There is a growing dilemma in the United States. The face of dentistry is changing, and our profession is in jeopardy of losing the identity it has created over its history. Since the Great Recession, significant things have brought us to our present state.
Following that economic shock in 2008, a tremendous ripple effect slowed the forward progress of private practice dentistry nationwide. In addition, the growing debt of recent dental graduates altered the ability of the next generation to follow in the footsteps of older and experienced dentists who, historically, have enjoyed independent and successful dental practices. Finally, dentists are facing challenging trends in today’s marketplace as reduced reimbursement allowances put pressure on practice profits.
If we aren’t careful, the successful model of American dentistry may forever be affected. Some might even argue that it is too late to save the private practice model as we once knew it and still know it in many practices.
Let’s examine these issues more closely.
The Private Practice Model
For generations, the private practice model in dentistry has been alive and well. Passing on wisdom, clinical knowledge, and business experience to the next generation of dentists through an associateship and mentorship program has been a great way to continue quality of care in the dental practice.
The transfer of practice ownership through a buy/sell agreement allowed for personalized mentorship of a new graduate. New clinicians not only could learn about clinical experience in treatment planning and case management, but also about more advanced and predictable approaches and techniques that could be used to solve many of the clinical challenges that they would almost certainly have to successfully handle.
In addition, these associates could finally develop practice management skills, gain experience in leading a dental team, and learn how to manage a dental business. This model of conveyance of knowledge is so important in the progress of quality dental care.
After being in private practice for more than 30 years, I strongly believe that there are four very important basic things that dentists need to have to start their journey to becoming successful:
- Excellent verbal skills to develop solid and long-term relationships with your patients
- A great chairside manner in talking with and guiding your patients through what they might often perceive to be scary and difficult procedures
- The knowledge and skill to consistently administer painless local anesthetic injections
- The skills required to avoid inflicting pain and undue discomfort during dental procedures.
Two of these are related to knowledge in practice management skills, and the other two are learned and practiced clinical skills. Learning to develop these essential requirements for success are, in part, one of the benefits of participating in an associateship/mentorship program.
The Great Recession of 2008
Since the Great Recession, there has been a domino effect with negative consequences for private dental practices. Critical performance measures such as practice revenue collections, number of patient visits, and doctor’s gross production plunged during the height of the financial crisis from 2008 to 2012. In addition, patient no shows and lower case acceptance contributed vastly to the financial downturn of dental practices.
Between 2008 and 2010, for example, doctor’s gross production dropped considerably.1 Therefore, one of the outcomes of this crisis was that many owner-dentists stopped taking in associates, opting to do procedures on their own to make up for the lost gross revenue and the resulting drop in net profit. Many doctors also had to postpone their retirement timeline, pushing it back about four to five years.2
Unfortunately, the Great Recession contributed to the lack of associateship programs available for dental school graduates.
The Dental School Debt Conundrum
Dental school graduates rely greatly upon being able to transition their schooling years to working years. These graduates need to find work to be able to pay back the incredible student debt that they have accumulated.
According to the American Dental Education Association, the average dental school debt for the graduating class of 2016 was $261,149. Students who borrowed at a Grad PLUS rate of 6.31% would face a monthly payment of $2,940.3
And it just keeps increasing. According to the American Student Dental Association, 2017’s dental students graduated with an average dental school debt of $287,331. Thus, one can easily understand that finding work as a dentist right out of dental school is very important.
In facing this monthly debt along with the lack of associateship opportunities that these recent graduates have to choose from, many have turned to alternative work opportunities. Corporate dental organizations have increased in popularity for immediately employing recent graduates, regardless of what these new dentists desire or probably visualized for their careers in dentistry.
Provider vs Practitioner
Dental service organizations (DSOs) offer an immediate and reasonably high income to dentist providers, who don’t deliver dental services the same way that private practitioners do. In most cases, they most likely are unable to control all the factors that go into providing the highest level of care.
This is one of the differences between a DSO dentist and a private practitioner. A dental provider who works for a DSO does not learn much of anything about quality practice management or business management. Another difference is the DSO dentist’s inability to provide the best customer satisfaction and experience for patients. Yet the control to provide optimal comprehensive dental care, patient experiences, and patient satisfaction is important to a dental practitioner’s development.
