Lasers Take Your Practice – From Good to Great
The author examined businesses that were average for many years
and then suddenly became great-businesses like Wal-Mart and Circuit City that
suddenly outperformed their competitors by seven times the
average. Dental practices are not much different. We dentists
meander around doing the same things we were taught in
dental school and wonder why our production and profits
never increase.
Take a lesson from the companies in Good to Great and use
what the author calls "technology accelerators" to take your
practice to the next level. Four years ago, I bought a
technology accelerator called the Waterlase MD from Biolase
and have never looked back. Originally, I bought the laser so
that I could do operative dentistry without giving the patient
an injection. The Waterlase MD allows me to do injectionless
fillings and treatments of multiple quadrants in a minimally
invasive manner. We do fillings immediately after a recall
exam when we have openings in our schedule, because the
patient can go back to work without a fat lip and tingly
tongue. Because of the laser, the increase in monthly
production just by doing fillings not originally on the
schedule is more than $2,500. Taking the shot and drill out of
80 percent of operative procedures makes your patients happy
and takes your practice from good to great.
The acceleration in my practice didn't just stop with operative
dentistry. Laser technology can be applied to bone and soft
tissue as well. With inlays, onlays and crowns, we often deal
with the deep interproximal amalgam or a fractured cusp. In
these situations, getting an impression is difficult and the
biologic width is often compromised. You can do a bony
crown lengthening to restore biologic width, take a clean
impression, and place a perfect temporary all in the same day,
without waiting for healing or a periodontal referral. This is a
dental miracle compared to the old cut, suture and wait. This
technique takes good restorations to great restorations. You
probably have at least two of these situations come up in your
office monthly. That's $900 of production each month that
you would not have without a laser.
Like most of us, I have a passion for cosmetic dentistry and
enjoy presenting the benefits of a beautiful smile to all
patients who are interested in looking better. As I have
become more astute in treatment planning the perfect smile,
gum levels are an issue in more than 50 percent of my smile
designs. Moving gum levels to create a symmetrical
background for veneers previously required a referral to a
periodontist. This hurdle to the final improved smile
consisted of a consultation, gum surgery, increased cost, and a
wait time of at least eight weeks. Patients often balked at this
extra step and expense. Treatment was often deferred or
Taking the shot and drill out of
80 percent of operative procedures
makes your patients happy and takes
your practice from good to great.
compromised. Learning the one-appointment, closed-flap,
crown-lengthening technique with the laser took me and my
patient out of the "perio penalty box" and allowed the veneer
case to proceed uninterrupted. If you do just one anterior
crown lengthening each week, it can translate to $1,800 in
production monthly. The technology of a hard-tissue laser
"accelerates" your practice. You can see that routine
procedures such as Class I and Class II fillings become hi-tech
miracles to your patients, because you do them without the
shot and drill.
Your patients' "Little Shop of Horrors" nightmares are
comfortably transformed into the caring, conservative, and
gentle place you call your office. Referrals from these laserconverted
patients come in regularly. The laser eliminates the
annoying biologic width invasions and referrals to the
periodontist while reducing stress. Your cosmetic dentistry
becomes better because you effortlessly idealize your patients'
This patient's gummysmile was easily transformed into a
brilliant full smile by a Waterlase gingivectomy, shown immediately
post-op. The patient did not require an injection, there was little bleeding
during the procedure, and no post-op discomfort.
Your office becomes special in
everyone's eyes-your patients,' your
team's, and your own. Your office will
change from good to great!
gum levels at the same appointment that you prep their
veneers. Profitability increases because you are doing
procedures that you have never done or previously referred
out. Your office becomes special in everyone's eyes-your
patients', your team's, and your own. Your office will change
from good to great!
David S. Eshom, DDS, is a general dentist who emphasizes dental
health and beauty for his patients in his private practice in San Diego,
CA. He is a sustaining member of the American Academy of Cosmetic
Dentistry and served six years on its Board of Directors. He is
currently a cosmetic dentistry advisor to the World Clinical Laser
Institute and the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Dentistry.
His practice of 22 years uses high tech instruments to make his
patients' dental experience comfortable and special. Contact Dr. Eshom
at dr.eshom@sbcglobal.net.
This article originally appeared in the November 2007 issue of Dental
Economics magazine and is reprinted here with the permission of the
PenWell Dental Group.