Achieving Success in the Practice of Dentistry – Part Seven

I routinely see the correlation between state-of-the-art technology and successful dental practices. There is no question in my mind that the latest in technology is hugely influential for promoting practice growth. Two true stories.  I am playing golf in Florida with a friend of mine from the Boston area. He tells me that he has found this wonderful dentist in Naples, and is leaving his dentist up North. When I asked him why, he said ” this guy in Florida took an x-ray that immediately showed up on a computer in his treatment room, and he was able to make a crown for me in one visit.  My dentist in Boston is a nice guy, but he is clearly behind the times.” A few months later I was at a cocktail party and I hear someone whom I didn’t know describing how amazing her dentist was (actually one of my former clients), and talking about how this dentist used “a laser to check for cavities”. Someone in the group listening to this conversation then asked ” do you know if she is accepting new patients?”

The overall message to take away is that there is a wow factor and a marketing factor to technology that definitely needs to be understood and evaluated when decisions are being made from an investment point of view regarding the affordability of the technology itself. The old adage of having to spend money to make money is so true. And there is so much great technology out there – digital impression systems like iTero that completely eliminate goop and gagging, cone beam three dimensional diagnostic imaging for implant placement, CAD/CAM systems such as Cerec and E4D that create all ceramic restorations in a single appointment, digital radiography that allows instant viewing and manipulation of images, various hard and soft tissue lasers, iPads where you can download intra-oral high resolution photographs for intimate case presentations–the list goes on and on.

I believe that the idea here is to promote new technology to your patient base not only for being cool, but also as something that is going to be beneficial to their health. I feel strongly that you want to cultivate an image of being state-of-the-art and certainly the most up-to-date practitioner in your area. I also feel another important benefit is that new technology keeps the doctor challenged–keeps the doctor from getting burned out–same old same old can get pretty tired.

Since any dentist can avail themselves of this opportunity, what on earth is holding you back?