How to Overcome the Biggest Challenges of Running a Dental Business

When you first became a dentist, you didn’t dream about spending the rest of your life working for someone else, did you?

Of course not! You dreamed about opening up your very own dental business and running it your way.

But now that you’re one of the more than 185,000 dentists with their own dental practice, you might find that it’s more difficult to run one than you think. There are so many challenges that await you each and every day when you walk into the front door of your business.

Are these dental office challenges starting to get the best of you? If so, you should learn how to run a dental office more efficiently so that you’re not always overwhelmed by the day-to-day operations of your business.

Here is how to overcome the biggest challenges associated with running a dental office.

Hiring the Right People to Work in Your Dental Practice

When you open up a new dental business, you’ll obviously be the star of the show. You’re going to be the person providing all the dental services that your new business offers when patients come to your office.

But you’re not going to be able to run your dental office on your own. You’re also going to need to hire people to lend a helping hand throughout the course of a normal workday.

Most dental offices have the following staff members working in them:

• Receptionist
• Dental hygienist
• Dental assistant

You might also want to bring a dental laboratory technician or an orthodontist on board, depending on which dental services you’re planning to offer. It’ll be important to take your time so that you’re able to hire the right people for the jobs you need to fill.

Convincing New Patients to Trust Your Dental Business

Once you have a team that you trust to work in your dental office, you’ll need to begin finding ways to get new patients through the front door. This is often the biggest challenge that a new dental business will face.

You can do this in a variety of ways. You can:

• Offer special discounts to those in need of dental services at this time
• Market your services on TV, on the radio, and on the internet
• Encourage some of your first patients to tell others about your practice

It can be difficult to get the ball rolling when it comes to attracting new patients to your dental office. But once you do it, you should start to see more and more people coming to your office for dental services as long as you do great work.

Managing the Daily Operations of Your Dental Office

There are a million and one things that will need to be done in your dental office on a daily basis. From answering phones and sending out invoices to following up with patients who recently had services performed and cleaning up at the end of the day, it can be a lot to manage.

If you struggle with managing your daily operations, there are management systems that your dental business can use. Go visit this page to see how these systems can help you.

Dealing With Dental Insurance Companies on Behalf of Your Dental Business

Dealing with dental insurance companies is going to be one of the worst parts of running a dental practice. There is, unfortunately, no getting around it.

According to one survey, more than 70% of dentists worry about not getting reimbursed by dental insurance companies for services carried out for patients. This is clearly a big concern for many dentists.

If your dental business is going to accept dental insurance from patients, you should choose which types of insurance you’ll accept based on what you’re able to learn about specific insurance companies. You should only work with companies that have a reputation for being easy to work with.

Keeping the Morale High in Your Dental Office

Some dentists get too preoccupied with trying to deliver the best services to their patients so that they can bring in the most money possible. As a result, they forget to take steps to improve the morale in their dental office.

Don’t make this mistake! If the people who work in your dental office don’t feel like you care about them or the work that they do, it could impact the way your entire operation runs.

Take the time to tell your employees what a great job they’re doing and find ways to reward them for going above and beyond for your dental business. This will pay off in a big way in the end. 

Collecting Overdue Payments From Those Who Visit Your Dental Practice

When people are having problems with their teeth, they usually want to see a dentist right away. But they don’t always take this same urgent approach to paying their dentist once services have been rendered.

Your dental practice isn’t going to be doing very good business if you don’t come up with ways to collect overdue payments from patients. From sending out reminders to following up with patients by phone to possibly even setting up a collections department, you should be prepared to do whatever it takes to get paid.

Set Your Dental Business Up for Long-Term Success by Overcoming These Challenges

There is no getting around the challenges of running a dental business that we’ve talked about here. They’re going to come with the territory from the moment you first open up your dental office’s front doors.

Use the tips we’ve discussed to get around these challenges and to prevent them from dragging your dental business down. You’ll be able to run a more successful dental practice overall when you commit to overcoming challenges that are put in your path.

Interested in finding out more business tips that will help your dental practice to grow and flourish over time? Check out our blog for a variety of other business-related articles that will benefit your practice in a big way.