Articles
A Lesson in Leverage for Dentists
Debt can create a wide range of emotional reactions – no doubt about it. As a financial analyst with only dentists as clients, I speak with dentists across the country every day regarding their business, liabilities, and investments. Most stories support my “debt-averse” hypothesis. Consider Dr. Worry Later. He is 47 years old and proudly paid ...
Nine things a dentist should do now!
It is difficult to describe the range of emotions felt by a dentist when he or she becomes convinced that a trusted staff member is stealing. Dentists who have been victimized describe feelings of anger, despair, guilt and even in some cases, fear. Many report a feeling of being violated, almost in the same way ...
You Are Not Just a Dentist Tenant!
Does your dental PC or PLC lease its space from someone else? When you signed your lease, did the landlord already have its mortgage financing in place? If so, take this little quiz to learn how you should care about what the lawyers call an SNDA. I’m pleased to provide specialty advice like this as ...
Telephone Skills in Dentistry – by Larry Guzzardo
Dentistry is part art, part science, but all about people. In dental school, the “people” part of the equation was overlooked, and it takes a number of years in practice to realize it’s importance. Dentistry is a service business, and communication is paramount to its success. Communication, by definition, is “the exchange of ideas, messages, ...
Leadership in Dentistry
For the first time in our nation’s history we have four generations in our workforce, often in the same work place. Not surprisingly, each generation has their own way of viewing the world, and of communicating, which can make life difficult for the person who is tasked with managing these diverse groups within a confined ...
The Average Dentist Saves $28,205
The average dentist in the United States, over 40 yrs. old, saved about $28,205 per year for retirement in 2010. True or False? Keep your answer to yourself, no looking at your neighbor’s paper, and keep your eyes up front. We’ll come back to the quiz in a minute. The retirement planners of the previous ...
Lost Dental Insurance Revenue
Imagine that your ability to reinvest in your practice or put aside retirement funds was hampered by lack of cash flow. I recently evaluated two practices to identify weaknesses in their revenue cycle. Both offices had decreased cash flow – which prompted the call – and the doctors were told by their team members that ...
I Predict a Financial Revolution in Dentistry
Americans will begin to turn back to the pragmatic values of previous generations in regard to personal finance, retirement philosophy, and savings. They will gradually value saving money versus over-leveraging debt and spending what they don’t have. Americans will take more caution in the stock market and look to reduce the expense and risk associated ...
Five Mistakes in Dental Hygiene
#1 Assuming Perio is Taken Care Of Having a sharp hygiene team is a beautiful thing. But assuming everything is being taken care of is a big mistake. Be sure you know that a complete perio exam is taking place at every hygiene visit AND the data is being recorded. This is a huge area ...
Lost in Translation: Dental Patient Testimonials
On July 28, 1945, Japanese Premier Suzuki received a demand from The United States to surrender after a long and drawn out war in the pacific– or suffer what would become the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. When he spoke to the press on that day, Suzuki used the word “mokusatsu” in his ...
