DENTAL CLINICS
How a Dental Clinic Owner Can Raise Chair Utilisation
Three chairs, one doctor on leave, and a patient who booked for ten does not turn up. By noon the clinic has two empty hours, and the treatment plan the last patient was handed is still in her bag unsigned.
We help owners with the business of the clinic: chair-hours, plan acceptance, lab payments, recall, associate payouts and the weekly numbers. Clinical decisions, materials and infection control stay with your dentists and the dental council. We do not advise on those.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Chair-hours are sold in the appointment book but never counted, so the owner cannot say whether the clinic uses sixty hours a week or forty.
- 02Treatment plans are explained once and handed over on paper, and acceptance is not tracked, so the clinic cannot see which plans died at the desk.
- 03Lab bills for crowns and dentures arrive in a bundle at month end, and nobody matches them with the patient case or the doctor.
- 04Associates are paid a share of collections, but write-offs, discounts and unpaid balances are settled informally and surprise the owner later.
- 05Recall for cleaning and review is done when staff remember, so a regular patient may not hear from the clinic for two years.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01Chair-hours used per chair per day, from the appointment book, compared with chair-hours available
- 02Treatment-plan acceptance by doctor, counting plans presented against plans started
- 03Lab bills matched to patient and doctor, with the cost of remakes shown as its own line
- 04Associate payout rules written down, including the treatment of discounts and unpaid balances
- 05A recall list by month, with a named caller and a short script
- 06Consumable stock for composites, impression material and anaesthetic, counted on a set day
- 07No-show and late-cancel counts per chair per week, with a rule for the next booking
- 08Revenue per treatment type, so the owner sees which procedures fill the chair profitably
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- Count the chair-hours booked and the chair-hours open for last week, chair by chair. Write both on one sheet. The gap shows where a second doctor or a recall drive would help.
- Hypothetical example: if a clinic presents twenty plans in a month and twelve start, acceptance is sixty percent. Split the same count by doctor to see who needs a coaching conversation.
- Sort this month's lab bills by patient. Mark each one with the doctor and the case. Anything you cannot match is a question for the next staff meeting.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A chair-hour utilisation sheet and a short weekly review for the owner and the clinic manager
- A treatment-plan follow-up routine: who calls, on which day and what is said if the patient hesitates
- A written associate payout note covering collections, discounts, lab costs and unpaid balances
- A recall calendar with monthly lists, scripts and a tally of patients who returned
Not the right fit when: A complaint about treatment, an infection-control notice or a partner dispute needing a lawyer should be settled first. A single-chair clinic with no staff has little to delegate.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
