PDF Version - Glidewell Dental Labs
PDF Version - Glidewell Dental Labs
PDF Version - Glidewell Dental Labs
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Here are some reliable and generally successful ways<br />
many dentists have used to increase their speed and begin<br />
practicing speed dentistry:<br />
1. Simply think you will do dentistry better and faster.<br />
Many dentists have never considered this concept, so<br />
they just continue to work slowly like they did in dental<br />
school. Once you decide to do your dentistry more<br />
rapidly, you will.<br />
One way to check how you are doing is to place a<br />
timer in each operatory. Time how long it takes you<br />
to do a procedure. Log the time. Try to do it a bit<br />
more rapidly the next time, and the next. Experiment.<br />
Test different ways of doing a procedure or handling<br />
a patient. Use that timer with every patient and<br />
every procedure. Keep records and analyze your<br />
results. Once you are timing yourself, you will begin<br />
working faster and doing speed dentistry. Remember,<br />
the true measure of speed dentistry is the amount<br />
of time the patient is in the chair. It doesn’t help<br />
much if you quickly do a restoration and then squander<br />
all the time you saved by telling stories or cracking<br />
jokes with the now-completed patient.<br />
2. Identify those procedures that take up most of your time<br />
and then decide how you will speed up the process.<br />
Can you do the treatment differently and shave off<br />
a second or two? Can you use fast-set amalgam or<br />
a stronger curing light to speed up your restoration<br />
technique? Will special instruments or preset trays<br />
increase your speed while maintaining quality?<br />
For example, use locking pliers with a cotton pellet<br />
already attached. It is faster than stopping your<br />
procedure, hunting for a cotton pellet in a capped<br />
dispenser (requires uncapping and recapping),<br />
selecting the pellet with your cotton pliers and then<br />
using the instrument. Save 15 seconds using this<br />
technique. Now, if you do it 30 times a week, 48 weeks<br />
a year, you do the math on how much time it saves.<br />
3. Quit talking so much. Talking sucks time. If you must<br />
talk — keep in mind, most patients appreciate a<br />
few words — speak while you are doing something<br />
productive. Avoid talking about yourself. Instead, talk<br />
to your patients about their lives. Everyone likes to talk<br />
about themselves, so let them. If someone needs to be<br />
calmed down or relaxed, have your dental assistant do<br />
most of the work. If you save 30 seconds of idle talk<br />
per patient, and you see 20 patients per day, four days<br />
a week, 48 weeks a year, you will save 32 hours of<br />
chairtime per year. Think about how much you make<br />
in one hour of chairtime. And that’s just 30 seconds.<br />
Go for more.<br />
4. Increase the air pressure of your dental handpieces to<br />
60–80 psi. They run faster, cut faster, and you finish<br />
faster. My experience is that the handpiece cartridges<br />
will also last longer, despite the common industry<br />
recommendations to keep the pressure at 30 psi.<br />
5. Use sharp instruments. Sharpen the edges of your<br />
plastic instruments, the tips of your explorers, spoons<br />
and other hand instruments. Scalers and curettes must<br />
always be sharp. Do the sharpening before the patient<br />
is in the chair, not during the visit.<br />
6. Use topical anesthetics and rapid-induction hypnosis<br />
anesthesia (waking hypnosis) rather than injecting — and<br />
waiting — for every little cavity prep or procedure. Using<br />
fast-acting medications and materials will save you time.<br />
58 www.chairsidemagazine.com