We recently completed a Dental Inventory Makeover in Baltimore and wanted to share with you what does the process involves. It's a lot of fun for us and we hope you get excited so one day we meet you in person at your dental practice. Please enjoy! [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBCVE7ZxYA[/embedyt]
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeOh9tEiJ8I[/embedyt] This is one of my favorite with one and only Michael Lomoton. His background is in biomedical engineering, but his passion is in dentistry. A few years ago Michael decided to step in and help his wife, Dr. Kathrina Agatep, DDS to run a practice in San Diego. We tour a recently renovated office and talk dental shop, from numbers to what it's like to be a dental spouse. You can check out the practice here: https://dentaldesignsd.com/ Read more about Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellomotan/
Instagram influencer Dr. Patrick Anghel DDS (@pat.the.dentist) and I seat down on Sunday night for a great conversation on life, dentistry, student debt, books to read and so much more. I promise there will be take #2 with Pat since we still need to talk about how he monetized his Insta as a side hustle and CryptoCurrency in dentistry. Books discussed during the interview: Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki The Pillars of Dental Success by Dr. Mark Costes (absolute MUST read) How to win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Harry Potter Books by J.K. Rowling Hope you all enjoy it and let me know your thoughts! Tiger Insta: @tiger.safarov
Zen Implementation at the Endo practice, 3 secrets every practice needs to know to successfully onboard. Interview with Meghan, Lead Dental Assistant at Alexandria Endodontic Once in a while, we get a chance to onboard a practice where we learn more from the team than they do from us. Alexandria Endo was that exception and it all comes down to the team. Having a strong team can solve any issues. In this short interview I asked Meghan: To walk us through the entire process, what was the first reaction when Meghan saw the system and what was the team’s reaction? To go over implementation steps and 3 secrets every practice needs to: Leadership Skills needed to be Lead Dental Assistant (Positivity, Patience, How to asses the skills of your team and delegate new project (even how to communicate with each team member) As much as you put into it, you will get much more back Bonus: Who Zen Is perfect for and what practices shouldn't be using Zen What would Meghan recommend to a practice that is looking to onboard with Zen and what she would do differently 2 time around? Hope you find this valuable and till next time! Tiger ZenSupplies.com
We are excited to bring you this new episode from the Zen & Work podcast archives! In this episode, Tiger Safarov, Founder of Zen Supplies, and Dr. Andy Tran (Apex Dental Studio) talk with Dr. Mohiuddin, an owner, and doctor at the Chicago based practice Dentologie. Listen along as they discuss User (ie. patient) Experience, dental school, and the importance of having a long-term vision for your practice. Thanks for tuning in! Check out the Dentologie page for a look at professional dental care re-imagined for the millennial generation.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ2Iw1HYmpc[/embedyt] Warning: uncensored interview A good friend of mine Dr. Bryan Stimmler and I seat down for a casual conversation at Bryan's home in Brooklyn NY. You can give it a listen or watch full length. We go in different directions, discuss dentistry, everything around dentistry and much more. Hope you enjoy it! Tiger
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W1d0kHNAHA[/embedyt] Welcome to another webinar/interview with CEO of Studio Dental Lowell Caulder. We discuss how to match Physical space to their Virtual Space in Zen, How to get entire team compliance, and in case of turn around how to onboard new team members on Zen within minutes. Lowell explains their hiring process, books that helped him to become the Please Enjoy! Conversation Notes and Recommendations: 1. Image of the storage with E1/E2/E3/E4 Also an image of their Zen Setup with Storages 2. Book recomendation: -Be the Boss Everyone wants to work for -Mastering Rockefeler Habits - Dare to Lead 3. Software Recomendation: - https://bonus.ly/ - Slack
10 Things Every Assistant Should know about Infection Control: PPEs - 4 items - mask; gloves; goggles; gown Utility Gloves Transport bins - to transport our items from the operatory to the sterilization area in a closed puncture proof, leak-proof container. With a biohazard sticker. Disinfectants - 2 step or 1 step. One step or two-step and are you doing, if you're using a two-step, are you doing the true two steps. Loading Autoclave - Paper down. Plastic up. Dating Indicators on pouches - Loading the autoclave indicators, on pouches, there's external and internal. Then on the wrap, they're on paper and tape, the tape changes to stripe but we also need to put an indicator inside our cassettes. Seven, was the date your items by load date and autoclave if you have more than one. Eight was you need to weekly spore test your autoclave or whatever sterilizer you use. Then always read your IFUs, your infection, we're talking about infection control, your instructions for use on any type of product. Always read. Read. Read. Read. Ten was your annual training. Because things change, just like one of the changes last year was all handpieces that are air driven must be autoclaved, the last tip must be autoclaved between each patient. Tiger: Julie, I really appreciate you