26: The Recipe for Greatness in Hygiene - Wendy Briggs - The Best Practices Show with Kirk Behrendt

Are you struggling with what to do in your practice when it comes to dental hygiene? Wendy Briggs is one of the top authorities on hygiene and dental practice development in the country. Today, we are going to talk about the recipe for greatness in dental hygiene.

Wendy Briggs is the president and CEO of Hygiene Diamonds a practice management consulting firm that helps hygienists increase profitability. She is also co-founder of the Team Training Institute which offers virtual coaching. Wendy is a hygienist first and foremost and loves helping other hygienists learn how to contribute to the bottom line of their practices.

You can find Wendy here:

The Team Training Institute

The Double Your Dental Practice Production

Hygiene Diamonds

Wendy Briggs on Facebook

The Ultimate Guide To Doubling & Tripling Your Dental Practice Production: How To Build An Unstoppable Dentist Practice With The Freedom To Enjoy It!

The Business of Dental Hygiene: How To Create a Hygiene Driven Practice

Wendy Briggs on LinkedIn

Show Notes

[02:34] Wendy is a hygienist first and foremost. She has spent the last 15 years speaking to and training others in the dental field.

[03:11] There was a lot of chatter about what the hygienists was supposed to be doing, but not much was said about how they should do these things.

[03:40] The why behind what Wendy does is that she wants to help hygienist know how to help make their practices succeed.

[04:06] She now has an incredible team of coaches that are making waves when it comes to showing hygienists what to do.

[04:34] Dr. John Meis had a brain trust that had Wendy work with their hygiene team. Dr. Meis and Wendy teamed up at The Team Training Institute.

[06:18] They already work with successful practices and help them break through to the next level.

[06:48] How it's not about money it's about doing the right things.

[06:56] Effectiveness to greatness. Production isn't the goal, but it is the product of doing the right thing for the patient.

[07:27] Production isn't a dirty word. Hygienists need to understand how they are contributing and how they can have a bigger impact.

[08:17] Helping providers know what they can do differently to achieve greatness.

[09:35] The trends that Wendy has been seeing. You can increase hygiene revenue through the number of patient encounters or increase the production per encounter.

[11:01] Increasing production is the way to go.

[13:09] Getting more value per visit.Vision, passion, discipline, and conscience.

[16:04] Teaching a hygienist what language to use when explaining risk factors to an adult patient.

[16:58] Igniting the passion in providing a more complete level of service to the patient. Communicating and getting everyone engaged.

[17:37] Following a specific system based on the vision of the doctor.

[17:58] Wendy provides systems for hygienists to follow and all of the tools that they will need to do so.

[19:02] Part of discipline is having hygienists who really understand what their role is. Prevention therapist, periodontal therapist, and patient treatment advocate.

[20:34] The importance of having a system for tracking and assessment.

[24:54] How hygienists can facilitate treatment planning predictability. Embracing technology and using cavity finding cameras and lasers.

[26:14] How the hygienist needs to be adequately prepared to use the cameras.

[26:29] Developing the skills of the treatment advocate role and opening lines of communication.

[27:12] There is no law that limits the hygienist from saying what she's thinking.

[29:00] The importance of giving a hygienist adequate time training and skills to do with they need to do. There is plenty of work to do on the patients a practice already has.

[31:00] Patient retention is absolutely critical to a practices success.

[31:53] Recall, recovery, reactivation, reappointment, reviews, and retention. Once you have these systems in place your hygienist can be successful.

[33:04] Being conscious. Owning what you are doing to achieve greatness. Providing a higher level of value.

[35:02] Moving from effectiveness to greatness isn't possible with an hourly minded employee.

[36:41] Embracing a compensation model that is a win-win. Everyday is a new day. Things need to be figured on a daily basis. Over time you can move seasoned hygienists to a percentage, but I wouldn't start there.

[38:34] Restructuring a salary on production based compensation. Plus, bonuses for the rest of the team.

[40:23] How important it is to have vision and to establish core values.

[43:02] How it's up to us to get educated and to go out and create value.

[46:54] How awesome it is to create a practice that is truly exceptional.

Links and Resources:

Dawson Academy

Henry Schein Practice Solutions

Dr. John Meis

The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

The Team Training Institute

The Double Your Dental Practice Production

Hygiene Diamonds