Dental Tribune UK Edition, September 20-26, 2010, Vol. 4 No. 22

C ould your hygiene book be busier? Are you seeing an increase in cancelled hygiene appointments or failures to attend? If you can relate to ei- ther of these two questions, the advice in this article could help you to (re)build your hygiene service and ensure greater pa- tient health and practice stability. I believe the ideal private, preventively-orientated general practice should be keeping a hy- gienist busy for four out of every five days of general dentistry availability. Here are my eight immediate recommendations for transforming your hygiene ap- pointment book. 1. Communicate the benefits Do communicate the benefits of hygiene visits to every patient you see for a regular exam. It’s not enough to suggest patients see your hygienist for a ‘scale and polish’ or a ‘cleaning’ as this does not adequately explain why the appointment is necessary. It is also misleading and unhelpful to indicate that the hygiene ap- pointment is for a ‘clean’ – after all, patients believe they can do this for themselves. By far the most important part of the hygiene appointment for most patients will be in helping them develop skills and habits that will reduce their chances of developing gum disease, tooth decay, heart disease, etc, and I believe it’s the job of dentists and hygienists to communicate this information every time they see a patient. Itdoesn’thavetobecomplicat- ed, your message could be: ‘You do have signs of damage in your mouth from bacterial plaque. I recommend you see Natalie, our hygienist, for regular appoint- ments to help you work on the skills you need to control this plaquedamageathome–thiswill help you stay dentally healthy and reduce your chances of de- veloping dental problems later.’ 2. A consistent message Please don’t change your com- munication of what your fo- cus is without letting your whole team know, particu- larly your hygienist. Ideally, call a team meeting to discuss how your hygienist helps peri- odontally compromised patients in their appointments, and fine tune your communications to re- flect the actual pattern of advice given in the appointments. 3. Involve reception Make sure your reception team has some good verbal ammuni- tion for discussing the impact of broken, cancelled or failed hygiene appointments with pa- tients. It’s not good for your patients or your professional standing to just let your patients cancel their appointments or fail to book them. Your receptionist should have your blessing to tell patients that hygiene appointments can be more important for some pa- tients than their dental visits – because hygienists help patients prevent dental problems – which might reduce their risks for treat- ment in the future. For example, if a dentist has recommended a hygiene visit then the recep- tionist can suggest to the patient that they would benefit from some help in either treating gum problems or preventing them. 4. Stock what’s recommended If your hygienist recommends a patient uses a certain brush, paste, mouthwash, floss or col- our of interdental aid, please make sure you stock these. It doesn’t matter if the local shops sell your preferred electric tooth- brushes for less than you buy them for (in which case I’d sug- gest going to the shop and buy- ing a dozen and selling them for the same price). You should be stocking recommended items as a service to patients – because you care that they use the right tools for controlling the factors that damage teeth, gums and heart health. Everyhygienistandoralhealth educator knows that if a patient can buy the recommended item just after the discussions held, they are more likely to start us- ing them at home, than if they have to wait a day or two until they’re in the vicinity of a certain chain of shops - who knows if they’ll really buy their suggested toothbrush then? 5 Hygiene & cosmetic dentistry If you’re a provider of regular crown and bridgework, or cos- metic dentistry, build in the cost of a hygiene visit to each course of treatment and offer a ‘free’ hygiene visit after the treat- ment. For example: ‘Now you’ve spent this money on your treat- ment, Mrs, X, I’d like you to see our hygienist so that she can show you how to look after it in the best possible way. If we can help you keep this new tooth free of plaque, it should last much longer and your mouth will be healthier in the long term.’ 6. Focus on children Why not develop a programme for all children in the prac- tice, where they see your hy- gienist for a ‘family skills and habits’ appointment at least once a year – perhaps in the holidays? Full-priced hy- giene appointments can be immensely valuable – and great fun for competing siblings, if the focus is on who is best at remov- ing every last bit of (disclosed) plaque. In addition, a parent should be encouraged to super- vise and coach each one to do this well at home. 7. Work as a team Make sure dentists and hygien- ists ‘huddle’ together to discuss individual patients, their sug- gested patterns of hygiene ap- pointments, response and any changes to advice or treatment etc. Don’t let your hygienist work in isolation. Improving patients’ dental health is a team game and the game needs the whole team to play actively. 8. Involve your hygienist Finally, include your hygienist in all practice meetings. Talk about advances in advice, treatments, approaches and the framework of the usual appointments in the practice. I understand that perio approaches are changing hugely at the moment and I also know that the majority of pa- tients want, more than anything, for their practice to help them achieve a healthier mouth.* Practices can organise for al- most all patients to benefit from hygiene visits and increase prof- its while doing so; however, the game requires focus and good communication with patients. DT * Data from patient question- naires provided by Sheila Scott How busy is your hygienist book? Sheila Scott offers eight immediate ways to transform your hygienist’s appointment book About the author Sheila Scott has dedicated the last 20 years to helping dentists and their teams grow and pros- per. See her website www.sheila- scott.co.uk for more details, or contact her on 01343 862930. September 20-26, 200912 Practice Management United Kingdom Edition