sending a text message, “Hey Tiger what did you do in section control with all the zen people?” This is a big subject, a lot of people talk about and you then came up with such a cool title Ten Things That Every Dental Assistant Should Know About in Infection Control. Tiger: I know that our assistants are busy but a lot of them will be able to watch this later. So let's just dive into this. Just I can't even add my two cents into this. This is a new subject for me I'm taking notes. Julie Varney: You can't? You don't know anything about section control Tiger: Literally I'm going to take notes. Julie Varney: You're going to take notes. All right. So first things first, we start with your PPE. [1] Everybody knows about the PPEs but what they sometimes fail to use are everything of them. Right, so sometimes they might not wear goggles, so we should always be wearing our masks, our gloves, our goggles or our face shield and we should always be wearing a gown with our arms covered. So we should not have our arms uncovered. Julie Varney: If you don't want to wear it to the office you could always take your lab coat on and off before you leave the laboratory. But those are the four things that protect us and protect the patient from us. So we definitely should be wearing those. There are other times we should wear them through processing instruments and breaking down and cleaning up a room. So those are our four main PPE items. Julie Varney: Our next thing is [2] utility gloves. So utility gloves are very underutilized in a practice which is according to OSHA is a no-no. We should be using them. So utility gloves should be worn when breaking down and cleaning up a room disinfecting it, when you're transporting your instruments from the operatory to the sterilization area and also they should be worn while you're processing your instruments in the sterilization area. Julie Varney: They need to be leak puncture proof and they need to cover your arms. They do have disposable ones by Halyard I think it is. But you should have a pair kind of everywhere. Where you're going to be using them. Julie Varney: So our next thing that people do not do that should be doing is when you transport your items and your instruments from the operatory to the sterilization area, they need to go in a [3] leak-proof, closed, puncture-proof container. So if you use a cassette system, the cassettes have holes in them so that doesn't classify as a puncture proof leak-proof container. Julie Varney: It has to have a lid or a locking lid. Because the need to transport them so that nothing happens. So if you bump into somebody they're not going to get poked or cut. So we need to make sure that when we transport, you have a bin that keeps those instruments safe from harming others and you're wearing your utility gloves. Tiger: You have to have utility gloves when you grab the tub with instruments to bring them into sterile. Julie Varney: Yeah. Absolutely, and this is the safest practice for the assistant or the hygienist or whoever's turning over the rooms. Because we don't want to risk any type of injury that's going to get them hurt on the job and that's more paperwork so let's just do things the right way the first way. Tiger: Wow. Okay. Julie Varney: Next is, [4] disinfectant. There are lots and lots of products out there which people don't realize is that there's a one-step or a two-step process. So you need to read the instructions for use on your containers. Because some of the disinfectants that we use to wipe down our rooms are technically a two-step process. But they're being used as a one step. Julie Varney: So a two-step means, if you're using a Cavi-wipe has to be used once to clean and then it has to be used again to disinfect. So if you're using a product that is a two-step you have to use it twice and you have to use more of it. Tiger: So, meaning we wipe up the surface first and then we take another one and we have to wipe up the surface again? Julie Varney: Yeah. Because with a two-step process, you have to pre-clean and disinfect. So if you read the back, whether it's Birex or Cavi wipes, any type of disinfectant that's EPA regulated so we can't use Lysol FYI. Lysol is not EPA regulated or hospital grade. They tell you the instructions for you. Whether you have to pre-clean and then disinfect or if there's one step. So often one by Scican is a one-step process so it saves you time and it saves you money because you're not using as much of the product and it's also healthier for you. Tiger: Do you know what other products are one step? That's probably something I should know. Julie Varney: Yeah, well I believe Cavi wipes has now a one-step process. There are a couple of other products that have converted over to being one step instead of pre-cleaning and disinfecting, they now do both. You just have to read the directions and their set time and all that stuff. Tiger: Like a one or three minutes? Julie Varney: Or on Birex is ten minutes. I think it's ten minutes. Birex. We shouldn't be spraying because then you breathe that all in and we need to make sure that when you're using these products you have all your PPEs on because it's very important that you don't breathe in all those aerosols or all those chemical smells. That's not good for your health either, so we want to make sure we have our PPEs on. Tiger: So you're saying if they're alcohol based don't be smelling? Julie Varney: Well, some of them are alcohol based but you need to make sure you have your mask on and your goggles on. Tiger: Well I've experienced that. In a couple of the offices. I went in and smelled all the alcohol