Referrals Over Profit

Ideally, general practitioners should refer patients to specialists when they have conditions that they cannot address, such as wisdom teeth, temporomandibular joint disorder, “excessive cavities,” etc. (“Why a Good Dentist Will Refer You to a Specialist” 2018). Specialists, such as periodontists and endodontists, have additional...

Dentists can own and manage a successful dental practice when they know how to “[operate] their practices like businesses…” (Rubin 2016). As owners, they need to know about the factors that affect the clinic’s business, such as “production and collections, end of day reports, collection...

Dentists could open another clinic by buying another practice so long as they consider factors, such as its location, equipment, patient base, etc. (Nuss 2016). Dentists should research different clinics to buy “as early as possible, even two or three years out” (Blatchford 2016). Once...

Licensed dentists commit fraud by “[billing] for services provided by unqualified or unlicensed clinical personnel” by putting their name on the claim to insurance companies and Medicaid, lying that he or she did the procedures for the patient (Cutler 2012; “Dental fraud scams”). By doing...

Dental hygienists perform many procedures to treat patients’ oral health, such as “removing calculus and plaque (hard and soft deposits) from all surfaces of the teeth,” “applying preventive materials to the teeth (e.g. sealants and fluorides),” “teaching patients appropriate oral hygiene strategies to maintain oral...

Dental clinics provide a variety of treatments and services to patients. However, they are limited in what they provide, depending on their skillset. More dentists could assist them in taking on more patients, providing certain procedures that the practice cannot provide. Dentists could hire new...

Dental Billing