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