Some guys have all the problems in the world when it comes to maintaining necessary, correct and well functioning equipment in their clinics. There is a reason why that happens. Lack of finances. Why? Due to division of attention and finances over too many things and wanting to be the master of everything! In short greed!
But how did it all start?

You used to be a good student back in dental school and have had a good clinical hand. You have been told that we should be well versed in all the different branches of dentistry because that would make us an “ideal all-rounder dentist”. Right?Well, right to a point.Knowledge is useful and a well informed doctor is appreciated in society.

But taking advanced courses in advanced dentistry comes at a price. Firstly the cost of acquiring that additional knowledge and credentials, secondly the cost of equipment to practice that new specialty. After all if you have invested all your time, energies and finances to take up that course in microscopic endodontics you would need an endodontic operating microscope and micro-endodontic instruments. If you took up Orthodontics you would need a constant supply of Ortho pliers and new sharp cutters. If you took up pedodontics then you would need an assortment of preformed crowns, and other pedodontic stuff etc.So in few years you have spread your time, energy, finances and attention thin over a wide range of dental specialties.

Now you cannot sustain any single specialty completely! You have become “jack of all trades and master of none”! Result – you lag behind in each and every thing you do in dentistry.Solution- “Refer your cases” even though it is unfashionable to do so.

To keep your clinic in the profit, just keep those type of cases you seem to manage well and refer others that are tougher to other dentists who could do justice to the case. For the matter even to an in house dentist who could handle them better. After all we cannot be good at everything and we make a profit only in those cases which we handle well!

You could master everything in dentistry, but can you keep making a handsome profit at the same time?

Dr Sanjay Jamdade is a speaker on dental implants and is a visiting consultant with few prominent dental clinics in and around Mumbai for implants and oral rehabilitation. He is also the CEO of Dr Jamdade’s Dental clinic and Implant center since 23 years which is a practice devoted to aesthetic dentistry, microscope assisted endodontics, implants and oral rehabilitation situated near Tarapur Atomic Power Station at Boisar Tal Palghar Dist Thane near Mumbai, India,  email: – sanjayjamdade@gmail.com

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this blog are solely the views of the author and need not reflect the views of DentistryUnited.com . For any clarification you can get in touch with the author directly at the address mentioned above.

Why do patients disregard a dentist’s advice? Why do they choose someone else’s  services over ours? Especially when they can easily afford our services, are staying pretty close to our practice, they have seen our latest gadgets and  gizmos. Shortly put, there is no logical reason for them to avoid our practice.  And on the other hand why do they go elsewhere and spend twice of what they would  have in our practice? And probably even end up boasting about their new crowns, laminates and new ‘whatever’.

The number of reasons if put together could fill up a book! Yet one reason stands  out. Credibility. Yes, credibility! What gives doctors credibility? Look at it the other way around. What gives credibility to the car mechanic in  whose hands we trusted our car for the first time that we did so? And how did he  gain our confidence? Firstly by being an authorized car care center, not the ‘run of the mill’ type. By telling us beforehand what the car check would cost and then by patiently hearing us out and analyzing the problem carefully, examining our car in great detail and taking notes on the ‘job sheet’ while doing so. Coming up with  a provisional explanation as to why that problem occurred, and only then offering a solution that any worldly wise person would easily accept. Finally explaining what all repairs and replacements would be needed in a systematic manner and writing against it the estimated expense for repairs, replacements and the labor  charges plus taxes if any. His words then have “credibility’.

We as doctors should hear out our patients completely, do thorough examinations,  conduct all needed tests and take radiographs if needed, compare our examination  findings and test results, all according to a scientifically current protocol  accepted worldwide, involve the patient at every step only then offer a logical  diagnosis. Take your time and draw out a treatment plan in parlance with the  patient, listing out necessary treatments and their sequence, the costs involved and how the payments are expected to be made. Always have a ‘plan B’ ready, in  case your ‘plan A’ doesn’t appeal to the patient. Needless to say, be thoroughly  trained for the proposed job and eventually execute the treatment just as you planned and as adroitly as possible. Be consistent in thought, word and deed.

When we convey to the patient that we have really “understood” his problem and drawn up a “road map” to health and written in clear terms how we will go about it and finally how we expect to do be remunerated for our efforts we have created “credibility and trust” for ourselves in the eyes of our patients. And that credibility shall see us through decades of successful clinical practice!

In-credibly simple, isn’t it!

Dr Sanjay Jamdade is a speaker on dental implants and is a visiting consultant with few prominent dental clinics in and around Mumbai for implants and oral rehabilitation. He is also the CEO of Dr Jamdade’s Dental clinic and Implant center since 23 years which is a practice devoted to aesthetic dentistry, microscope assisted endodontics, implants and oral rehabilitation situated near Tarapur Atomic Power Station at Boisar Tal Palghar Dist Thane near Mumbai, India,  email: – sanjayjamdade@gmail.com

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this blog are solely the views of the author and need not reflect the views of DentistryUnited.com . For any clarification you can get in touch with the author directly at the address mentioned above.

You have been doing a splendid job of the dentistry you do in your patient’s mouth and now you could use some recognition! But what is it that stops the world from recognizing your hard work?

You always executed a particular treatment perfectly… to textbook precision, let us say a smile design or a full mouth rehabilitation, a connective tissue graft, a direct sinus lift a difficult orthodontic correction or a Orthognathic surgery or a Leforte fracture reduction yet you wonder why some patients still won’t take that particular treatment. And price isn’t the only obstacle for the patient. What is the missing link here? Documentation. That is the lack of it. Brilliantly planned and excellently executed cases… the world never ever found out!

If your cases had been photographically recorded at every step and study models taken and preserved, Critical X ray pictures at every step taken and preserved, you could have used that record to either publish that case or to educate the next patient about the success of the treatment option used for the previous patient.
So record. Take pictures. Take your time and put them together. Transfer to a PC. Make a folder with the patient’s name on it… spend 15 mins to file… and u will have ur own “self reference” after a year! Try creating wax mock ups for your esthetic make over cases, try using silicon keys for the same, and take pre and post photos in the various angles as demanded for scientific publications. Take photos for orthodontic cases, make study models at various stages, and take OPGs and lateral cephalogram x rays. Take pre and post X-rays for your endodontic cases. Preserve study models of your full arch rehabilitation cases. Preserve stents, splints and templates. Then create Power point presentations for your patient’s to see and understand.
And watch your practice grow and watch how publishers chase you for articles and hey! One day you may even get a call from a publisher or you may even get invited as a speaker!
Make money by using your inspiring work to influence yourself, your clientele and other professionals just like you!

Dr Sanjay Jamdade is a speaker on dental implants and is a visiting consultant with few prominent dental clinics in and around Mumbai for implants and oral rehabilitation. He is also the CEO of Dr Jamdade’s Dental clinic and Implant center since 23 years which is a practice devoted to aesthetic dentistry, microscope assisted endodontics, implants and oral rehabilitation situated near Tarapur Atomic Power Station at Boisar Tal Palghar Dist Thane near Mumbai, India,  email: – sanjayjamdade@gmail.com

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this blog are solely the views of the author and need not reflect the views of DentistryUnited.com . For any clarification you can get in touch with the author directly at the address mentioned above.