Wendy Briggs:
Hi, everybody. This is Wendy Briggs. Welcome to this episode of the Double Year Production podcast. I am so excited about today's episode because we get to talk about something near and dear to my heart, and that is exceptional hygienist and exceptional hygiene. What does that actually look like in today's world? I'm super excited to introduce our guest on today's podcast, Paige Hood. Hello, Paige. You're looking beautiful today.
Paige Hood:
Thanks! Oh, thanks Wendy! You too, as always!
Wendy Briggs:
It's awesome to have you here as our guest. Now, for those of you that don't know, Paige Hood is one of our world-class hygiene coaches at the Team Training Institute. And Paige and I actually go way back. So we had the pleasure of working side-by-side in the same practice years and years ago, probably longer in the past than we actually care to admit out loud at
point. But Paige, tell our audience today, our listeners, so they kind of know who you are before we dig into our topic today.
Paige Hood:
Yeah, awesome. Thanks for having me. This is quite a treat to be on the Double Your Production podcast. Obviously, I listen. Huge fan of you and Dr. John and all the knowledge that you impart to our teams. It's great. So my dental story started way long ago. My dad's a dentist. So I grew up in a dental practice, cleaning operatories, filing charts, answering phones, way back. And when I was in and about high school, decide what I wanted to do as a career. My dad pulled me aside and said, "'Page, do not be a dentist.'" I was like, what? He says, it's too stressful. The running the business side of dentistry really had gotten to him. And he said, go to hygiene school and focus on patient care. Don't worry about business management. And so I took his advice and went to dental hygiene school University of California, San Francisco, years with my dad straight out of hygiene school. It was a very, very big highlight of my professional career. And then my husband and I decided to move to Utah where my husband's family is from and so we packed up a U-Haul and moved to Utah and the practice I landed in, Wendy Briggs, was a hygienist. So I like to say I hit the hygiene jackpot, right?
Wendy Briggs:
Thank you.
Paige Hood:
you know, we go back, like Wendy said, from Wendy, how to elevate patient care when we change the things and how we say and build value for the preventive services, perio services, patients say yes at a higher level. So all of the things that Wendy teaches, I've been doing myself clinically in practice, and I still practice one day a week in American Fork, Utah for Dr. Greg Pitts, and I coach full-time with the Team Training Institute. So I get to travel across the country and coach dental teams, the wonderful things that I've learned from Wendy. And I kind of wish, part of my why is I wish I knew what I learned from Wendy when I worked for my dad, because I think his outcome could have been a lot different, right? We always say patient first and then the production follows, but I think he could have had a different outcome. So that's kind of my story.
Wendy Briggs:
Well, I love that, Paige. And again, I look fondly at the years that we were able to practice together. And both of us really appreciated having a practice that let us spread our wings and really, I guess, provide care that we felt passionate about to our patients. And of course, our mentor, Dr. Darren Moody, is no longer with us. And we certainly feel that loss. But his partner, Dr. Paul Nielsen, we have fond memories of those years where we really both were able to apply I guess, excellent principles and see the outcome for our practice. I'm with you. There are certainly circumstances that I look back and think, gosh, if I only knew then what I know now,we could have helped the entire practice flourish. That's what I think is most exciting about what we both do now. You personally, I think I miss the days of being able to be in the trenches, in the practices, one-on-one. help the transformation of providers one-on-one. So I wanted to take today to chat about excellence and hygiene. We often define excellence as doing common things in an uncommon way. I love that quote by Booker T. Washington. We've shared it with practices and providers for years. And I think that's the most rewarding thing about what we do is we are able to help providers who are already doing a lot of things well attain the next level, right? through, um, accomplish things they never thought possible. And so what I wanted to have you on the podcast today to talk about is maybe a few transformation stories or a few principles that you see qualities that hygienists and dentists really can embrace as they strive to serve patients at a higher level. So maybe let's just start with a couple qualities that you think really set apart the hygienists that are at the top of their game from the masses.
