Utilizing over 25 years of experience in serving the dental community, we provide our clients with transition and consulting services to help them achieve their goals.

1. Hygiene 101 By Sally Morgan
By Mclerran & Associates
http://dental-sales.com/

2. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 Today we are excited to have Sally Morgan, a registered
hygienist and an experienced practice management
consultant, give us a recipe for success in this important
area of your practice. We highly recommend Sally and
her company for your practice management consulting
needs and especially to those dental practices for sale!
http://dental-sales.com/

3. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 Often the hygiene department is viewed as a “necessary evil”
in order to keep the patients returning to the dental practice.
In fact, the hygiene department can and should be the “life” of
the dental practice.
 There are four primary areas that are used to measure the
success of the hygiene department.
http://dental-sales.com/

4. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 First, are at least 75-80% of your patients active in the recare
system? That is where the patients are ‘retained’ in the
practice and if the number is lower than that, you are likely
losing more patients than you are gaining. This is often a sure
sign that the practice might be in decline. Evaluate the
protocol for scheduling the recare patient. Is the practice
‘pre-scheduling’? Is there a system for reminding the patients
of their appointment? Who is in charge of this system? How
are the staff confirming the appointments? If the
confirmation call is not made correctly, it is often an
opportunity for the patient to cancel the appointment!
http://dental-sales.com/

5. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 Second, is your hygiene department producing 25-30% of
the overall production in the practice? If not, consider
evaluating the scheduling for the hygienist. If the schedule is
full and your hygienist is not reaching the daily goal there is
likely no block booking in place or the blocks for hygiene are
not being honored by the scheduler. Do you have enough
‘hygiene days’ for the practice to handle all of the patients? Is
there someone accountable for scheduling the hygiene
department to a goal?
http://dental-sales.com/

6. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 Third, your hygiene department should be generating 30%
or more from periodontal procedures (i.e. scaling and root
planning, periodontal maintenance, and procedures
associated with your periodontal protocol). Again, this could
be a scheduling issue or it could be that the periodontal
protocol is not being implemented properly (or both!). Is
there a written protocol for treating periodontal disease in
the practice? Patient treatment needs are always customized,
but the protocol should be established and effectively
communicated in order to give the hygiene department
treatment parameters.
http://dental-sales.com/

7. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 And last but not least, the hygiene department should be
generating restorative opportunities for the doctor. Are you
tracking the amount of diagnosed treatment coming out of
the hygiene department? How much of that is being
scheduled before the patient leaves? At least 50% of the
treatment out of the hygiene department should be
scheduled prior to the patient leaving. The hygienist spends
valuable time with the patients creating rapport and
discussing treatment needs with them.
http://dental-sales.com/

8. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 Any incomplete treatment from prior visits should be
brought to the doctor’s attention at the morning meeting and
a plan made to revisit the treatment needs with the
patient. The doctor and hygienist can work together to
provide better communication with the patient and create
value for needed treatment.
http://dental-sales.com/

9. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 All of these factors work together to enhance the quality of
care for the patients, to maintain an outstanding working
environment for the hygienist and create a healthy,
supportive hygiene department for the patients of the
practice.
http://dental-sales.com/

10. Hygiene 101
By Sally Morgan
 Sally Morgan, RDH has been successfully consulting with dental
practices around the country since 1991. She has effectively
implemented management systems in over 100 dental practices. Sally
can be contacted at www.southwestmanagementgroup.com or by
phone at 210.771.6775 or email her
atSally@SouthwestManagementGroup.com.
http://dental-sales.com/

11. HYGIENE 101
BY SALLY MORGAN
To learn more please visit
www.Dental-Sales.com
888.656.0290
http://dental-sales.com/