What to think about before opening a dental surgery
If your dental practice is going to be focused on performing oral surgeries on your patients, then there are some special considerations that you need to take into account. Considerations that are going to be different than if you simply opened a non surgery focused dental practice. Surgery can be a very helpful and very important practice for you as a dentist, but you need to consider the following things to think about.
What type of sedation do you want to offer?
Almost all dental patients will have some type of sedation needed as they go into their surgery. For some they simply need to inhale nitrous oxide (laughing gas) at the start of the procedure. This allows them to become loopy and not feel any pain, but still be able to respond to the commands of your dentist.
Then they get a shot of oxygen to wake them up after the procedure is finished, and the patient often doesn’t remember what had gone on. Other sedation options include pills, IV sedation, and numbing shots done into the area of the mouth that the dentist is operating in. It might be easy to put every option inside your online dental shop and let your patients pick what they want.
Whether you choose to have some of these sedation options available, or all of them, you need to make sure you have the capabilities to hold all the sedation options and also to treat the patients who are receiving them.
You need to hire specialised staff
While training and dental school are something that all dentists need to do before they can join a dental practice, you do need to ensure that your staff is properly trained and equipped to handle surgeries. That means that you’ll need to put a little more time and money into hiring a good staff for your dental practice.
However, if you have a staff that can handle surgeries then you can better offer them to your patients and know that everyone is in good hands!
Make sure your staff (and you) know the do’s and don’ts of surgery
There’s a lot that your patients need to do before certain surgeries, and your staff needs to be able to explain the rules before and after a surgery to the patient. For example, some surgeries require that the patient not eat or drink anything for 24 hours beforehand. While others say that the patient shouldn’t drive themselves home and will need to be tended too by a caregiver until the effects wear off. Other surgeries have strict guidelines on either the preparation for the surgery, or how to care for the patient’s mouth and teeth afterward. Communicating this information, as well as telling your staff to do so, is very very important.
You don’t want your staff to forget information or for the patient to show up having unknowningly broke a rule. That can delay the surgery and lead to annoyances for everyone.
Do you have insurance?
A lot of people are going to have insurance that covers their dental surgeries and other medical procedures, and your surgery dental practice is going to need it too. While no one wants mistakes to be made, sometimes it does happen and you need insurance to protect yourself, your business, and your staff.
Make sure to talk to an insurer who has specialized in dentist related insurance practices before. It will help you get a better understanding of what you need vs someone who is more general in the field of law.
Are you going to specialise in surgery?
Finally, do you want your dental practice to just focus on surgery or do you want to do a mix of surgery and other basic care? There are pros and cons to both approaches, but you need to decide before you get started with building your dental practice. Specializing in surgery means a lot of practice for your clients, and also a lot of cash for your business.
However, taking a general approach means that you can reach more patients and also get a more steady income. People are always going to come for general checkups and cleanings, but they might not come as frequently for surgeries. Consider your options and then get the process started to build your dental practice.
If you want to open a dental practice that is solely focused on dental surgery, then you can do so, and it will be a very rewarding enterprise. Just make sure you’ve answered all these questions and you will be good to start!