Paige Hood:
Awesome topic. I love this because as I go into different practices, just like you have, Wendy, and deliver the message, right? How do we serve our patients at a higher level? We see some providers spread their wings and fly, and we see amazing results. And then we see some make a little bit of progress, and we see some that don't make as much progress. So kind of what are those common denominators? And this might surprise you, Wendy, I think one of the biggest things that separates the high achievers is what I call that ‘yes mentality.’ It kind of starts in our own heads. And you have taught at our treatment advocate training, you know, we look outside of dentistry, we look at some of the companies that have amazing customer experience, you know, the achieving hygiene team members. So what does that really mean? It's that yes mentality mindset. They start off as coachable, right? They take a message from one of the hygiene coaches, right? If we do something in a slightly different way, we can have a very different result, right? With, you know, I hear all the time, Paige, we have different patients. Our patients only with us. We've got to get that out of our heads. I recently was in a practice that I coached a year or so ago and I did a pop-in, a surprise visit, and one of the hygienist, Leslie, came up to me. She gave me a huge hug and she said, Paige, thank you so much for making me a better hygienist. And I was like, oh my heart just melted on the spot. But that's exactly what it is. We give you tools but then you take that to the next level, right? So that also means that That also means that you have a yes mentality to being there for your team. We can't do what we need to do without our team helping us. Assistance to facilitate sealants, a full schedule. So we have to be willing to do sterilization, to get on the phone and call past due perio patients. So we've got to help our team members so that they'll be willing to help us. And it kind of starts at the top. What is the culture in our practice? Do we have a yes mentality? Then having a guest mentality to also same day treatment with our patients. Can we facilitate opportunities? If somebody says, hey, I really would like to do an in-office whitening today. Do we have team members that are helping us facilitate that or do we have the eye rolling? Do we have the, oh, shoot, I have an operatory set up for a patient in 45 minutes, so we can't do anything in that operatory. It's on hold for now.
Wendy Briggs:
Right.
Paige Hood:
So some of those things can really make a big impact. And again, it starts with us. We have to be willing to just go with the punches, right? Roll with it. What can we do to help other people?
Wendy Briggs:
Yeah, I love that. You know, we often talk about mindset, skill set, tool set. And mindset's first for a reason, right? So the mindset that we bring to the table is everything. I'm sure you've had these experiences too, because we have the opposite of that, right? I have had over my career, I never forget the time that two hygienists grabbed me and said, hey, Wendy, just so you know, we are not interested in changing anything about hygiene. Like, we are good. practice is the doctor. We've had that before. We have the hygienists that enter the room with their arms crossed and they already look pissed off at the world. What is this hygienist going to teach me?
Paige Hood:
Yeah.
Wendy Briggs:
When we begin with that mentality or that mindset, it's a difficult road to climb. Now granted, I always tell the doctors and hygienists, I'm like, just give us a few hours and you'll see that in our program, we always talk about production that comes and we do the right thing. We also talk about, we're not about quantity over quality. And so I think once providers hear that from us, it resonates with them. And then certainly then we can help them get their mindset in the right place. But it's so much easier and so much more rewarding for us when we enter the door with hygienists that are already like, okay, what do you got? How can we improve? How can we get better? And I like to say, we're always learning.
Paige Hood:
Yeah.
Wendy Briggs:
I once had a hygienist asked me, what credentials do you have to be teaching me? And I'm like, in my mind, it's not necessarily about the credentials. Certainly that's important, but we should never stop learning. I hope that everybody listening to this podcast is of the mentality that our learning doesn't stop once we graduate and pass boards. We're always learning. And that willingness to learn from others. And I'll tell you what, anytime I work with a group or going to practice to give a lecture, I'm hoping I learn something new. You know, that's what fuels the fire and keeps us excited and engaged in providing patient care at the highest level.
Paige Hood:
Yeah, for sure. I like to tell my teams when I go in to coach, I always learn something, right? From each training, there's always a gem that I take away and it's great. And I love lifelong learning, right? You never stop learning, I love that. One of the other, you know, skill sets that we see that's very important for our high achieving hygienists dental conversations, right? So you know about my story with hygienist Sylvia, right? So every time I come into a practice, you know, the hygienist pull me aside right at the beginning eight page, just so you know, I already don't have enough time in my 60 minute, 50, 60 minute appointment to get it all done. You know, I'm already running behind regularly. Don't plan on telling me to do anything extra. I just don't have time. So of course, this is exactly the message that I got from one of my hygienists, darling gal, love her. She'd been practicing for over 30 years, right? You can't teach me anything I don't already know. And by the first webinar, a month out, she had just absolutely excelled with her fluoride acceptance. She was talking to adult patients about sealants and root protection. And I said, Sylvia, like, secret to your success. She says, Paige, you were right. You mentioned in the training that if we focus our conversations on dentistry and what dentistry has to offer, it's crazy how much time opened up in that appointment when I was focusing more on dentistry versus personal stuff. Now, my doctor, Dr. Greg Pitts, huge shout out to him.
