These are the top products behind a patient-first dental practice [VIDEO]

The patient-first philosophy behind Rock Run Dental has helped this practice thrive.

Patients trust and respect the Rock Run Dental team, and feel like family both inside and outside the office. Over the years, Patterson Dental has helped provide this practice with the products necessary to create that type of environment in their dental practice.

Dr. Rand Mattson is always looking for what’s next.

He’s not satisfied to simply stay in place; he wants to keep learning and growing and to continue to find ways to enhance his practice. He wants to ensure he’s providing the best care possible, and to do that he has to stay passionate about dentistry.

“Early on I learned the most important thing is to absolutely put the patient first, and to do that I had to be happy,” he said. “I didn’t want to go to work every day and be on a treadmill. I decided I would do as much continuing education as I could in areas of interest and that I would try and match my skills with those patients seeking out that type of dentistry.”

A new start

Dr. Mattson has practiced dentistry in Utah for about 30 years, and moved Rock Run Dental to its current location in Roy, Utah, 10 years ago. Before the move, Dr. Mattson and his team worked out of an old house that had been converted into a dental office, an office that wasn’t big enough for the number of patients the team saw each day.

It had just gotten to the point where dentistry wasn’t fun anymore and Dr. Mattson was burnt out. He was ready to call it quits, but after a conversation with his Patterson Dental branch manager, he decided maybe it wasn’t time to give up dentistry just yet.

“He said you need to trash the place you’re in and you need to start over and build a new practice,” Dr. Mattson said. “That started the ball rolling. Then we looked to see what we could do [with the new practice] and what was possible.”

Dr. Mattson had a clear vision of what he wanted his practice to be, and after he found the right space he was able to put that vision into action. He wanted a practice patients could feel good about coming to, a practice where they’d feel comfortable. He wanted to create a space where patients would feel like family, and he couldn’t be happier with the result. The only regret he has is not making the move 10 years earlier.

“When we can treat patients like family, then they know we have their best interest at heart. It makes treatment plan acceptance much better,” Dr. Mattson said. “And you never have a dilemma about what to do for patients if you think, ‘Gee, what would I want done on my teeth.’ The buy-in is tremendous and we’ve been able to significantly increase the acceptance level for quality dentistry.”

The right products

The team at Rock Run Dental has a patient-first philosophy, and that means they won’t bring a new product into the practice unless there’s a clear patient benefit, Dr. Mattson said. If there’s nothing in it for the patient, Dr. Mattson doesn’t see a need for it in his practice.

“If it’s going to make the treatment better, have a better outcome for my patients or make it easier for them, that’s the main consideration for me,” Dr. Mattson said. “I’m not so sure that faster or more profit is anything I’m real concerned about right now. At this stage of the game it’s more about life balance. It’s more about making the process better for the patient and for me.”

There are many products in the practice that help Dr. Mattson and his team do that, but the Schick sensors from Sirona really stand out. When patients can see what’s happening in their mouth on a radiograph, they’re more likely to understand what’s happening and to accept any necessary treatment.

They take more ownership of their oral health, and that leads to patients making positive changes to improve their oral health long-term.

Dr. Mattson and his team know how crucial patient education is, and Patterson Dental’s CAESY Patient Education System is another way they make sure patients understand what is going on in their mouths and the treatments that can get them to health. They use the videos as another way to communicate with patients, and Dr. Mattson said it’s a very effective method.

“Often times, education occurs when we’re not even there,” Dr. Mattson said. “We have some of the units set up so that there’s an overhead screen that the patient can see, and when we’re not active on the keyboard for a few minutes, it goes through various CAESY vignettes. It’s amazing how many times patients will comment on something that they saw on the vignette.”

If patients have a question about something, they can show them a video on that particular topic, and even print the information out for them or email it to them so they can refer to it later at home. CAESY is a great educational tool, and fits perfectly with the practice’s patient-first philosophy.

Efficient and patient friendly

Rock Run Dental is a paperless office, and Dr. Mattson said he doesn’t know what he and his team members

would do without Eaglesoft and RevenueWell.

With Eaglesoft, he doesn’t even have to worry about an x-ray being misfiled. It keeps everything organized, and everyone in the office has access to files they need whenever they need them. If they want to show a patient a radiograph taken at a prior appointment, they can do that through Eaglesoft.

“The front desk can be working on insurance issues or scheduling appointments at the same time the people in the back can be referencing x-rays, treatment plans, taking images, either radiographs or photographs,” Dr. Mattson said. “You have a record available all the time.”

Eaglesoft also makes working with insurance companies much easier and streamlined.

If the insurance company needs an image or an x-ray, Dr. Mattson can easily send it to them so the claim can go forward. RevenueWell has been another great addition to the practice that patients have grown to appreciate. They use RevenueWell to send appointment reminders via text and email, facilitate patient reviews, send birthday cards, promote marketing campaigns and accept payment. Patients can even log-in to their accounts from home to check on appointment times or anything else they might want to know. This type of system frees up time at the front desk because there’s no need to spend time on the phone confirming appointments; it’s done through RevenueWell.

RevenueWell saved the practice a lot of time a few months ago when one of the hygienists had to call in sick, Dr. Mattson said. The office manager was able to send out an email blast to all of the hygienist’s patients through RevenueWell, and that meant they didn’t have to call every patient to tell them their appointment was canceled.

RevenueWell uses information from your existing practice management software, making the process extremely easy.

“Together RevenueWell and Eaglesoft are extremely efficient,” Dr. Mattson said. “I couldn’t practice dentistry at the level I’m practicing at right now without those two products.”

FEATURED PRODUCTS

Eaglesoft 17 Practice Management Softwareeaglesoft.net

Eaglesoft 17 has new features to simplify your daily routine including customized

medical history, Eaglesoft News Feed, Patterson Auto Update via the Web instead of using a disc to install updates, CareCredit bridge providing a direct link to process credit applications, and integrated Clinician Lite for Eaglesoft Clinician users.

RevenueWell Patient Communications Suiterevenuewell.com

Using information from a dental practice’s existing practice management software - such as Eaglesoft - the RevenueWell online practice marketing and patient communications software suite communicates with patients to provide them with 24-7 access to their accounts. Practices can collect online patient reviews, request referrals and establish and maintain their profiles across more than 100 online destinations.

CAESY Cloud Patient Education Systemscaesy.com

CAESY Patient Education Systems is now online via CAESY Cloud, offering instant access to more than 350 multimedia presentations and access to patient education resources from multiple locations within the practice. New videos and features are frequently posted. No installation and no network connections between participating computers are required. It is PC and Mac compatible, including iPads, iPhones and smartphones.