In a recent interview with the Oral Health Group, Dr. Les Rykiss (Linden Market Dental Centre) and Shawn Peers (Peers Dental) shared their best tips on how old and new dentists can better manage and strategize for their dental practices. In this two-part series, they shed insights on what’s up-and-coming in dentistry, how dentists can and should be ready for the change, and the best way to manage a practice to avoid burnout.
Our first interview was with Dr. Les Rykiss, the owner of Linden Market Dental Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Q: What’s the next big thing in dentistry that you think is crucial for dentists to get their hands on?
First, if they haven’t adopted the technology that’s out there already, it’s time for them to start. For example, technology like digital scanners are here, and they’re not going anywhere. They’re just as accurate, if not more accurate, than impression materials. You’ve got to go for it. Secondly, it is time to use any computer innovations in your practice. Yes, dentistry can still be done as taught 30-40 years ago. It could still be done that way, but it’s not giving the patient the benefit of a better dental experience. So, is there something wrong with the dentistry you’re doing? No, but let’s bring them into the 21st century. The next thing that I believe is still coming will be robotics.
Regarding AI, ChatGPT and similar tech will be present in how we manage our offices, which may decrease the need for more hands-on management from the dentists’ side. It does help you shave off a lot of time that you can input into your clinical practice if you can automate all of that. So, I think we’re all looking forward to that one and with a bit of concern about the loose privacy laws.
Q: What are the biggest challenges we see with robotics or AI, and how can dentists tackle them when adopting these models in their offices?
“Implementation.” It is important to elicit the opinions of professionals. People like practice management gurus. We need mentors in that area. Dentists are very, very good at what we do, but we are not good at running a practice because we’re not businesspeople. Dentists are trained in dental school, not to run practices. They are trained to do fillings, crowns and implants. It is challenging for somebody who is not a business person to begin to adapt to the business side of things. If implementation is the biggest challenge, how does one work around
it? Simple, take the appropriate courses. Let the experts guide you and your staff on what you must do. Don’t try and do it yourself. If you are that person who is so good at doing all this stuff, and I have met some people who are that good, then great. But for the people who have no clue, that’s where you can get your feet wet. Dentists must learn how to implement the strategy and then educate their team. Don’t just expect they will adapt to what you are doing, what it means for your practice, and what is essential daily. Talk to them about it.
Q: Can you give me one of the examples when you were puzzled and wanted to develop and refine your strategic thinking and management skills? And how did you start to improve those areas?
Probably when I decided to become a cosmetic dentist. I started by going to cosmetic dental courses. I took the core courses, which taught me the skill, and then I took the practice management courses that taught me how to implement the necessary changes in my practice. We have a captive audience in a hygiene chair for an hour and a half. Hygienists are the first eyes right in that patient’s mouth and the first mention of cosmetics. So, when the dentist also mentions cosmetics, that’s the second time the patient has heard about it. They now think they
should, at some point, consider the treatment. Train your staff to detect it how you would and set the stage for you.
Q: Do you have an example of when one of your strategies failed, and how did you handle it and learn from it?
Nothing was more prevalent than COVID. That was very unpredictable for everyone, and we’re flying by the seat of our pants, not knowing how we need to change our practice to accommodate a pandemic and this visible attack. I was not prepared for it, and we all could learn from it because it may happen again. It was three years of an absolute nightmare for most dentists. Not just the money that we lost, but the fact is we were closed for ten
weeks. I failed while trying to implement things in my office. Fortunately, some very smart people out there shared their office COVID manuals and similar guidelines. That helped tremendously. So, you’re implementing everything in your practice to make the patients and staff comfortable.
The second challenge goes back to the dental school experience. In dental school, we took practice and dental practice management in the fourth year, but it didn’t teach us anything about running a practice. No one ever sat down with us saying, OK, day one of your practice, you’re going to hire a hygienist, you’re going to hire an assistant. How should you hire for a brand-new practice that you just built? What are you going to do? You don’t learn about hiring and firing team members and interviewing from trial by fire. I had quite a few failures, and people that I trusted turned out to be more pain than gain. So sometimes hiring and firing are some of my biggest challenges, and nobody likes to be the judge on firing people. It is incredibly difficult to tell somebody they no longer have a job. I could’ve been more prepared for that, a 100%. That’s why I always suggest taking some HR courses before starting your practice. Schools should start dental practice management training in year one and hammer it in by year four. Students should learn about the day-to-day running of a dental practice and the challenges that you will face running a dental practice.
Q: What do you think has contributed to your success in taking the initiative and managing your team?
My greatest strength in developing my practice was probably the lack of me standing in the way of my success. For example, implementing lasers in my office, implementing cosmetics in my office, making that decision to hire one more staff person to make us more effective and take us from this level to the next one. All those things are very important. If you are worried about taking risks, you will never progress. There will be failures, and you must prepare yourself to manage those failures. For instance, I hired an extra assistant to make us more effective. After a year of having that assistant, I realized we’re losing money because too many people are standing around. I recognized it and moved on. And that’s my suggestion, do whatever it takes to make you busier or trim your team.
Q: In your opinion, do you think you are just a manager or a strategist?
I’m not a manager. I try not to be a manager. I have an office manager. They handle the bulk of the managing in the office, HR, and the administration staff. I have no time nor the energy to do that. So, I’m more of a strategist than a manager. I manage my team from this point on how I want them to be. Let me explain that for a second. We all talk about millennials and what they bring to the table, and some of it is very frustrating: things like cell phones. I graduated in 1990. Yes, there were cell phones. There were few and far between. Now, it’s not just
a cell phone. It’s a mini-computer. Everybody’s got it. Everybody has their social media on there. One morning in our team strategy meeting, I asked them to stop using their phones in the operatory. If they want to be helpful to this office, and if they use social media for work during their time at work, go ahead. But seeing them using it for personal gains when they should be working is frustrating.
If your team is willing to take your business, treat it as their own, and help you strategize, that’s a green flag. Reward them for it and be flexible. But if not, be on the lookout for the red flags, and be stern if needed.
Stay tuned for our next article in this series!
About the Author
Tanya Arora, BDS, Cert. MHI, is the Managing Editor for the Oral Health Group. A dentist from India who emigrated not too long ago and has found a home in the Canadian dental industry. Someone with deep imagination and core ideas, you can almost always find her thinking about some mystery of the universe, an ancient philosophy, or learning a new language. Feel free to reach out to her at tanya@newcom.ca if you’d like to collab with or write for the Oral Health Group.
