669: The Best Way to Recession Proof Your Practice - Dr. Leonard Hess

When business slows down, it can be worrisome for your practice. Take control back by learning to think bigger, investing in yourself, and treatment planning for your patients, not the insurance companies. Dr. Leonard Hess of the Dawson Academy joins us to show you how. Learn more in Episode 669 of The Best Practices Show!

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Links Mentioned in This Episode:

The Dawson Academy TheDawsonAcademy.com

Main Takeaways:

Too many dentists are treatment planning for the insurance companies and not their patients. 

Most people over their lifetime are undertreated when it comes to dentistry. 

Learn to solve bigger problems. 

If you want change, stop acting like every other dentist. 

Invest in yourself. Invest in your team. 

If you’re a dentist, you’re in the people business. 

Quotes:

“Right now the best thing to do is educate yourself. Right now you should be investing in yourself to put yourself in a position where you can come out of this little slow down ready to rock and roll more than ever. The biggest change that has to happen is…the insurance industry is impacting dentistry now more than ever…it’s getting worse for the dentists. It’s not getting better. A lot of practices are starting to move towards DSOs and now DSOs are negotiating…The trap that almost every dentist falls into these days, and especially younger dentist, the problem in dentistry is that too many dentists are treatment planning what is best for the insurance company and they’re not doing what’s best for the patient.” - Lenny (8:16—9:28)

“The paradigm shift when you can educate yourself and put yourself in a position where you can diagnose better and you can educate your patients better, people inherently always want to do what’s best for themselves. They just need that choice. We’ve got a great standard of care of dentistry in the United States, but most people over their lifetime are actually undertreated.” - Lenny (9:32—9:56)

“People are getting a veil lifted and they see things differently. Because in dental school you were really only taught to diagnose problems related bacteria: causing decay or periodontal disease. But the biggest threat to whether or not people keep their teeth long term has very little to do with bacteria and has everything to do with force and occlusion and how everything is being managed. Most people who want a dental makeover, they don’t want it because they want whiter teeth. They want it because their teeth are worn and chipped. They have teeth of a 70 year old when they’re 40 and that’s not just a good combination. So in dental school we weren’t taught how to treat those types of cases. And they’re everywhere.” - Lenny (11:44—12:32)

“If you diagnose right, if you build a relationship with your patients you just need a dozen new patients a month. Or even less than that. Because if you can diagnose, if you can educate and if you can get patients to own their problems…the only way they can own it is by you explaining. Then people, a lot of times, will choose to do the best thing. And insurance doesn’t matter..”  - Lenny (13:31—13:51)

“You have to be willing and knowingly put yourself in a position where it’s going to be uncomfortable. And put yourself in a position where you can get over that hump and then great things can happen. You gotta be a problem solver.”  - Lenny (14:13—14:24)

“If you want to make more money and you want to work less days a year and you want to have more production per hour then you need to learn to solve bigger problems.” - Lenny (15:16—15:24)

“If you want to change your practice, stop acting like every other dentist.” - Lenny (16:27—16:30)

“[Forces are] the biggest thing that causes restorations to break and if you start replacing your dentistry because it’s not holding up, you’ve lost money. The profitability that you got from doing that case is now out the window. The key to having a really happy dental life is predictability, because predictability leads to profitability. Profitability means you’re happy. When your dentistry is predictable, that means your patients are happy and everything can be great that way. But dentistry, if it’s not predictable and then if it’s not profitable - if you feel like you’re working way too hard for the money you’re getting - dentistry can start to be a real drag.” - Lenny (16:59—17:38)

“All it takes is improving your clinical skills until you get to the point where you can do cases that you couldn’t before. And all it takes is one good case to pay for your entire curriculum.” - Lenny (21:20—21:48)

“The most important thing to realize in being a dentist is that you’re in the people business. Because if people don’t like you, if they don’t trust you. Who do you write big checks to who you don’t like or you don’t trust? Just the IRS. And if you’re going to act like every other dentist and you’re going to behave just like every other dentist, then people are going to put their trust in you to do major things or write you a big check.” - Lenny (24:39—25:06)

“People are always going to invest in their health, no matter what. People wanting to take care of themselves is recession-proof in and of itself. People are always going to have money, but when things get tight or when people are feeling less wealthy then they’re going to choose where to spend their money. They’re going to make a little more of a narrow choice. They’re going to be a little more careful about what they’re investing in. So most people will invest in their health because they care about how their teeth are going to look. They care about how healthy they look. People don’t want to lose their dentition. So if you are in a position where you can offer people options, choosing to do the right thing has nothing to do with the recession. There are always going to be that percentage of patients who want to do the right thing.” - Lenny (26:00—26:48)

“Invest in yourself. Invest in your staff. Train your team. Team training is so important. If you walk out the door, we all know, that a lot of times a patient is sitting in that dental chair and they are waiting for you to walk out so they ask your assistant or whatever do I really need this? If the vision of health and the philosophy of the practice walks out with you, you got a big problem….And when you start to see a slow down like this, it’s the best time to do it. More than ever.” - Lenny (31:26—32:04)

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

8:16 Insurance companies and dentistry. 

11:44 Seeing dentistry differently. 

14:13 Think bigger. 

16:59 The importance of predictability.  

21:09 No time for CE. 

23:14 Dawson curriculum. 

23:09 Being steady with comprehensives. 

31:26 Final Thoughts. 

Dr. Leonard Hess Bio:

Dr. Leonard Hess, D.D.S., is a Co-Clinical Director at The Dawson Academy, joining the Dawson faculty in 2009. He owns Union County Center for Comprehensive Dentistry in Charlotte, North Carolina, and he practices full-time in addition to teaching continuing education courses. He is a member of the editorial board for Inside Dentistry and has had over 17 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. He is also a member of the American Academy of Restorative Dentistry, AACD, ADA, AES, and NCDS.

Dr. Hess began teaching continuing education courses in 2005, and the topics include occlusion, smile design, treatment planning, preparation design, and practice integration of complete dentistry. He has taught full-day continuing education courses at the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry’s national meeting, The Greater New York Dental Meeting, AACD National Meeting, Pacific Dental Conference, Ontario Dental Association meeting, and The Yankee Dental Conference. Dr. Hess also has taught courses in Japan, Germany, Poland, China, and Canada. 

Join Dr. Hess on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leonard.hess.7 

Follow Dr. Hess on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlennyhess