Quit Sending Patients Out the Door!

A wonderful way to increase profitability in your dental practice is to strategically refer fewer procedures out of your office. Review your referral habits by analyzing the type and volume of procedures you’re currently referring to specialists. Chances are, you’ll be able to identify procedures that you can be trained to perform comfortably in your own office. If you’re referring a high volume of ortho cases, why not take an Invisilign course or perhaps Six-Month Smiles? There is a very small learning curve to become proficient and profitable doing these procedures. If you’re referring a lot of extractions to the Oral Surgeon, why not take a course to learn about the new Golden Misch Physics Forceps, which make the uneventful extraction of difficult teeth, easy and predictable. If you’re like many dentists and refer out tons of endodontics, why not take a course to become proficient at performing at least some of the endo cases now being sent out your door?A number of years ago when my former partner, Kit Weathers and I were having one of our two-day, hands-on endo courses in Griffin, Georgia, one of our female dental students told us that she came all the way to Griffin from Los Angeles, because she was tired of receiving a $50,000 holiday gift basket each year from her endodontist.

This frustrated dentist was implying that she thought she should be doing most of the cases she was referring…and she was right! The good news is that endodontics is one of the most productive procedures on an hourly basis that a GP can do. In fact, the profitability doing endo is so good, that endodontists typically have the greatest profitability of all the specialties, at around 58.5%, compared to general dentists, at 39% or less. During the eleven years, while I was partnered with Kit doing Root Camps, I did my own research on the economics of our students’ endo, both before and after their training. What I found was that after a two-day hands-on course, most of our students became confident performing many of the root canal cases they were referring. In addition, for the cases they had been doing, they increased their hourly production performing endodontics by between 47% and 54%, depending on which tooth they were working on. That translated to an additional net profit for each hour of production of between $255 and $303. Surprisingly, the greatest improvement was for the anterior tooth cases. The average “post-Root Camper” was producing about $949/hr doing anterior root canals.

So, if you’re looking for a quick and sure-fire way to increase your profitability, consider learning to do more efficient endodontics, or learn how to comfortably, enjoyably, and profitably perform many of the procedures you’re currently referring to your various local specialists.

Dr. Mike Goldstein
Goldstein Management