What Most Dentists Are Missing in Their Practices

Episode #325 with Dr. Leonard Hess

Dental school taught you to pass an exam. You can do basic procedures and run a practice, but there's a lot more left to learn. And to teach you about the things your practice may be missing, Kirk Behrendt brings in Dr. Leonard Hess from The Dawson Academy. If you want to create a practice that's profitable and special in the marketplace, listen to Episode 325 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Knowledge is empowering. Start continuing education right away.  

You don't need to conform to the insurance-dictated model of care.

Look at insurance for the source of positivity that it is.

Treat people in dentistry ethically and responsibly, and the money will come to you.

To be financially successful, learn to solve problems that others aren't solving.

Learn the principles and foundations to make dentistry predictable and profitable.

Quotes:

“Most of our patients are actually, over their lifetime, being grossly undertreated. And a lot of times there's criticism in the press out there, or Reader’s Digest articles, or there’ll be one of those gotcha pieces in the media where they try to villainize dentists and act like we’re overtreating people or trying to do things unethically. But I'm going to be honest with you, what I find in my practice is that most people have been undertreated over their lifetime, which is why they get to be 50 or 60 years old, and they're really frustrated with the level of health that they’ve attained. And it’s simply because of the standard of care, which is being dictated by insurance and a $1,500-a-year minimum or maximum and all that good stuff.” (07:51—08:32)

“The trap that I see a lot of dentists fall into is that they think that they have got to immediately conform into this insurance-dictated model. And I want to qualify what I'm going to say with a little pre-statement. Number one is, we like to badmouth insurance. And what I don’t want to do is say that insurance is a bad thing. Because insurance, in a lot of ways, is a great thing. It’s one of those things that a lot of patients have which helps them to pay for their care. And it’s not going to go away. But what we need to do is instead of complaining and making insurance a source of negativity, is look at it for the source of positivity that it is.” (12:23—13:07)

“It doesn't mean that we just fall into line with insurance and let them control our practice, let them control our fees, let them treatment plan for us, and to allow the insurance company to create that wedge or barrier between the patient and us. And insurance companies love to do that. They love to create that wedge of deniability, ‘Well, this is now denied. This procedure wasn't necessary. Your fees are outside of customary and usual. You're not in network,’ all these different rules that they have in place where they try to keep us boxed into a corner. But we don't necessarily have to play that game.” (13:08—13:47)

“I get the problem that a lot of young dentists have, is they come out of school, they're coming out of school with more debt than ever, and everybody’s anxious. Most young dentists are not ready to own their own practice, so a lot of times, what does that mean? They’ve got to look for an associateship. So, a lot of times, practices that are looking for associateships, they're insurance-based practices. And these dentists dive in, and they just become indoctrinated into that model of care. And the reality is, yes, a lot of our patients have insurance, and they want to maximize it. But where we really box ourselves into the corner is that we stop giving patients the ability to choose to do what's best for them, and we start to recommend treatment based on what insurance will pay for. And...