New Year Resolutions: 15 Dental Goals For Financial Success

As a dentist, the start of a new year is the perfect time to set specific resolutions and dental goals to enhance both your professional practice and your personal wellbeing. It’s also a great time to reflect on what worked well in the previous year, and what didn’t. That way you can keep building on what worked, and eliminate anything that is hindering your dental practice success. 

Setting new dental goals each year will help you provide the best possible care to your patients while also ensuring your continued dental practice growth. Once you’ve set your goals, you can create dental practice KPIs to keep you on track. Here are 14 detailed dental goals for you to consider for the upcoming year. Consider focusing on the 3 to 5 goals that are most important to you.

Improve Patient Communication and Case Acceptance Rate

Dental goals should focus on improving client satisfaction and retention. You can enhance patient communication by reviewing your explanations of treatment options to clients. By addressing their concerns and offering detailed treatment plans, you can increase your case acceptance rates. 

Start by analyzing your current case acceptance rates across your practice. Create a comfortable environment for open discussions with your patients and encourage them to ask questions. Implement clear and detailed case presentation guidelines to ensure your patients understand the recommended treatments, costs, and payment options available. Reflect on any objections your patients may have, and eliminate these by offering easy solutions and feedback forms.

Embrace Continuing Education

Another great dental goal is to set aside a certain number of hours of your continuing education each year to specific areas of interest. You can attend courses on cutting-edge dental techniques, emerging technologies, or practice management. To achieve your dental goals, it’s essential to stay informed about the latest advancements in your field. Make a list of the continuing education you and your staff will undertake in the next year, and book it on the calendar.

Enhance Clinical Skills

You can set specific clinical improvement dental goals. This might include mastering a new restorative technique that other dental practices don’t offer, improving your chairside manner, or becoming proficient in a specialized area of dentistry. By continuing to innovate, regularly reviewing your work, and seeking mentorship, you can refine your skills even further. It’s also worth considering higher profit procedures when enhancing your clinical skills.

Focus on Preventive Dentistry

Another important dental goal is to create educational materials and resources for patients, emphasizing the importance of preventive care. Develop an automated communication system to ensure patients receive regular check-ups and cleanings. Focus on increasing your hygiene reappointment rates and scheduling patients for their next appointment before leaving the office, which will help increase your profitability. Consider implementing a patient education program on maintaining good oral hygiene at home.

Upgrade Dental Technology

In today’s modern era, updating technology is an essential dental goal for your practice. Identify a specific area of your dental practice that could benefit from technology upgrades. You could invest in digital imaging equipment for better diagnostics, transition to electronic health records, or implement online software to improve client communication and staff workflow. When setting dental goals, it’s important to have deadlines for upgrades, while also tracking and monitoring the progress of your goals.

Streamline Practice Management

Another dental goal you can implement is to target one aspect of your practice management for improvement. For example, implementing a digital appointment scheduling and reminder system to optimize patient flow, enhancing communication between your team and patients, and reducing no-shows. Ensure your staff members receive training and get their feedback on the new system.

Prioritize Work-Life Balance

Dental goals aren’t just for your dental practice, they also help to improve your personal life. If you become exhausted and overworked, your dental practice will suffer too. Outline the steps you can take to achieve a healthier work-life balance and reduce the number of hours you work. For example, schedule regular time off, designate specific hours for patient appointments, and set limits on after-hours work. Create rewards or punishments to enforce this dental goal. You can also develop strategies for stress reduction, such as meditation or exercise, and include these in your daily routine.

Focus on Infection Control

Another dental goal you could implement is to define a comprehensive infection control protocol for your practice. Specify the updated guidelines and regulations you will follow, and set regular inspection and maintenance schedules for sterilization of equipment. Ensure that your entire team is well-trained and compliant with the infection control plan in order to achieve this goal. 

Enhance Marketing and Patient Acquisition

When setting dental goals, you should also review the marketing strategy for your dental practice. Creating a detailed marketing plan that includes specific goals and types of outreach can increase your intake of new clients and bolster your practice profitability. This may involve updating your practice website, posting educational content on social media, implementing patient referral programs, or launching online advertising campaigns. Set measurable targets for increased patient acquisition and retention rates, and track your results to see which avenue is most effective.

Strengthen Financial Management

Another dental goal would be to conduct an in-depth financial review of your practice. By analyzing the past year’s financial performance and your retirement plan, you can identify areas for improvement and set specific financial targets for the next year. Create a detailed budget and monitor expenses closely. Consider outsourcing your accounting and bookkeeping to a specialized dental CPA firm. Review potential ways to save tax in your dental practice.

Foster Team Collaboration

The success of your dental goals depends on the collaboration within your dental practice team. Create a team development plan that encourages continuous learning and satisfaction among your staff. Set team-building goals, such as enhancing staff communication, providing cross-training opportunities, or organizing team-building events. Acknowledge and reward achievements that contribute to a positive work environment by offering staff bonuses, discounts, or other incentives.

Give Back to the Community

You can also create dental goals around specific community service initiatives for your practice. Determine at-risk communities or organizations you wish to support and set aside time and resources for volunteering or providing free dental services. You could also establish a schedule for participation in local health fairs or charity events.

Network and Collaborate

The foundation of a successful dental practice is network and collaboration. You can set dental goals around identifying dental professionals in your local area, or through organizations with whom you’d like to connect. Establish a plan to attend local dental association meetings, join dental mastermind groups, or participate in dental podcasts to build your network. Networking can contribute to your marketing efforts and help grow and expand your dental practice.

Environmental Responsibility

Another dental goal could be to develop an eco-friendly program for your dental office. You can define specific practices to reduce waste, which lowers costs and minimizes your environmental impact. This could include measures such as reducing paper usage, recycling old dental equipment, or transitioning to eco-friendly dental materials.

Review Dental Goals

Once you’ve set your dental goals, it’s important to allocate time for a detailed review of your dental practice objectives. Consider financial, clinical, and personal goals. Identify any necessary adjustments or refinements to your business strategy, and develop a specific action plan for implementing changes over the course of the next year.

Conclusion

With any dental goals you set, it’s essential to be specific. Tracking and measuring your goals will give your dental practice the best chance of success. By partnering with a dental CPA firm, you can find new ways to increase profitability and get accountability to continue growing your dental practice. Here at DrillDown Solution, we specialize in helping dental practices succeed financially. Book a free consultation with us to see how we can help.