John Meis (00:02.378)
Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of The Double Your Production Podcast. I'm Dr. John Meis and I'm here with my partner, Wendy Briggs. Hey Wendy, how's it going?
Wendy Briggs (00:10.86)
I'm doing great, how about you Dr. John?
John Meis (00:12.658)
I'm doing fantastic and I'm so excited about this topic. This is part two of case acceptance and this is part three of case acceptance. Good for us. All right. Part three. And so I'm super excited about this because of the advances that have happened recently and the number of tools that we have available to us now that we didn't have in the past. And these things have been around for a while, but they're really coming into their own as far as reasonable cost, ease of use, those kind of things. So we're going to talk about technology in case acceptance. And the number one thing, these aren't in any particular order, but we're going to start by talking about digital scans. So Wendy, fill us in.
Wendy Briggs (01:05.347)
Yeah, you know, it used to be thought that digital scanning was only for unique circumstances or for specific specialties, those who focus on implants, for example. And what we found is because, as you mentioned, the costs have come down, the user interfaces are so much better that in our opinion, every single practice can and should be using digital scanning technology as a part of their operating systems. Not just for the case acceptance angle, but they certainly bring with them a very strong impact to case acceptance for practices that are using them consistently. And case acceptance for a variety of things, not just clear aligners or implants, but case acceptance for all procedures can be impacted dramatically with digital scans.
John Meis (01:52.694)
Yeah, for sure. And so it goes back to one of our principles of case acceptance. And that is that we want to make whatever we're seeing visual to the patient in a way that the patient can see and understand. So pictures worth a thousand words, right? And so making things visual is so important. Now, scanners are not all created equal. Some scanners have the capability of really being used like you would use a interoral camera They give images that are that way some digital some digital scans will create a future look If certain things are done and some digital scans will be able to track progression of disease or Yeah disease right so they can track the progression of gingival recession they can track occlusal wear and size aware, things like that.
Wendy Briggs (02:52.079)
Right, and what I love about some of them, the ones that have capability to work as an internal camera, if you will, they've really replaced the need for the internal camera. So in a way, we're not doing, you know, internal cameras and the digital scan, we're able to just do all of those things with one piece of technology that can give us a variety of uses. And so I love to be able to zero in, if you will, zoom in on an older amalgam that's breaking down, that doesn't have great margins, and being able to blow that up on the screen using the scan just saves so much time, right? And as you mentioned, when patients see the deterioration, we're able to highlight that for them. It creates a level of urgency that we just can't without the image itself.
John Meis (03:39.458)
Yeah, for sure. And so, you know, for new patient exams, particularly using the digital scan in replacement of the internal camera makes sense. Now, you may not want to have a digital scanner in every single room like you would have an internal camera in every room, but they really do provide for especially that appointment that just one source, very, very simple, multiple uses, and it definitely has an impact on case acceptance.
Wendy Briggs (04:09.367)
In a huge way. We've got some practices that we can highlight. I'll share one example. Dr. Jared Simpson in California had started, we initiated a plan to have his hygienist scan every single patient. And once they started doing that and utilizing the tools that were available to them, for example, you can share a simulator, right? You can say, okay, here's what your teeth look like now. Here's what your teeth might look like after we do clear. In the six weeks from the time they started doing scans on everybody, at the end of the first six week period, they had 21 starts for clear aligner treatment alone. That was just one example of a practice that's using this technology to really drive awareness and acceptance for these services. So that's a great shout out to Dr. Simpson and his team. I'm sure we could share countless stories like that.
John Meis (04:59.126)
Yeah. Yeah, and congratulations to him for that fine result. And for those who have clear aligners as part of their productivity strategy, it's a fantastic tool to use for that, to see so much improved case acceptance. All right, so.