Wendy Briggs:
Yep.
Paige Hood:
One of the gems I learned from him was 30% of your conversation should be relationships, right? Personal stuff, getting to know them. But 70% of that conversation time should be around what dentistry has to offer. And even if it doesn't apply to them, what you learned about lasers or this or that or the other thing. And so I teach my teams that, right? When we focus on dental conversations and what the patients could benefit from, it's amazing how much time opens up in that appointment. So I love that little gem that I got from Dr. Pitts.
Wendy Briggs:
Yeah, and he's one of our top CEO doctors. We love Dr. Greg Pitts. He's my dentist as well. And of course, those of you that know us on a personal side, my daughter is also one of his hygienists. So we think the world of Dr. Pitts, and again, a classic example of how we always learn from the people that we coach. Another thing that I think is really interesting, Paige, is when you talk about mindset, we talk about the willingness to prioritize dental conversations. I think there's also those two put together give us regards to same-day opportunities, right? Preventive services, you mentioned that. And that's a big part of what we teach as well. We've got to be willing to make the magic happen in our practices. And sometimes we see that that has to be an acquired skill, right? So often, historically, hygienists will say, hey, you know what? Patients 10 minutes late, reschedule. I don't have time to get anything done. Or no, my schedule says I have a patient in 10 minutes. I'm not You mentioned at the very early part of the conversation how we like to look outside. We all probably have experiences with companies, other circumstances where we haven't had that yes mentality. I know I've shared stories over the years. One particular one that stands out is I was trying to order a sheet cake for an event and there's a place in our area, a restaurant that has a really great reputation. They make excellent cakes. I tried to call them. and I called them multiple times and got a busy signal. So I thought, oh gosh, what's happening? Are they closed? Are they not open? So I walk in and I'm trying to get this sheet cake and I happen to be driving by, so I thought, I'll just stop in. And when I walked in, of course, the restaurant's completely empty because their phone wasn't working. And I've tried to just go up to the counter and buy this sheet cake and everything was a no. No, the phones aren't working. No, you can't, those sheet cakes have to be ordered 24 hours in advance. I'm like, your phones aren't working. I couldn't order it 24 hours in advance, right? So everything was a no. And ultimately I walked out of there without this cake, you know? And I knew they had them on site. It was just a rigid adherence to a silly policy that ultimately meant I didn't get what I wanted, right? We call those companies or those people sales prevention officers, right? So in dentistry, you know, we often have circumstances or policies or sometimes even people what the point is. The point is to serve our patients, right? So we could call those people in our industry, you know, patient care prevention officers. So they're preventing patient care from happening because of some outdated policy or something that they didn't have that yes mentality around, right? Let's take just a few minutes. I know our time is short and I know you're super busy, but I also want to talk just a minute about transformation that occurs when people do shift that mindset.
Paige Hood:
Yes.
Wendy Briggs:
and you mentioned, now she's prioritizing dental conversations. What happened to her own contribution to the growth of the practice? You may not know those numbers off the top of your head, but maybe you have other numbers that you do, because I think that's important for our listeners to hear as well, is when we actually have the yes mentality and we prioritize dental conversations, what does it actually mean to the bottom line when it comes to patient care?
Paige Hood:
Yeah, so with their situation, I do know that just from preventive services, their practice increased $33,000. And I want to say the first six weeks after implementing preventive services at a higher level, just preventive services. So it goes to show when we shift, right, it's all about well. Some of my other teams that I love to shout out, I've got a team in Nebraska and their team is their office is pretty much adult only. They don't see any children. And after we implemented preventive services in their practice, one of their high achieving
Wendy Briggs:
That's amazing.
Paige Hood:
practitioners, six hygiene practitioners on a regular basis. And in that same month combined, they did 710 sealants on adult patients.
