Critical Steps to Fun & Predictable Dentistry 

Episode #337 with Dr. Glenn DuPont

Dentistry should be a fun, profitable, and predictable career. But for many young professionals coming out of dental school, this isn’t the case, and their practice can become overwhelming and stressful. Kirk Behrendt is joined by Dr. Glenn DuPont to talk about the critical steps to ensure that your patients love you and the work you do, while maintaining a strong business. To learn the best practices you should take to grow a practice that is predictable and profitable, listen to Episode 337 of The Best Practices Show! 

Main Takeaways:

Spend time early on with a patient making a diagnosis and treatment plan.

Rethink your approach to solving a case.

Unpredictable things happening in your practice should be rare.

The goal is to have a patient love you and the work you do on them.

Don’t overlook problem when they arise.

If you’re feeling disillusioned with dentistry, reach out and find a good mentor.

Quotes:

“I talked with a classmate recently who’s ready to retire. And he was saying that some of these younger dentists just don't understand that a nice, profitable, relaxed practice is possible. They wonder why he’s not busier. And his answer is, ‘Because I don't want to be busier. I'm making a great profit.’” (04:42—05:03)

“I think dentists need two things. They need someone to manage their staff and their practice like [ACT Dental]. But I think one of the things that we haven't done so good in is helping dentists manage and practice their cases so that they are profitable and predictable.” (05:09—05:29)

“I think [students] get out of dental school and maybe they're in a corporate type of format or a dentist who runs a very high-volume practice. And in dental school, you're not doing high volume. And all of a sudden, you get thrown into this, and it’s not what they thought. It’s not what they expected. And that's why dentists come to The Dawson Academy and come to us a lot of times, get me involved with them, is that they know there's a better way.” (08:02—08:38)

“I had a dentist, a classmate of mine, call me after ten years he was out. And he said, ‘I got great patients. I'm in a nice little town in Georgia. I'm a member of the country club. My kids to go private school. And I hate it.’ I said, ‘Why do you hate it?’ He said, ‘Because my practice is running me. I got out of dental school and all I knew was how to get busy. I didn't know how to get busy in the right way.’” (08:57—09:26)

“We all run into the same problems in dentistry; it’s how we solve them. It’s the thought process and solving them.” (10:56—11:03)

“Think of a restorative case, and let's think of it backwards than what you typically see presented. So, where do we want the end to be? We want the end to be that patient smiling, saying, It’s great and it feels good. My bite feels good. My speech,’ loves everything about what you did, and for that reason, loves you. That's the ending I want. And that's what makes us feel great. Yeah, we get profit. We have to have a profit. But that is what we work for.” (11:40—12:28)

“I think the number-one mistake [dentists] make is not spending the time to diagnose and treatment plan. Pete Dawson would say the most important appointment we spend with the patient is the exam, and then the most important time we spend is our working on the models to determine what's wrong and what we’re going to do.” (19:26—19:55)

“I think the biggest problem is, dentists think spending time treatment planning is lost revenue. And it’s not, because you will find more work to do and you'll do longer appointments, so you're going to be more profitable.” (20:13—20:33)

“The one thing that dentists have trouble with — not the biggest problem — I think the main thing...