How to look beyond the cost and see the opportunity in tech upgrades
I find that most dentists, when looking to purchase new materials and incorporate new techniques, very often ask the wrong questions. There are a couple of different kinds of purchases we make for our dental offices every single day. One area is the consumables that we use in our daily practice of dentistry. There are two main issues when buying consumable products: quality and price. It’s easy to look for the cheapest cotton rolls out there and to price shop for 2x2 gauze pads, latex gloves, and sterilization bags.
There is, however, a quality issue as well, especially when it comes to things like sterilization bags. I know a lot of dental offices will purchase the cheapest sterilization bags without regard to the quality. The key is to look for products that are reasonable in cost and provide you with a high level of quality especially in the sterilization arena. A perfect example of this is PeelVue by Dux Dental. Dux Dental is an interesting company because it is a combination of a few companies that have made a number of key products for the dental office and has been able to keep prices very reasonable over time. The message here is don’t just buy on price alone. There are lots of examples of areas where you can be price competitive, but also sustain a high quality of product for you and your patients.
Technology
The main question most dentists ask when it comes to new technology or new equipment is, “How much does it cost?” If you are looking at a CAD/CAM system, for example, and you’re told the price is $100,000+, your first temptation may well be to walk away. When you look at a dental laser and the sales representatives tell you that it costs $79,900, you probably wonder if it makes any sense to buy something that expensive. The same is true when it comes to digital sensors. Dentists easily get sticker shock and then decide that a new technology is not for them.
The right question to ask is, “How can this new technology fit into my practice, what can it do for me clinically as well as from the practice management perspective, and how can I make it affordable for my practice so I can expand my practice and reap the benefits?”
Let’s take a dental laser as an example. The price of $79,900 through financing comes out to approximately $1,900 per month (figures may not be exact). Now, the questions you should ask are: Will this laser bring in new patients to the practice? Will a laser allow me to do faster, easier, better dentistry on patients so I will be more productive? Will it allow me to do new procedures that I may not have performed if I did not have a laser? If the answer is yes to these questions, then you will be able to easily produce more than $1900 a month to afford the lease payments. Also, from a practice management perspective, a dental laser now differentiates your dental office to patients in your area giving you a definite competitive edge. You can now see how a dental laser can be affordable. Putting this all together, the answer for many dental practices should be yes to investing in this technology.
When it comes to digital x-ray systems, the cost is much lower than CAD/CAM and lasers, especially if you already have a good computer system in place. Yet many dentists still say digital radiography is too expensive. But the questions should be the same whether you are considering a $100 outlay, or $10,000 or $100,000. “Will it bring in more than I am paying out?”
Planning and training
One caveat: You can’t just drop a laser, or even a new imaging system, into a dental office and expect things to happen. You and your staff need to be well trained as to how to properly use the laser to achieve the most benefit for you and your patients.
With a CAD/CAM system, the same thinking applies, but just a little differently. A dental CAD/CAM system will directly affect the monthly bill you receive from the dental laboratory. The most reasonable estimate is that a general dentist office would need to perform approximately 18 to 20 CAD/CAM restorations per month for you to break even on the monthly lease payment. If your office does 30 to 40 units of inlay, onlays and crowns per month, then a CAD/CAM system can be very profitable and a good purchase for your practice.
The right questions to ask when looking for new technology is what will it do for my dental practice and how will it change my life and my patients’ lives. The wrong question to ask is how much does it cost, because cost is almost irrelevant if new technology is made affordable by monthly financing and you take the time to learn how to use it properly and productively. Let’s all develop a better business sense and start asking the right questions when we want to invest in our offices.