Many of these skills are learned during an associateship program. But without this vital experience, how will young clinicians be able to shape and develop their own careers? How can they learn about developing comprehensive treatment plans for their patients? How can they learn about how a successful dental business works? And finally, how can they learn about what it takes to create optimal patient experiences that will maximize overall patient satisfaction?
Meeting the Needs of the Next Generation of Dentists
To create a highly successful dental practice, three practice building elements must be applied on a daily basis:
- Clinical knowledge and skills
- Practice management knowledge and skills
- Business development skills
You can be the best clinical dentist in your area, but if you don’t develop a great dental team, you will never be able to create the practice of your dreams.
There are many excellent continuing education programs from which to learn more about cosmetic dentistry, restorative dentistry, and implant dentistry. Yet it’s also important to be mentored on how to treat and manage your patients and to learn how to work with and to lead a dental team. In addition, it’s imperative to learn how to develop your career as well as how to manage the business of a dental practice.
To meet the needs of mentoring the next generation of dentists, the new Pan Pacific Dental Academy (PanPAC) was created. Its mission is to not only teach dentists and other dental professionals around the world about predictable clinical dentistry, but also to teach and mentor professionals on matters related to practice management and successful business development. PanPAC will have its second annual conference from September 12 to September 14, 2019, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2007, I was fortunate to have been named the National Cosmetic Dental Practice of the Year by Contemporary Esthetics. Therefore, I know what it takes to build a highly successful private practice. Now after 30 years in private practice, it is time to share my secrets of success with the next generation of dental professionals. The PanPAC team is ready to mentor the next generation of dentists and dental professionals.
We also will be launching debuting our PanPAC website in May. It will feature portals to continuing education videos on clinical, practice management, and business development topics. In addition, we will have a variety of practice management forms and teach the verbal skills needed to help solve problems that happen daily in the dental practice. Finally, the PanPAC website will have an interactive chat room for members to get advice from the PanPAC team on all facets of private practice.
This educational website will provide continued e-learning between the annual conferences. This PanPAC experience will accelerate the learning of its members and provide the knowledge needed to develop a successful dental private practice.
Closing Comments
As the dental profession changes, we must change too. The need for mentorship is critical in providing young dental graduates with what they need to be truly successful and happy in their dental careers. This great professional tradition of mentoring the next generation of dentists is vital to providing quality dental work and patient experiences in our communities.
In my humble opinion, without a passion for mentorship programs, dentistry is in danger of morphing into a model that is less than what patients and doctors alike want and deserve.
References
- Sikka V, Savin G. The impact of the financial crisis on the U.S. dental industry. Dent Econ. 2014;104:40.
- Levin RP. Data bites: more dentists plan on working longer. Dentistry IQ. March 14, 2017. https://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/apex360/2017/03/data-bite-according-to-dentist-retirement-data-more-dentists-plan-on-working-longer.html. Accessed February 9, 2019.
- Kirkham E. Is becoming a dentist worth $261,149 in debt? StudentLoanHero.com. April 3, 2018. https://studentloanhero.com/featured/dental-school-debt-worth-it/. Accessed February 9, 2019.
Dr. Okuda practices in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a past national president (2002 to 2003), Board-Accredited member, and Board-Accredited Fellow of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). He has been an international speaker for more than 22 years and has authored numerous articles on cosmetic and restorative dentistry topics. He also is a Fellow of both the International College of Dentists and International Congress of Oral Implantologists. He is the Esthetic Dentistry Expert for the National Dental Advisory Board of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) and the aesthetic columnist for General Dentistry as well. Since 2007, Dr. Okuda has been listed in Dentistry Today’s Leaders in CE. Also in 2007, Contemporary Esthetics presented the coveted National Cosmetic Practice of the Year award to Dr. Okuda’s practice. Finally, he is the cofounder of the Give Back a Smile program, the national charitable foundation of the AACD, which helps survivors of domestic violence throughout the nation to restore their smile and lives. He may be reached at okudacosmeticdentistry.com and on Facebook at Wynn H. Okuda DMD.
Disclosure: Dr. Okuda is the founder of the Pan Pacific Dental Academy.
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