Wendy Briggs (05:18.711)
Now that doesn't mean all of the team is going to be excited about using it, right? As with any addition to new technology, it does require, you know, systems for implementation, education. And I think the team, the most important thing the team needs to know before embracing this and helping you run with it is why, right? So make sure as you're adding these pieces of technology, you share with the team why you feel it's impactful, why you believe patients deserve this level of treatment with this piece of technology.
John Meis (05:23.097)
Yeah.
Wendy Briggs (05:48.551)
And you got to work on getting buy-in from everybody so that you can actually get these things accomplished. Otherwise, what we hear from dentists is a lot of frustration. They've invested in technology, but it doesn't get used.
John Meis (06:01.442)
Yep, for sure. So having a well thought out change management process to introduce the technology focusing on the why first and most importantly, because that gets people engaged so that they can listen to the how, right? And the scanning every patient every time, that sounds really good, but that doesn't necessarily work well in the real world. Right? So... making sure that we are scanning every time it's possible, but in those times where it's gonna create more upheaval than it saves, then it makes sense to just note it and we'll get the scan next time. So that's typically when we've seen the team, you know, light their torches and grab their pitchforks to go, the doctor's private office is when it's rigid and dogmatic and it shouldn't be that way. This is something that's really beneficial for patients. So we should be doing it and we should be doing it, but not at the detriment of patients and of patient convenience and timeliness. Okay, technology number two. And this is diagnostic aid of using artificial intelligence. There's several companies out there right now that have this that will read digital missed or done real time to show you places that are problematic. And the nice thing about this is it puts them on a screen, it colorizes them so that they really stand out for patients. And so it's another way of making something visual for patients.
Wendy Briggs (07:40.855)
Yeah, I think not only that benefit, but we talk a lot about diagnostic assertiveness and trying to balance diagnostic assertiveness. And I think that's a tremendous advantage that we really haven't had the capability before now to use technology to help us balance that assertiveness. For example, if we have multiple doctors in one practice, getting all of the doctors on the same page as to when it's time to take action can be challenging. Artificial intelligence helps to bridge that gap not just with doctors, right? But in hygiene as well, we see it on the periocide. And so it's really amazing to be able to practice in this day and age when we have resources like this, because this fills a gap that you and I have struggled with for a long time, but many practices may not even realize there's a gap present in the first place. But when they add the artificial intelligence into their service mix, and we work a lot with Overjet, we're partners with Overjet, we've seen our members that implement that really, really achieve a much higher level of awareness and acceptance and alignment from one provider to another.
John Meis (08:41.546)
Yeah, for sure. And if we have providers in the same office that are using different diagnostic standards and different treatment philosophies, then the patient experience is not consistent. It will depend on which doctor the patient sees. And if that happens, now patients will prefer one over another, the team will prefer one over another. And it creates a divide in the practice that really makes a lot of inefficiency. And so if we can be unified and really struggling to make that patient experience consistent, no matter which provider is seen. We have a reputational boost. For one thing, we have a boost in trust with patients, and that gives us a boost in case acceptance.
Wendy Briggs (09:26.955)
I think you mentioned trust, and that's another thing that we tend to struggle with as providers. Another thing that I think this does is it helps boost our own confidence because we can provide the patient with a level of proof. That was the benefit of the Diagnodent in years gone by, being able to provide proof that there is a problem, that it's not just us finding cavities out of thin air. Same thing on the hygiene side when it comes to Perio, we second-guess ourselves and I know a lot of great hygienists who end up doing a lot of bloody profys in the course of their careers because they have patients that maybe they're like, I don't know that they're going to really accept the full-blown treatment. And so there's a lot of hedging, if you will, a lot of doing treatments and not getting paid for those treatments because we've got those challenges or those insecurities that get in our way. And by having artificial intelligence actually highlight the bone loss, highlight the fact that there is a periodontal concern, it boosts our own confidence. It's not us just having to break the bad news to the patient. We actually have proof that there's a problem, number one. Number two, it's actually helping us in a big way with reimbursements from insurance companies. Insurance companies have become really difficult to deal with on the scaling and route planning side and being able to add this as a part of our documentation has made a tremendous difference as well.
