As a dental blogger, Shen Chao posts regularly at www.joshuahongdds.com. He knows how content marketing can be effectively used to drive more traffic and frequently shares tips and insights into a wide variety of dental problems. All his posts are informative, updated and well-written.

Shen Chao

Resist the urge to pick up your smartphone between appointments and meetings — you may end up with more free time.

As an owner of a dental practice, you often need to wear various hats on any given day. In such situations, do you often find yourself running late between meetings and appointments? Do you struggle with time management and often work longer hours than intended?

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 Effective time management plays an important role in making your practice successful. Various factors, from planning to prioritizing to your dental team, influence your time management approach.

These 5 valuable tips will help you master time management in your dental practice.

Assess the Time Required for Daily Tasks 

Your first step toward efficient time management should be assessment. You need to have a clear idea about the time you spend on your daily tasks. This will help you identify the areas where time is wasted and also where you can save time. You can get a better insight for planning an ideal day with minimal to no wastage of time.

Depending on your assessment, plan your day and delegate time limits to each task. Transition time should also be allocated between two tasks to avoid chaos. The next move is to prioritize. Choose a combination of procedures which is suitable for you. For instance, a majority of your day can be assigned for substantial cases such as crowns, bridges, veneers and partials. A small chunk of your work day can be allocated for restoration procedures such as root canal and composites. Miscellaneous tasks such as checkups, emergencies and adjustments can be taken up in and around the major tasks as time permits.

Your team members should have clearly assigned duties, and you should restrain yourself from taking over their roles. Don’t listen to the voices telling you, “This will only take a few minutes, let me just do it myself.” Those few minutes are precious. What’s more, intruding on your employee’s responsibilities may lead your 

 to feel undervalued and lose interest in their work.

If you feel that any of your staff is undertrained, you should ensure that they are trained appropriately so they can fulfill their duties. If everyone on your team does their work diligently, that allows you to manage your time better.

Patient information files and other records are an important resource. But once filed, most of them are rarely used. Valuable time is wasted looking for lost papers and trying to decode improper files. Create a proper filing system to ensure your records are updated as and when required. These files should be easily accessible. You can also use technology to manage your records efficiently.

When possible, allocate a few hours from your work day to deal with emails only. This way, you can deal with them quickly and not be distracted throughout the day thinking about them.

Most of us are usually multitasking because we believe we can get two things done simultaneously and increase productivity. Shuffling between two tasks at once actually reduces our productivity and increases the risks of blunders. For instance, smart phones are one of the major modern distractions, so consider putting yours down between treatments or during meetings. Just sitting down and dealing with one task at a time increases your efficiency. So, if you really want to get more done, focus on doing one thing with successful results, not two or more things with mediocre results.

Apart from these tips, a well-rested body and mind are necessary, so ensure that you get at least seven to eight hours of sleep. A disciplined routine will help you function optimally and deliver quality dental services to your patients.

Dental blogger Shen Chao posts regularly at 

. He knows how content marketing can be effectively used to drive more traffic and frequently shares tips and insights into a wide variety of dental problems. All his posts are informative, updated, and well written.

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Managing time is a skill that always has room for improvement. With all the modern distractions that pervade our daily lives, many of us need to retrain our brains to get the most out of our precious minutes. Dental blogger Shen Chao has a few tips that can get you started on the path to focus and organization.  

How to Master Time Management in Your Dental Practice

	The digital overhaul of your dental practice management is one of the most important steps you can take toward making your dental practice more efficient and less labor-intensive. This will eventually lead to enhanced services and advanced patient care.

Multiple procedures in dentistry have been developed over years to make them more accurate and effective with the help of digital technology. These procedures are wide-ranging and comprise not just superior computer-aided tools for delivering exceptional results, but also smart modules that improve the communication between the entire team, thus uplifting the quality of their services.

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	Computerized-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) are some of the most popular digital advancements in digital dentistry as they rank high on efficiency, speed and accuracy. They are used to design and manufacture metal frameworks, inlays, implant abutments, all-ceramic and full contour crowns, and veneers.

	When paired with data from cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)-another advanced digital scanning technology-both provide path-breaking advancements in implant diagnostics and treatment planning. The surgeon, dentist and technicians benefit from a plethora of surgical and prosthetic options.

	Here are six important tips to help you switch successfully to digital dentistry.

	Integrating digital dentistry with your dental practice requires comprehensive thinking. You need to think and plan how it will work with every aspect of your practice. This includes the work procedures, team readiness and the clinical skills. Only then can your efforts translate into substantial and satisfactory outcomes.

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	Study and understand how you and your team will adopt the new practices and technologies to deliver enhanced patient care. This requires personal involvement and transparent communication with your team members to make sure they understand the further plan of action.

	2. Foresee pitfalls and plan a mitigation strategy

	Some of your team might not be ‘technology savvy.’ Others might not be open to embracing this digital change, or simply lack desire to be trained for it. You should be able to foresee such common pitfalls and plan a mitigation strategy accordingly.

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	Interactive and hands-on training are your best tools here. They can help change the perspective of your staff members and open their minds to the benefits of digital dentistry, as it actually provides time, labor and cost efficiency.

	Don’t forget to communicate and discuss this digital transformation with your dental lab. You might need to ascertain the quality of the scans and other digital data you send across to your lab for processing, test the reliability in context of transfer of electronic files, and assess the relative accuracy, cost and response time from your lab. This collaboration will ensure that you get the best from the digital upgrade of your dental practice.

	New digital technology in your dental clinic will mean that you need to alter not only your old practices but the materials and techniques used for clinical procedures as well. Pay great attention to prep design requirements and the manufacturer’s suggestions for any new technology that you might be using.

	Switching traditional clinical and operational practices with contemporary digital technologies may seem overwhelming. But you can ease this transition by being committed to never stop learning. And always stay up to date with procedures and technologies changing dentistry.

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	Approaching new trends in dentistry with an open mind will help you learn and adapt to them faster. This in turn will not only expand your knowledge and technical know-how, but will also help you and your team to provide the best of dental services to your patients.

	Patience and perseverance will help you accomplish your goal of digital integration successfully. It is important to remember that you and your team are both learners, and every individual has a different pace of adapting to changes.

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	As an owner and leader, you need to patiently and continually keep guiding your team throughout this process. Only then can you as a team achieve your goal of integrating digital dentistry and delivering exceptional patient care.

	Digital dentistry requires an investment of persistence whether learning or practicing. Be committed and this investment is sure to boost the outcomes of your practice.

Making the switch to digital dentistry may seem overwhelming, but these tips can help to ensure a smooth transition. 


6 tips for switching to digital dentistry

Making the switch to digital dentistry may seem overwhelming, but these tips can help to ensure a smooth transition.