How did dentists keep doing well for so long despite shrinking patient budgets?
The counterweight was productivity, plain and simple. If you have practiced since 1980 you have lived it. We went from two-handed dentistry to four-handed, and the best operators pushed to six or even eight hands working a super-operatory, moving fast with high speed handpieces and tight protocols. At a minimum that bought a 20 percent gain, and that was for the slow learners. The gunners at the top probably doubled their output. That speed quietly absorbed the falling spending and falling free insurance money for years. The problem is you have run out of road. Without another big technology breakthrough in speed, productivity is maxed out for most practices. You cannot grind your way out of a shrinking market anymore. The lever that saved you for thirty years has stopped moving, so you need a different lever.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.