John Meis (10:48.834)
Yeah, it sure has. And you know, I was just, this last weekend, we had an executive GPS course at our training center. And that is a course in which you build a five-year strategic plan. During that, we look at practice analytics and we identify opportunities within each practice that's participating. And so one thing that's always a, that always is, an opportunity is our period diagnosis numbers in our profession is not something we really ought to be proud of, right? Because we know that a large percentage of the population has periodontal disease, but when we look at the diagnostics, it's a much, much smaller percent than is existing. So we've got challenges here as a dental health team, and that's one of the things that this does makes it so easy as it just identifies it, throws it up on the screen, makes it visual. And you know what? At that point, we can't deny it. When I talk to practitioners, your para-diagnosis scores are low. Why? Oh, that's because people don't accept perio care. But then I look at the acceptance rate and the acceptance rates are high, but the diagnosis rate is low. So this is just one more tool that we can use to improve the performance of our practice so that we are in continually improving the dental health of our patients because if we don't, it'll be continually sliding down.
Wendy Briggs (12:20.023)
Yeah, and that is a struggle. You know, it's long, long held battle. Even practices that feel like they're doing really, really well with perio acceptance and peri diagnostics are often below 5%. And they don't quite believe it when we show them the numbers, right? It's more common to be below 1%, believe it or not. So, you know, it is something that I think we could definitely use the support of artificial intelligence. I think every single practice would benefit from that. And as we mentioned, some of these have been around a while, but they're getting a lot more user friendly. They integrate better with our software. We're able to utilize them in real time so much more effectively than we were just a few short years ago. So they've come a long way.
John Meis (13:03.134)
and outside of diagnostics over jet anyway, and I'm sure as other products come along, they may catch up, but they will show all of the, they'll create a list at the beginning of the day of all the diagnostic procedures that need to be done that day. And it shows them in red, and as they're completed and charted, then they turn green. So at the end of the day, you can make sure that you got everything done. When you came in and trained my office, and I thought we were doing well. When you came in and trained our office and we set some very specific diagnostic, actually radiographic protocols, and I thought we had it nailed, but we didn't. And you helped us make it even better. And when you did, everything went up, right? Because we found more disease than we were finding before because we weren't looking everywhere and as often as we should. So our diagnostics went up, the level of treatment that we did went up and most importantly the health of our patients went up because of it.
Wendy Briggs (14:09.555)
Yeah, I agree. I think, you know, as we mentioned before, all of the tools, our entire goal is to give patients the very best care possible. And we've all agreed that patients deserve the very best. And in today's world, you know, these two pieces of technology really do help us accomplish that goal. I think the third piece of technology does as well, but in a different way. Right. The third thing we're going to talk about is patient financing and the ease of patient financing using technology like an iPad in the operatory. For an instant approval process for outside patient financing really helps us for the health of our patient because we're helping simplify something that's typically been very complex so that more patients can take advantage of comfortable payment plans and outside finance options for those that may not have the budget to work with the treatment needs that they may have in today's appointment. Making that easy is the third piece of technology we want to talk about.
John Meis (15:06.434)
Yeah, and it's incredible what you can do now. Patients can, with an iPad and with a very, very short amount of time, they can design their own, within the parameters that you set, they can design their own financing program. So it gives speed, it gives some control to the patients. Still the office gets to decide the parameters, but the patients get to pick specifically among those parameters which would work the best for them. And it's really slick.
