Collaborate, and go from strength to strength
Featured Products Promotional FeaturesPosted by: Dental Design 22nd June 2021
Collaboration means better clinical outcomes for patients. For your practice, a commitment to unity and to working together is what will keep you thriving. Collaboration between the practice team is key, because every participant in the patient’s journey – from the person who takes the first enquiry, to the dentist who delivers the treatment and the hygienist who helps them maintain the results – is crucial to success.
Modern patients are becoming more consumer minded, seeing dentistry as something worth investing in and shopping around for the best options. This is likely to increase post-Covid, as people appreciate how important good health is, so nothing less than excellence will do. If just one element of their experience isn’t up to standard, it can bring everything else down. It’s like buying a product you’re generally happy with because it does what you intended it to do and was good value, but mediocre customer service means you’ll think twice about purchasing from that company again.
Communication supports collaboration
When everyone is working in harmony to support one other, that margin for patient dissatisfaction narrows. Practices that best weathered the pandemic storm were those that kept on communicating; with each other, so any problems could be acted on immediately, and with their patients too. But don’t forget the dental laboratory. To patients, they may be an “invisible” part of the process, but they are fundamental to collaboration and to your success. A great laboratory is worth its weight in gold and skilled technicians who are up to date with the latest techniques, and are using cutting edge technology, will produce high-quality products to guarantee satisfaction and help your practice to grow its reputation.
When you maintain a good relationship with your laboratory to support a collaborative approach, you can avoid misunderstandings, mistakes and remakes. The quality of care is maximised when dentist and technician communicate well, when they share ideas and knowledge, and have a mutual understanding of what each patient expects. A collaborative relationship supports predictability, accuracy and long-term results. As soon as the laboratory receives your impression, they start creating the restoration with the “end” in mind – and a patient’s journey should always begin by determining the destination, so you can plan the best way to get there, efficiency and ethically, and with minimal chair time.
This goes back to how crucial unity is right now. Whatever our role, we are all working to one end – to raise levels of oral health in the population. That means engaging patients and offering exceptional and good value care, so they are motivated to attend the practice regularly and understand the behaviours needed to keep any treatment beautifully maintained. We must all be on the same page, collaborating to achieve the best results.
Your laboratory will support you to deliver the minimally invasive yet enduring restorative treatments that modern patients find so desirable. Elective dentistry, to restore function and/or create an aesthetically improved smile has never been more popular. How can practices enhance collaboration with laboratories and dental technicians? As well as communication in the traditional sense – although “traditional” now means video calling, as well as emails and phone calls to keep in touch – the materials you use will be the means by how you can optimise the exchange of information.
Materials as a means of communication
Select impression materials with the laboratory in mind so that technicians will also love working with. When a laboratory receives a high-quality impression that is detailed and accurate, they will enjoy creating a prosthesis that is strong, beautiful and that fits – a stunning and functional product that can avoid a costly remake, or a result that isn’t accepted by the patient. This is collaboration at its best – you make their life easier, and they will go above and beyond to support you in your endeavours to deliver upgraded, excellent dentistry.
For stunning impressions, AFFINIS™ from COLTENE is the perfect material for all your laboratory fabricated impressions. It is favoured not just by dentists, but also by dental technicians. Dentists have reported laboratory comments that AFFINIS™ makes drag and void easy to pick up, and clear margins simpler – heavy body Black Edition offers particularly good readability when used with gold or silver coloured AFFINIS™ PRECIOUS. The material is also comfortable in the patient’s mouth, with dental nurses finding it predictable to work with too; it provides the ideal basis for effective teamwork.
Outcomes can be improved with collaboration and communication. For example, if you offer your laboratory accurate information with quality impressions, everyone benefits – dentist, patient, technicians, also your practice and the laboratory as a whole. When a truly collaborative approach is favoured, treatment planning is better, efficiency is improved, and predictability and success are supported. In this new era for dentistry, standards must be kept sky-high, to exceed expectations and this is what collaboration will help you to achieve.
For more on COLTENE, visit: www.coltene.com,
email info.uk@coltene.com or call 01444 235486.
