Over recent months I have noticed an ever growing trend which I am certain you will also not have missed. More and more
companies are diversifying their offering and capitalising on a strong brand. Pick up a magazine and you’re sure to find car companies expanding into clothing ranges, breakfast cereal manufacturers offering a range of biscuit and snack bars and a famous smoothie brand now offering healthy ready-made meals. Why is this trend growing? Well, in a recession companies are always looking for ways to increase revenue from customers who are loyal to their brand. If people already purchase a good service or product at a fair price they will be much more likely to buy other offerings from that company.
Depending on which newspaper you read or which television programme you watch the financial recovery is either dragging along or been given a much needed shot in the arm. I can only speak from my experience, which is that there seems to be an improvement in the number of treatment plans being accepted and an upturn in the frequency of which patients are attending the practice. Regardless of how rapidly the economic climate improves, it will get much better. Dental practices must just get through the remaining downturn and be best positioned for the good times. So, now is the time to add new skills to your knowledge base and offer new treatments for those future patient needs. If you are providing a good service
which keeps patients loyal then they will be happy to speak to you about new offerings.
Quite a few of your patients will require orthodontic treatment and in the past you may have referred them to a specialist orthodontist. However, things started to change a few years ago when more GDPs started delivering relatively straightforward orthodontic treatments, and boosting their practice revenues in the process.
It was around this time I had a casual conversation with a colleague and friend, Prof Ross Hobson who happens to be a specialist orthodontist. We realised that there was a place for a solution which would make both dentists and orthodontists happy. We conceived and introduced the concept of ‘Limited Treatment Outcome’ (LTO) orthodontics.
With LTO orthodontics GDPs are able to undertake ‘aesthetic’ orthodontics confident in the knowledge that although they are not an orthodontic specialist they have direct access to one who will diagnose, treatment plan, advise and assist whenever necessary during the entire period of treatment, from the start to successful conclusion. And cases which are too complicated would be referred to local specialist orthodontists and thus increase their referral base and enhance their relationship with local GDPs.
One very important thing to remember is that patients, more often than not, know much less about orthodontics than general dental treatments. It’s all too easy to undertake a training course which will cover the clinical aspects of fitting an appliance. Yet orthodontics is an area where the patient will need lots of information and it’s incredibly important to be able
to communicate with them about the comfort of an appliance, the timeframes of treatment and the ultimate outcome.
Many people nowadays have a friend or family member who has had some form of ‘clear braces’ fitted and they may know this as being the only alternative to ‘train tracks’ without knowing the myriad of alternatives including white brackets and wires which may be more appropriate. You need to educate them on all the options. These are just some of the things which a GDP should consider and be able to do every bit as well as the clinical outcome. Like every treatment, communication is key.
One of the incredibly important things to ask yourself, if you are about to offer new treatments is, will you enjoy it? Running a practice and offering treatments should always be about more than just the bottom line. We have found on our numerous accreditation courses that learning new skills can start to make dentistry enjoyable again and that, in this current time of increased regulation and reduced margins, is a very important consideration.