Straight talk: How to keep your sanity as a dental hygienist during the holidays

As the clock winds down on 2014, more and more patients are trying to squeeze the last pennies out of their dental insurance and make sure they have taken advantage of every opportunity to improve their oral health. With that in mind, the end of the year can be one of the craziest times for dental practices.

In the latest installment of Straight Talk, Anastasia Turchetta, RDH, sat down with Dr. David Rice of East Amherst, N.Y., to talk about ways that he has tackled the end of the year in the past and how his planning efforts have benefitted his patients and his practice.

“Preparation is so important,” Dr. Rice said. “Everyone knows this time of year will get crazy, so what can be done ahead of time to prepare for it? In my practice, we’ve altered hours and altered who will be present to make sure we can be there for our patients’ needs. Practices may want to look and see if they can expand hours or bring in part-time help to fill the needs.”

RELATED: Read Anastasia's thoughts on the end-of-the-year schedule

Dr. Rice also believes attitude is important every day in the practice, but especially at the end of the year.

“Everyone has to pitch in and everyone has to be a little more flexible,” Dr. Rice said. “Dental team members have to know that they may need to expand what they bring to the team this time of year. This is also a great time to have those morning huddles and make sure everyone is on the same page.”

RELATED: 4 steps to help manage unhappy patients

Click below to see more thoughts from Anastasia and Dr. Rice …