Wendy Briggs:
You know, and that's funny, it's remarkable what can be accomplished with that yes mentality and the systems that we bring to the table, right? So we teach a process by which we do a risk assessment on every single patient. And we let the science guide these decisions. You know, people listening today, if you haven't sat through one of our hygiene explosion trainings, you may be thinking, what? Sealants on adults? What's that about? Interestingly enough, the ADA actually recommends we place sealants on adults in today's world, especially given the high risk profiles of many of our patients. When we see implementation at that high level, we'd love to celebrate it. I mean, that's an incredible accomplishment. And that team should be very proud of themselves, right? So do the math. You know, roughly, you said 700, some odd sealants. And you know me, I always joke that I am a hygienist because there's not one college level math course required,But that's easy math. You know, over 700 sealants, let's say our sealants are 50 bucks a piece, you know, that's 35,000 in additional production in sealants alone. in one month in that practice. So, you know, these are things that strategies and systems that can make a tremendous impact, even though you think, well, gosh, you know, prevention, what's fluoride and sealants, what's that all about? It really does make a big impact. And we know that our program is so much more than that, but those are usually where we love to see impact right away, right? So it doesn't take a lot of effort to realize a return on investment in that area. And the beautiful thing about that 700 teeth were protected against decay with world-class services, especially sealants of today that release fluoride, right? I mean, the science is overwhelmingly in favor of protecting these teeth, and that's something that's really exciting.
Paige Hood:
Yeah, you know, the biggest aha that I personally have found as well, you talked about our risk assessment tool, right, and helping that guide our patients towards services that they need. I've actually seen more patients that are more moderate or low risk accepting preventive services at the highest level because they want to stay healthy and low risk and they want to prevent cavities. stuck in is, well, they've been fine for so long. Why would I try to recommend this service that maybe they don't need? Well, it's about letting the patients know what's available and letting them choose. And it's surprising that they always choose what's gonna be best and prevent disease in their mouth.
Wendy Briggs:
Yeah, I've said it for a long time. Patients that have never had a cavity are fiercely protective of that status.
Paige Hood:
Yes.
Wendy Briggs:
They don't want a cavity. They want to always never be able to say,
I've never had a cavity. So it's not really up to us to decide. It's not fair if we decide. Our job really should be to educate patients about what's available and let them make the choices that best suit their circumstance and what their vision is for their future. And how can they make those decisions if they aren't educated and informed about it? back to the very beginning, truly excellent hygienists, prioritize dental conversations and have that yes mentality. Right. So I love that. I love both of those, those principles. And I would agree with you. I see that hand, you know, time and time again in practices that are really excelling in the hygiene department. One last thing, Paige, you know, when they really take off in the hygiene department, what impact does that have on the rest of the team and the rest of the practice? Because you mentioned teamwork here and there, but in the trenches, impact a ripple effect, if you will, that extends beyond the hygiene department.
Paige Hood:
Oh yeah, for sure. You know, when we get excited, when patients are saying yes, then the other team members are like, oh my gosh, this is awesome. The patients do say yes. You know, the business team, as the patients come up and they're handing over their card to pay for those six sealants out of pocket, and they're excited, that is like, oh my gosh, this is awesome. We believe in this. And then they start talking about, hey, has your hygienist talked to you about sealants today? fit from and on the assistant side, right? They start to get that yes mentality as well. We are leaders in the practice hygiene team, right? We set the tone for a lot of the team members. And if we change our mindset, then the, uh, the rest of the team will get excited and jazzed up about providing better patient care. That's, that's really what I call the third win, right? We talk about the win, the patient gets better care. The practice becomes more profitable. is that we get that satisfaction at the end of the day of a job well done. Like, gosh, I did the things I learned in school and the patients are happy. That makes us happy, right?
Wendy Briggs:
Right. And that's, you know, how I would close this because doctors, if you're the ones listening to this podcast and you're seeking to inspire your hygiene team, invite them to listen in on this podcast. I think there's a lot that they can learn. And certainly we have long said dentistry is a team sport. And we've learned as well that the most successful practices that we coach and work with are driven by a very successful hygiene department. So dentistry as a whole wins when patients receive a higher level of care. Well, this was an awesome conversation. Thanks so much for joining us on the Double Your Production podcast. And, and again, I know I hear from a lot of our members that that you're working with how amazing it is to have you as their coach. So we want to just I want to say thank you for working so hard and taking such good care of our members. And we love working with you in this this capacity, even though we love working together side by side all those years ago. It's been really awesome to continue that journey and have you on our team.
Paige Hood:
Thanks so much, Wendy. It's been an amazing opportunity and it has really lit a fire in me and given me a great profession that I'm so proud of. Thank you.
Wendy Briggs:
It's been my pleasure. Well, awesome everybody. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Double Your Production podcast. We hope you have an amazing week and look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye everybody.