Wendy Briggs (15:36.567)
Yeah, it used to be that we would talk with the patient about it. We'd give them the brochure. We'd tell them to call, get approval, and to let us know. Right? So how many people actually would follow through and do that? Not very many, because typically the people that need this care have a history of not being the best at following through. Right? So now we've taken that piece away and we've simplified it, give them the iPad in the chair, be able to apply right then. Another thing that's really interesting is we have a lot of our practices, a lot of practices that we visit with that have these tools available, but they're rarely offered to patients. I think that's our own beliefs maybe getting in the way, or maybe we think we may be thinking about outside financing in a very common way, but maybe not the best way. For example, team members say, well, I always use that as the last resort because the doctor has to write off a large percentage outside financing is a last resort, means we're not gonna have a lot of patients going forward with it because they're not even given the opportunity, right? So I think thinking about that differently would help as well.
John Meis (16:46.238)
totally. And it's a total different experience giving the brochures, sending them home, and now they're questioning the treatment. Now they have to get online, and now, oh, is this going to ding my credit? And blah, blah. They just build up a lot of reasons why they don't do it, and it never gets done. But if they have it right in the office, you make it really quick and simple. It just makes such a difference in your acceptance rate. And so, you know, if patients accept care, their dental health improves.
If they delay care, it declines. It's just that simple. And anything that we can do to help them accept the care and accept it now is gonna be beneficial for them.
Wendy Briggs (17:25.135)
I couldn't agree more. So Dr. John, instead of getting hung up on the amount of, you know, the percentage of the write-off, how can we reframe that and think differently about utilizing outside financing as being a positive and going with that first rather than last?
John Meis (17:40.918)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So if you're if you're we know that one of the largest group practices in the United States actually incentivize their teams to get patients on financing, which I thought was stunning when I heard that they were not only paying the discount to get the financing, but they're also
John Meis (18:10.03)
companies that really understand the patient mentality and how that happens over scale. And if they're doing it, well, you know, it's probably a pretty good idea for everyone else to do. And so it, and it's so simple. And if you've got empty chair time, anything, even if you have a pretty significant discount, filling that empty chair time, you're gonna come out ahead. I mean, plain and simple, even if there is a discount, even if there is opponents for the team. Come out ahead.
Wendy Briggs (18:44.119)
Yeah. So I think, you know, there's lost opportunity costs as well. And I think if we had to summarize the impact, the negative impact of not using financing more consistently, it's that lost opportunity cost. You mentioned, you know, if the chairs aren't full, we've lost the opportunity to produce anything in that timeframe. And so practices that use outside financing consistently generate more productivity, right? Just in a nutshell. And I would also say I've listened to patients too, and they appreciate having the opportunity and what I think is awesome is once they get approved for a certain amount, they may pay that down over the next few years, but they always have it there. So they're able to use it again. So let's say next time, you know, the next appointment, they need another crown. Well, they've got the resources that they can utilize and they don't even have to take the time to apply for it. At that point, they just know they have it. And so I think over time, we ended up doing so much more on patients that have these resources available to them.
John Meis (19:40.514)
Totally agree. So those are three really exciting. And like I said, all these have all been around for, I mean, digital scanning has been around. The software is better, the patient interface is better, the team interface is better. All these things are now improving. The cost has come down significantly. So all these things now, they're ready for prime time, everyday dental practices. They really are. And we have many practices that are using all three of these technologies and using them all three very successfully.
Wendy Briggs (20:12.539)
I'm also excited to announce we actually have a few of the CEOs from some of these technology companies coming on a podcast. We have it scheduled for the next upcoming weeks, especially artificial intelligence. It's a super hot topic right now in society. So we're going to dig in a little bit more and find out how it works and how to maximize that opportunity on a future podcast. So watch out for that one.
John Meis (20:34.538)
Yeah, I am looking forward to that conversation. I've got a list of 11 questions I want to ask to really dial in on kind of the what's next, because there's a lot of what's next in AI and dentistry. And I'm excited to hear where they are on those what's next. And that's it for this episode of the Double Your Production Podcast. I appreciate you being with us. We'll see you next time.
Wendy Briggs (21:00.708)
Thanks everybody.
