Being a dental assistant can be incredibly rewarding and gratifying. But like any career path that’s worth pursuing, the role also comes with its fair share of challenges you’ll need to face on a daily basis if you want to be successful in the industry.

As the owner of a dental clinic, you approach your job as both a practitioner and a business owner. It’s important that you provide exemplary care for your patients. It’s also critical that you keep your business running smoothly. Doing both while maintaining a decent overhead can be challenging.

Being a registered dental hygienist (RDH) in the U.S.A can be a rewarding profession. It’s a field that is known to offer flexibility, prestige, financial security, and high levels of job satisfaction. However, to be allowed to practice as a hygienist in the U.S, you must have graduated from a dental hygiene program and met the qualifications for your respective state-licensure.

Anyone who has ever set up a dental practice, at one time or another has experienced a moment of indecisiveness; when do you hire more staff.

Inbound marketing is the equivalent of building a lobster trap and employing the right bait. This will attract the target audience you are looking for and persuade them to stay.

Probably the biggest concern for dentists in practice is, “do I have enough patients?” Practice management consultants will focus on the numbers of new patients, the average production garnered from each and whether the patient returns to the practice or not (retention).

A career in dental assisting, dental hygiene or dentistry can be extremely rewarding. You get to help patients regain or maintain their oral health. You get to work in a hands-on setting that really lets you make a difference. As an oral-health helper, you’re always in demand among dental practices. In fact, the field is slated to continue to grow in the coming years. 

First-class customer service is vital in the dental industry. Making your clients feel valued and respected helps your practice stand out in today’s competitive marketplace and builds a genuine loyalty that will not only result in many repeated visits, but great recommendations, too. If your customers get a happy, warm feeling when they visit you instead of a dreaded pit in their stomach, you bet they’ll be at their next appointment on time and will tell their friends and family about your practice.

Use your leadership skills in dentistry to keep your patients, your employees and yourself happy—all within your budget.

In today’s world, dental overhead, the cost of doing the business of dentistry for a typical dental practice, is about 75%, meaning the net income is a small 25%.  A newer dentist is usually carrying more debt, so it has a higher overhead. Most people, including the employees of dentists, are not aware that the net return is that low.    Dentists do all that they can to keep from raising their standard fees and accept the paltry payouts from PPO networks that get smaller and with more restrictions all the time.