Most practices struggle to book enough appointments in February. This winter was no different- remember the polar vortex!? As productivity in the practice freezes up, it’s hard to believe that things are ever going to get better. As you know, many patients are still reeling from a holiday financial hangover, paying off their credit card […]
Most practices struggle to book enough appointments in February. This winter was no different- remember the polar vortex!? As productivity in the practice freezes up, it’s hard to believe that things are ever going to get better. As you know, many patients are still reeling from a holiday financial hangover, paying off their credit card bills and losing their enthusiasm for yet another expense. It’s always about mid February when you start to ask yourself “Why didn’t I schedule a trip to some sunny beach in Mexico?” And of course you know the answer to that question. As February is a short month anyway, it’s often hard to reach the numbers you need for financial stability. If you did schedule that trip to Cabo, you’d probably just be sitting on the beach worrying about your practice’s dip in production while you’re away. “Are we going to have the cash flow to pay bills?” you’d worry as your waiter brings you that third overpriced margarita…. Inevitably the world around us thaws, but what can you do to turn that depressing little month into a positive the next time it rolls around?
Quite simply, setting aside one day to focus on kids health in a unique way is the solution. Our practice arrived at this answer several years ago as were trying to solve the “before school starts” problem. Typically the summer is a busy time in our practice and our chairs are full. While that’s a positive, it would become challenging when families would call us, wanting to get everyone in the family in for a cleaning before the school year starts. In the early years of our practice, this request was awesome! We had open chairs and plenty of time to serve these patients. And, often it was new patients (woohoo!!!) joining our practice.
But as each successive humid August heated up, so did the brows of our team members. We would be doing a complex restorative procedure in one room while we squeezed in kids’ cleanings into our already full schedule. No big deal right? Kids cleanings only take a few minutes…in and out they go! In no time I could pop in for a quick exam and send that family on their way. Success right?
I thought so until a patient suffering through a root canal helped me understand the basis for his anxiety. In our practice we try hard to understand each patient before picking up the drill. This older gentleman was extremely anxious. He “hated the dentist” he told me as we prepared to give him his local anesthetic. Even though the schedule was tight, I wanted to understand why he felt that way. “It started when I was a kid,” he said, “and I had two teeth pulled with no anesthetic.” Accordingly he had avoided the dentist office as much as he could over the course of his life. Which led him to me on this day, suffering from advanced disease that could have been avoided had he just visited us for even the most routine preventive care. This time he had no choice, as he wanted to keep this front tooth and he was in extraordinary pain. Then a loud “DING” suddenly cuts off our conversation as an instant message alerts me that I have child exams to do in room 2, 4, and 5. And a patient in room 3 waiting for anesthetic for three fillings.
“It’s that time of the year,” I thought to myself as I cut the conversation short and rushed down the hallway to do my quick exams. But when I entered room 2, a five year old was crying and would not allow me to do the exam. I anxiously wanted to get it over with so I could get back to the fillings in room 3 and the upset root canal patient but no go. No amount of bribery, coercion, or parental threats were helping. The kid needed a school exam, I thought to myself, how are we going to make this happen?
And then it actually hit me! Why am I doing this?! Why do we continue to perpetuate this cycle? The whole problem (and a possible solution) became crystal clear at that very moment as examples of cause and effect were seated rooms 2 and 1 respectively.
It was actually a simple idea. What if we simply put down our drills for one day and dedicate all of our energy to giving kids a positive first impression of dental care? If it works it would accomplish three goals. First it would allow us to not have an overwhelming schedule the two weeks before school starts. We could consolidate all of the children’s preventive visits to one day. Second, with all of the adults out of the way we could make it awesome for the kids- face painting, science experiments, jump houses, balloons, and other fun stuff we couldn’t do if we were concurrently crowning and filling teeth. Third, we could hopefully change lives by changing the first impression and ultimately creating less adults who fear and avoid the dentist. We slogged through the rest of that day but got to work on a plan.
This sounds good in theory, right? But I’m sure if your practice is like mine there is a feast and famine cycle. Some months are so busy you’re ripping your hair out and others have days that are desperately slow. It’s hard to see beyond the short term urgencies to build systems and programs that will serve you and your practice for the long run. To put an end to this, it helps to make a plan that is based upon your values. Here’s how we were able to accomplish that.
One of our practice’s important values is doing our part to create a healthier community. So we decided we would start with the end in mind. We know if we can get a child with strong independent healthy habits, a lack of chronic disease, and a good relationship with regular preventive care, that child has a good chance for a healthy life. So we designed not only our big event day in August but also a supportive map that would help keep our team, the parents, and the child on the same page. In doing so every child gets not only a positive first impression but also a clear path to graduate to health.
Now it needed a clever name and some levels of achievement. And so FYSH School (Find Your Smile Here) was born. Kids graduate to a new fysh level every two years and finally graduate “Too Cool for School” at age 13. To make it even more fun we have tokens and prizes for good behavior and follow through. Sure the kids have a lot of energy, but it’s all worth it. Now when parents ask me when they should start bringing in their child, I have a good answer. “Bring them into FYSH School- it’s awesome!” And not coincidentally the parents typically join our practice too.
We started the big event and program five years ago. It has become so popular that we had to start a winter FYSH school event in February three years ago- “Ice Fyshing School” we call it. And that’s how we welcomed 158 new patients in February and how our August is already booked up! The word of mouth referrals from family to family is all the marketing we need. The cool part is that any practice can do this. It doesn’t require six figure crown machines, lasers, or 3D imaging. In fact, you don’t even have to pick up a drill to change lives for the better. With just a minimal investment, and a day or two of planning, your team can make this a reality. February is theADA’s “Give Kids a Smile” month and a fysh school event is a wonderful way to bring it to life. Most importantly, we are fulfilling our value and partnering with our patients to create a healthier community.
