The Schuster Center — Dental Practice Management Education

In a dental practice, there are 7 key areas that must be thoughtfully designed and made to work in harmony with one another:

• MONEY – how it flows in and out of the practice; how to make it, keep it and save it.

• TIME – the most important resource we have; how you handle your time determines the quality of your life.

• ORGANIZATION – the structure of your practice, the systems, the purpose of those systems, and the accountability to create and use them to drive your practice each day.

• SALES – the process with patients to help them make decisions that are in their own best interest; how to engage, connect and communicate the value of dentistry beyond what any plan covers.

• MARKETING – determining your offering and bringing it to your community in such a way that patients want what you have to offer.

• PEOPLE – the skills, attitude, beliefs, and motivation of the people who you bring on board to help you in this endeavor.

• PURPOSE – why your practice exists as determined by your values, skills, and training, as well as the reason you chose dentistry as your profession.

WHY CHOOSE THE SCHUSTER CENTER?

Many dentists believe that if they just increase the number of patients seen they will have the financial success they desire. Dentists have been told that bigger practices will produce more money and therefore naturally the doctor will take home more. But this production model assumes that the dentists fixed costs are indeed fixed and that quality time spent with each patient will not suffer as volume increases.

What is true in understanding dental practice management is that fixed costs aren’t really fixed, just constant. The dentist who owns their own practice soon realizes that as they ramp up production, they must also increase the number of staff, increase the size of their space and increase the materials on hand for the increase in patient volume. When these fixed costs increase, so does the overhead which translates to a DECREASE in net profit; the exact opposite of the intended effect.

We know that this business model comes from manufacturing, which does not apply to a service business such as dentistry. If you are trapped in this model, it is likely that the business side of your practice is becoming more and more complex leaving you with less time with patients. As the pressure increases to produce more, patients receive less time with the dentist and will seek out other practices where they feel more cared for.

Sadly, not in college, not in dental school or even post-graduate school were dentists taught how to run the business side of the practice without sacrificing the quality of their care. In fact, by our research, less than 1% of dentists start their practice with a true business plan (not the one required by the bank to get a loan, but a true strategic plan for the new practice!) Dental management courses at The Schuster Center can greatly help with this. When you learn from our dental practice management consultants, you gain invaluable experience that you can’t find anywhere else. 

Nothing in dental school has prepared dentists to run a truly successful practice. The vast majority of dentists are operating without sound principles of money, time, and organization. The vast majority do not have a model or training in communication to enable them to communicate with their patients about the value of quality dentistry.

Without principles organized into useful plans of action, the vast majority of dentists may be busy but not profitable, maybe doing dentistry, but hating it, and rarely achieve the enjoyment, fun, and profitability they deserve.

Since 1978, The Schuster Center’s Practice Development Program has been helping dentists achieve peak profitability which providing high-quality care and enjoying their practice. By teaching clear-cut dental practice management solutions, the dentist who engages in our courses can learn every aspect of running their own practice successfully. By implementing what you learn in class with the help of your team, you can achieve the life and practice you want through our dental practice consultants at The Schuster Center.