Introducing dental implants – the whole picture
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 12th September 2023
To successfully progress in your career, there are many factors to consider other than simply acquiring new skills. Although the acquisition and development of new clinical capabilities is the first stepping stone towards expanding your services and truly thriving, it is not the only one needed. You will also need to think about and tailor how the business is run, structured and marketed in order to make the very most of the new services you can provide. This is particularly important for clinicians introducing dental implants into their practice, as only by planning ahead will you be able to make the most of your new found skills.
Workflow
Before you can provide any implant treatment in practice, you’ll need to have the basics in place. Consider which implant system you will be using and connect with the supplier to ensure they can cater to you efficiently. There may be introductory offers on first orders or your local representative may be able to provide advice on which solutions could work best for your inventory when starting out.
You may also look to invest in some digital solutions if you haven’t already for other areas of dentistry, for example, an intraoral scanner and the accompanying implant planning software. As few dentists who are new to implantology will have access to an inhouse CBCT scanner, it is just as important to find a practice you can collaborate with for referred scans when they are required as well.
Team
No type of dentistry is delivered by one member of the team and this is even more applicable in implantology. This means that training the team around you is just as crucial as undergoing training yourself. Everyone from your dental nurse(s) to your treatment coordinator, practice manager and dental hygienist/therapist will likely benefit from some support. They’ll need to know how to talk about the implant treatments available, the benefits they offer patients and the key risks that patients need to know about. Any team members who will be heavily involved in helping patients throughout the implant journey from placement to long-term maintenance will also need the clinical and communicative skills to provide the necessary care.
Fellow dentists in the practice should also be kept informed of the implant services you provide, as they will be key to creating an internal referral pathway. This will also be important for marketing dental implants to existing patients, which is a staple for establishing and growing the implant business.
External marketing
Beyond this, it is necessary to promote the dental implant treatment available outside of the existing patient base. Some marketing activities can be expensive so it’s useful to start small and focus on those channels that provide the greatest return on investment. Social media can be beneficial as a mostly free platform to advertise services and connect with patients near and far. From here, consider direct marketing avenues (yes this still works very well in some areas!) as well as working with other local companies, leisure centres, gyms, spas, golf clubs and events to advertise your services here too.
Once you start treating patients, be sure to request feedback and online reviews from happy customers so you can build a reputation for excellent treatment and patient experience. As many as 93% of consumers have reported that online reviews will influence their buying decisions, making this and word-of-mouth marketing crucial for every dental business today.
Business plan
A business plan can be as simple of elaborate as you want it to be, but when done right, it provides an effective way to plan how you will deliver new services and then keep you accountable for its development. It’s a way of defining what you want to achieve, how you hope to grow and what milestones you aim to reach at what point. It might simply outline how many implants you intend to provide in the next 6, 12 or 24 months, how you will find new patients and the amount of time and finances you plan to invest. Not only will this give you direction as your implant business gains momentum, but it will also offer a benchmark by which to measure your success.
Clinical excellence
Of course, it goes without saying that you need to be both competent and confident to deliver the clinical treatment you are offering. Only by consistently providing clinical excellence and a smooth patient journey will people come to you for their dental implant procedures. That’s why a successful career in implantology will always begin with high-quality training that gives you the theoretical understanding and practical experience to perform relevant procedures effectively and safely. The Ucer Education PG Cert in Implant Dentistry is an excellent place to start. The comprehensive programme offers a combination of classroom-based and hands-on teaching, presented from state-of-the-art facilitates featuring a full digital suite and a leading faculty of talented lecturers and mentors.
If you are thinking about adding dental implants to your repertoire, make sure you consider all the aspects that will contribute to your success in this field. With good planning, excellent clinical skills, a trained team and the right workflow, you will be ready to really excel.
Please contact Professor Ucer at ucer@icedental.institute or Mel Hay at mel@mdic.co
01612 371842
www.ucer-clinic.dental
[1] Vimaladevi, K., and Dhanabhakaym, M. (2012). A study on the effects of online consumer reviews on purchasing decision. Prestige In. J. Manag. 7, 51–99. doi: 10.1504/IJIMA.2012.044958
