that the members of your team should be appropriately qualified to fulfil their duties so that the team can function well. In addition, “soft” factors, such as social skills and good communication skills also come into play. After all, patients should feel well looked after and competently cared for.

Dental team: encouraging continuous professional education

Engaging the entire dental office team in regular internal and external professional training is an effective measure to strengthen and expand the technical skills portfolio. It may also be useful to encourage training in non-medical areas, e.g. communication training. Team-building workshops are an excellent investment to keep colleagues motivated.

Dental office manager: staying on top of administrative tasks

Do you employ a lot of staff in your dental office? If your dental team is quite large, you may consider hiring a dental office manager. In this way, you will be able to free yourself from almost all tasks performed at the middle management level (administrative responsibilities, personnel management, marketing, advice-giving). Instead of having to take care of the business-related side of your practice, you can focus on the most important part of your work as a dentist - and spend more time with your patients.

Patient consultant: A win-win for patient and dental care providers

Another possibility is to employ a patient consultant who gives advice to patients before they see the dentist. Consultants can give professional advice to patients on certain treatments, such as cosmetic makeovers, ahead of the treatment. The advantages are obvious:

• noticeable relief of the burden on dentists
• consultation in a relaxed environment in a designated consultation room
• lower psychological barrier for patients to ask questions
• increased use of visual aids (e.g. flyers, images, films, iPad with IvoSmile app)

A glance in the mirror

The “IvoSmile” app provides a particularly useful tool. This innovative, user-friendly app enables you, your dental office team or patient consultant to inspire emotions and create enthusiasm: In the course of the consultation process, IvoSmile allows you to provide your patients with images of what they could look like with a prospective esthetic makeover in place - with no strings attached and without time-consuming, expensive photo shoots or mock-ups.