When did you stop worrying about money?

Do botox - cash cow for dentists nowadays.

Im 37 and I'm not really worried at this point. We've stacked a lot of money into retirement and live far below our means in a small 1000 sq ft house that we've paid off (mortgage was equally small so we were able to slay it). So even if we both have bouts of unemployment or other job issues we should still at least end up a modest retirement hopefully.

But we don't have kids and I was very fortunate that my parents got me through college with no debt so I'm well aware I had a pretty big advantage a lot of people don't have. Very grateful for that

Do you feel like you have a good handle on why your business is not performing as expected? You’ll be stressed until you diagnose that.

Did you start the practice yourself or inherit it? If you started it you need to market it to get more clients.

Also, this is a business. You are the expert. Make the recommendation for the dental treatments and let the patient decide if they want to proceed. And stop being nice with money. This isn’t a barter system. You charge them what the cost is.

Maybe look into some holistic dentistry ?

Offer sleep apnea studies ( have the ring you wear and download an app and let the patients sleep at home ) and mouthpieces

Do something different

You need to expand your procedural offerings. If all you’re doing is drill and fill you will always be worried about money. Use existing technology that is out there to help communicate treatment plans with patients and get better case acceptance.

Thats what my dentist does. He only practices dentistry 2 days a week and does sleep apnea stuff the other days. He just wants to do sleep apnea stuff and recently got a 1-2 new dentist to work.

quote:

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Fear / lack of confidence to tell patients what treatment I think they need to schedule

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Do you lack confidence that it's the right treatment?







Then why would you feel like you are pulling one over on them? You sound like you have a bad case of imposter syndrome going on. If you want to supplement your conscience by not charging too much for your services, then do a market analysis and charge less than your competitors.

You need return customers on a treatment plan. That creates steady hygiene production which at minimum can float your business. Do you have a hygienist?

Also, a very hot procedure for dentists lately is laser frenectomies for babies. You can sleep peacefully at night knowing you are changing new mom's and babies lives for the better, and it's a high production procedure since it doesn't take long.

How big of a market are you in? Are you the town dentist?

Be true to yourself.
Do right things.
Do your best.

Are you not getting patients?
What is the main issue?

Couple of things here. My wife is a dentist and I’m a business owner as well.
The whole Botox=slimy thing doesn’t compute to mean and you should be looking at it differently. A metric shite ton of women do it and want it, so that is strictly a service you would be providing. Why not make their lives easier and offer it at your office too? Adds a convenience factor, if you’re a good dentist adds a trust factor.
Another thing my wife added was a consultant and it has paid for itself in spades. They came in and got her staff and processes in order to where they are now a ml pretty well oiled machine. Staff is making more money which means she is as well. It’s daunting looking at the cost up front but without a doubt it has been worth it.
As far as the discounts go, that’s a tough one because I am bad about that myself but sometimes things like that pay for themselves in the long run, but also I like helping people. Again, a good consultant can help with things like that and put into perspective too.