Dental assistants want to be compensated fairly, feel respected and look forward to the work they love to do.

Every day, dental assistants face a variety of challenges in their job. How those challenges are met can affect the professional and personal lives of these valuable team members. In this fast-moving and interactive course, dental assistants will learn how to identify the issues that can “get under their skin” and how to deal with them.

We’ll explore the typical dental assistant’s four main job-related concerns (money, respect, teamwork and attitude) and identify steps to embracing one’s own potential and leadership mindset. Additionally, dental assistants will learn why they are a key part of the dental practice’s business success and what they can do to not only enhance their own careers, but also the bottom line of the business.

Learning Objectives

• Identify on-the-job challenges that could affect performance and happiness
• Understand the steps that can be taken to minimize the effects of those challenges
• Explore how to have a more productive and fulfilling career as a dental assistant

Suggested Format: Up to Half-Day; Interactive Lecture Format
Suggested Attendees: Dental Assistants; Dentist and Team

Co-Presented with Dayna Johnson

When there is turmoil between the front office and the back office, patients feel it.

Patients sense frustration and see it on our faces when we’re disappointed in a team member or even our doctor. Tension and stress divide a team, impacting productivity, profitability and patient care. Together, we will define and develop standards for the well-calibrated team. Ignite your team, turn conflict into cooperation and realize your full practice potential!

In this interactive, energizing course, Kevin and Dayna share clinical and administrative systems that strengthen respect, clarify expectations, remove roadblocks and leave both teammates and patients feeling better about the interaction. These simple, powerful tools and protocols can be implemented in the office immediately, transforming your team from frustrated to fantastic!

Learning Objectives

• Identify the daily challenges that affect team performance, productivity and patient care
• Dissect each battle and learn how to create systems the entire team can agree on
• Learn how to put these systems in place and attain cohesiveness in your team
• Practice verbal skills that create better communication with your team and trust with your patients
• Discover how every team member can feel valued at the end of the day

Takeaways:

• Sample verbal skills to take back to the office and practice with your team
• Tips to use with your practice management software

Suggested Format: Up to Half-Day; Interactive Lecture Format
Suggested Attendees: Doctor and Team

In his 16-plus years serving as the managing editor of Dental Economics and group editorial director for Dental Products Report, Kevin Henry has seen a lot of mistakes made by dental practices around the country. Some have caused a practice to lose team members. Some have caused a practice to lose a significant amount of money. One even cost a dentist his license. Learn how to avoid the mistakes these practices made in this fast-paced, informative lecture that will have audiences thinking about the way they do business. No one likes to admit they’re doing something wrong. In today’s competitive environment, dentists and dental team members need to know what they’re doing right … and what can be improved.

Learning Objectives

• Explore the biggest mistakes that cost a practice countless hours and resources
• Identify how to avoid these mistakes in your practice
• Learn which systems must be in place and how to maximize cohesiveness in your team
• Develop verbal skills that foster communication between team members and build trust with patients
• Discover how team members impact the bottom line of the practice … and its success

Takeaways:

• Solid practice management ideas that can be quickly implemented into the practice
• A worksheet that lists some of the most problematic areas in the practice … and how to avoid those problems

Suggested Format: Up to Half-Day; Interactive Lecture Format
Suggested Attendees: Dental Assistants; Dentist and Team

With the rapid growth of group and corporate dental practices, how will smaller, solo practices maintain their patient base and keep up?

ICD-10 is coming! All practices must incorporate the new system, yet there is much confusion as to how to code for insurance reimbursement.

The dental industry is in a state of flux that rivals any other time in dental history. With changes in the insurance industry, group practices growing at astonishing rates, and patients becoming more and more knowledgeable and thrifty with their dollars, it can be a tough time to be a dentist or dental team member. However, it is possible to overcome obstacles and make this year the best your practice has ever seen.

In this fast-moving presentation, industry experts Kevin Henry and Teresa Duncan bring insight and help attendees understand what’s really happening in dentistry and what trends should be taken note of… and which can be ignored. Using real data from the best sources available and exclusive survey results, Kevin and Teresa present information that simply can’t be found elsewhere.

Co-Presented with Teresa Duncan, MS
With over 20 years’ experience in healthcare, Teresa Duncan’s areas of expertise include revenue protection and helping practices establish solid management systems.

Learning Objectives

• Learn why shifting demographics of today’s dental patient and the next generation of dentists will affect your practice
• Pinpoint the impact ICD-10, SNODENT and other regulatory changes will have on your business
• Discover how group practices are growing and changing dentistry’s landscape
• Explore real-time practice-management trends that will boost your practice’s bottom line

Suggested Format: Up to Half-Day; Interactive Lecture Format
Suggested Attendees: Dentist and Team