Blog | Dental Support Essentials

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2 years ago

Top Ten Myths Heard from the Dental Chair

If you’ve worked in a dental office across any position – from a dental assistant, hygienist, or front office staff member – you’ve likely heard some eye-brow raising comments and stories from dental patients. Patients hold these beliefs about the dentist or general oral health from picking up these antidotes from family, friends, or the internet. These myths are important to dispel and should be proof to always educate the patient to reduce their fears and worries. Top 10 Myths from the Dental Chair “I have soft teeth.” “Having children reduced my calcium, causing me to...

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2 years ago

Keeping Your Patients Safe: Proper Dental Practice Infection Control Procedures

Proper infection control is a top priority of any dental practice to ensure the health of a patient is not compromised and to prevent the spread of disease and germs. Each dental practice must meet compliance and standards outlined by their state dental board. Achieving infection control is just the tip of the iceberg – it’s imperative to keep accurate and timely documentation of your dental office’s infection control policy and manual, staff training log, equipment and tool sterilization reports, etc. Aside from maintaining the health of your patients and staff, having proper infection con...

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2 years ago

How to Leverage the Top 3 Underutilized Dental Practice Resources

One of the most common themes I encounter when evaluating a dental practice’s existing billing, scheduling, and management operations is the misconception that hiring additional staff or purchasing new technology is the go-to solution for solving areas that need improvement. When really the answer almost always lies in leveraging the resources you already have at your disposal to increase productivity, optimize schedules, and even grow monthly profit. Utilize the internet and insurance carrier web portals for eligibility checking. Many insurance carriers have comprehensive online porta...

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2 years ago

Strategies for Forecasting Revenue

Twelve months, 52 weeks, 365 days. A calendar year offers endless opportunities to deliver excellent personalized dental care to individuals, families, and communities. As we all know, life happens, schedules change, vacations and holiday breaks occur, and dental care may not be top of mind for patients. There are two months – September and February – that traditionally experience a dip in appointment volume. Patients are going back to school in the fall and winter weather can keep patients from making their appointments. A dip in appointment volume can affect your practice’s average monthly p...

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2 years ago

Dental Provider Credentialing 101: Medicaid Management

Over the past few weeks, I’ve detailed the ins-and-outs of the dental provider credentialing process – a painstaking, time intensive, detailed, and necessary procedure for the modern 21st century dentist to stay competitive and offer dental care to an expanded in-demand patient base. There is a niche subset of dental care that requires even more scrutiny and exhaustive efforts to complete credentialing. Medicaid, which is managed by each individual state, requires additional manpower, maintenance, and vigilance for effective dental credentialing. Because of the momentous effort required beh...

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2 years ago

Dental Provider Credentialing 101: Common Application Mistakes to Avoid

As discussed in part one and two of my dental providing credentialing blog series, it’s important to fully understand the implications of providing in-network vs. out-of-network care, allow ample time for the application process and take a detailed, thorough approach with the insurance companies during the inquiry process to negotiate the best fees schedules. Now that you have a strong foundational knowledge base of the dental provider credentialing process, it’s time to address common application mistakes, so your credentialing can be completed in a timely manner and patients can be seen s...

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2 years ago

Dental Provider Credentialing 101: Application Process & Insurance Inquiries

Last week, I gave a full rundown of dental provider credentialing basics and outlined initial steps to get you started and make a confident decision to provide in-network or out-of-network patient care. There are often two categories aligned with the dental credentialing process when establishing or joining a dental practice – (1) you may already be an in-network provider from a previous dental office or (2) you’re beginning the process from scratch. If you’re already an in-network provider, find out who you’re in-network with and the process is simple – it’s a matter of updating ...

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2 years ago

Dental Provider Credentialing 101: Part I

As dentists start their career and establish, join, or take over a dental practice, there is always an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed and decided upon: to be credentialed or not to be credentialed? To answer that question, let’s define the basics of dental credentialing – what it is, why dentists decide to get credentialed, and the initial steps on how to begin the dental credentialing process. What is Dental Provider Credentialing? Dental credentialing is the process of a dentist entering into a contract with an insurance carrier. The doctor then becomes a provider ...

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2 years ago

Common Dental Insurance Pitfalls Part 2

Post-Appointment Dental Insurance Claim Management Checklist The patient’s dental appointment wraps up, they’ve received a comprehensive detailed treatment plan with all insurance implications identified, and the patient has made a confident and informed decision to proceed with the recommended dental work. It’s all smooth sailing from there, right? Not quite -- the dental insurance and dental claim management processes have only just begun with the completion of the treatment plan. Last week, I detailed common dental insurance pitfalls that can occur during pre-appointment front and back ...

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2 years ago

Common Dental Insurance Pitfalls to Avoid

Insurance helps the public access health and dental services at a more affordable cost. It’s a necessary component to the healthcare industry and economy. The work required for effective dental insurance management and processing requires strong tact in thorough investigation and research practices. Without these strong practices in place, it’s easy for a dental office to fall victim to common insurance pitfalls that can negatively impact operations, collections, and patient retention. Working with different dental practices over the years has uncovered common insurance errors exp...

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2 years ago

Fall In Love With Your Accounts Receivables Process

Managing the accounts receivable department can often become a thorn in a dentist’s side. Beyond the patient care, it’s the accounting details, process, and management that can have a deep, lasting impact on a practice’s day-to-day operations and overall success. It’s important for dentists to be confident in their business and have a strong understanding of their cash flow and payment processing. A strong system of checks and balances that defines a clear roadmap for all staff can lead to more successful management and accurate accounts receivable activities. Set Up Electronic Fu...

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2 years ago

Front Desk Staff: The Lifeline of a Dental Practice

From appointment setting to a warm in-office welcome, front desk staff has the opportunity to make a lasting impression (positive or negative) with patients before a patient even lands in the dentist chair. As the first and last interaction with patients, and a multitude of duties in between, those who manage the front desk and internal operations are the lifeline of a dental practice -- the business simply wouldn’t be able to function without these necessary and important team members. As we all know, front desk staff members have an abundance of daily tasks to manage and juggle beyond the...

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2 years ago

What The Dental Office Staff Thinks You Should Know Before You Purchase Dental Insurance

Insurance is convoluted, to say the least. Throughout my years of being a dental office manager, I regularly get calls from a patient who are looking over re-enrollment forms. They were un-acquainted about this process it seems as the forms were written in a extraneous language for them. They also have questions about the whole process like how do I know what type of coverage I need? What does endodontic mean? Do I need coverage for that? etc. I had always said that I wish I could hold a seminar for my patients before they bought insurance. So here are my guidelines for infor...