Time to start prioritising time
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 17th February 2022
It was writer William Penn that once said that “time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” If you think about it, in many aspects of life this is very true. It’s all too easy to let time slip away from us, and while this may not have huge ramifications in our lives outside of work, in a dental practice time is precious.
But how can you save time during treatment and what does this mean for you and your patients?
More time benefits everyone
How often in practice have you paused for a second to wish that you had more time to dedicate to a certain case? Modern dentistry is all about juggling lots of responsibilities at once, so it’s understandable that a day in practice can quickly become stressful if you feel you don’t have enough time to get everything done. Eventually, this can have a substantial impact on your practice, especially if you are finding it difficult to fit everything you need into the allotted patient appointment times.
Having more time in practice inevitably means that you’ll be able to balance the demands of your business more effectively, allowing you to dedicate time to keeping an equilibrium and giving certain areas extra attention if necessary. This means you can prioritise patient care, form better bonds with them during their appointment time and hopefully foster a greater sense of loyalty – leading to a rewarding and long-lasting relationship.
We often talk about how saving time can positively impact your business operations, but there is a significant emotional advantage too. According to a recent survey, burnout is causing almost half of dental professionals in the UK to consider leaving the profession.[i] If you look at some of the most common causes of burnout (lack of work-life balance, hectic work load, lack of support)[ii] many of these link back to the time professionals have available and how they are able to utilise it. Downtime is important, and if you’re skipping lunch or rushing around to stay on top of everything, this will soon have a detrimental effect on your health.
Time-saving steps during treatment can alleviate the stress, leading to a healthier work load, the potential for a better work-life equilibrium and a reduced chance of becoming overwhelmed.
Start at the beginning
A good way to identify ways you can save time is to keep a conscious track of where you are allocating your time during patient appointments. This way, you can quickly identify any time-consuming areas where you may have the potential to streamline your operations moving forward.
Ways to save time often include better organisation, technology with time-saving features and potentially delegating tasks to your dental nurse. Technology, in particular, can completely revolutionise how you perform certain functions and can make a huge difference to the amount of time you have available to you during treatment and beyond.
Complex treatments made simple
In more complex treatment modalities such as dental implant placement and orthodontics, it’s fair to say that a significant amount of time is spent on the assessment stages of treatment planning, especially as any diagnostic images, scans and other important steps must be perfect in order to ensure the best standard of care.
The CS 9600 CBCT system from Carestream Dental not only simplifies even the most complex of procedures, but it also helps to save significant time due to its expert blend of cutting-edge features and powerful imaging technology. Its Scan Ceph Module captures outstanding cephalometric images and automatic tracing in just 10 seconds, saving on average up to 9 minutes per analysis – time that can easily be utilised elsewhere to ensure an exceptional standard of patient care.
Every minute counts
William Penn may have suggested we don’t know how to use the time we have, but this doesn’t need to be the case. It may be ironic to take time to assess the time you have, but it’s definitely worth it in the long run. Identify areas where time can be saved, invest in technology that simplifies treatment for all – these precious minutes soon add up and can fast become your key to achieving a less stressful, more productive practice life.
Nimisha is the Trade Marketing Manager at Carestream Dental covering the UK, Middle East, Nordics, South Africa, Russia and CIS regions. She has worked at Carestream Dental for the past 7 years, where she has developed her marketing skills and industry knowledge to bring the core values and philosophy of the company to the market.
For more information, contact Carestream Dental on 0800 169 9692 or
visit www.carestreamdental.co.uk
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[i] Dentistry. Burnout Causing Half Of Dentists To Consider Leaving Dentistry. Link: https://dentistry.co.uk/2020/01/15/burnout-causing-dentists-leaving-dentistry/#:~:text=Half%20of%20dentists%20(50%25),to%20a%20Dental%20Protection%20survey. [Last accessed September21].
[ii] Mayo Clinic. Job Burnout: How To Spot It And Take Action. Link: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642 [Last accessed September 21].