base so we won't talk about it. Julie Varney: Lysol is not utilized. You cannot use Lysol it has to be EPA regulated at a high level. Tiger: What did step one or step two or it's just the nature of the product, one product would be two- step and one product would be one step? Julie Varney: It's just the nature I mean, it's just what the product is made. It's not they're better than any other product. You have to read it, the instructions for you if you're using Birex that's a two-step product you're going to want to make sure that you're doing those two steps so it's very ineffective. You might not be killing everything if you only do it once. When it's a [crosstalk 00:07:43] process. Tiger: Makes sense. Julie Varney: Check your labels, always read your labels on how to use things. Julie Varney: So next is ... I'm going to go over [5] loading the autoclave. This is a big topic. Like paper or plastic. Up or down. So one: always read your manufacturers whether you have a Statim or a Midmark or I think it's called a Tuttnauer the big huge gigantic one. Read how they tell you how to load the autoclave. That is important. Julie Varney: Midmark, I do know, are plastic up and I think the theory behind this, and this is just my theory is because when you put the plastic down and the instruments are maybe a little bit wet, the water's going to pool on the plastic the air can't flow and dry the plastic as much as when it's paper down. The paper gets wet but the air dries the paper. So and the instruments don't sit as much in the plastic so it's always plastic up, paper down for Midmark when loading. Tiger: Paper down. Plastic up. Got it. Julie Varney: I want to make sure that you're not over packing the autoclave because you have to have certain airflow to let everything, one: get sterilized and two: get dry. If everything is compressed it's not going to get the airflow that it needs. So you can either stack them or you can lay them all spread out but you need to make sure that they're not compressed and on top of each other. Tiger: That it? Julie Varney: Okay and that's when things melt. So a lot of people complain that “All my X-Ray rings melted.” Yeah, that's because you probably packed the autoclave and they had no room to breathe or let the heat escape so the heat got trapped and it caused the rings to melt. Tiger: Got it. Julie Varney: Also, on your pouches which people sometimes don't have a tendency to watch. There are indicators that are external and internal. The pouches must have an external and internal indicator so that you can tell that it was properly sterilized. Tiger: Or they have these little dots or something? Julie Varney: Yeah. In the corners, the ones you can kind of peel back and you can feel. But then there are also ones in the corners in the pouches that you can't touch that are in between the plastic. So there's usually, whatever brand you're using, most of them, I believe, I've never seen one without, have an internal and external. Tiger: Got it. Julie Varney: When you're using cassettes because they're wrapped in a blue paper with tape, you need to use an internal indicator strip and put it inside the cassette. Because the paper and the tape only have external. Tiger: Okay. Wow. This is a lot of information. Julie Varney: These are the most things I see are done wrong. Tiger: Okay. I'm ready for the next one. Julie Varney: The next one. We need to be weekly checking for [6] testing our autoclave for Spor Testing. It's not okay to not do this. Because Tiger: What is it called? Julie Varney: ... if it's killing everything it needs to kill and if it's properly functioning. Tiger: Spore checking? Julie Varney: Spore testing yup. Tiger: Spore testing. Julie Varney: Yeah you could automate that on your system. But it's very important that you do it if you have more than one autoclave or sterilizer, that you are numbering them because the next thing is all your items that come out of these sterilizers need to be dated. Cycle dated. If you have more than one autoclave, which autoclave they came out of. Julie Varney: Because, if something fails, we have to have a record of instruments that maybe were processed before or after. Because all of the instruments that come out need to be date stamped, cycle stamped and they're only good, they say the recommended, for six months. Julie Varney: So if they sit in the drawer for two years, it's highly unlikely they're still sterile. You might want to redo them. Tiger: Wow. Okay. Got it. Julie Varney: All right. My number nine was always read your instructions for you. Always on everything. If you don't know about the product. Read it. Tiger: Read instructions? Did you say number nine? Julie Varney: Number nine. Read your instructions. Tiger: Number seven? Julie Varney: Number seven? Number seven was the date of the item. Julie Varney: Wait, you missed it? Wait no, eight was, monitor your autoclave. Tiger: Yup. Julie Varney: Seven was, date your items. I mixed them up. I read it wrong. We'll recap them all at the end. Tiger: Yup. We will. We will. Okay. Julie Varney: And then. [9] Number ten is annual training. You should be getting training once a year in your OSHA and your infection control standards. Do the full office. Three, four hours going through all your processes, checking everything, your eyewash stations, your fire extinguishers, your emergency evacuation plans, your emergency plans. These things should be trained and checked once a year. Tiger: Okay. So, how do people go about them? So let you say I'm in the office, I know I haven't done these in a while, what do I do? Call somebody? Because I don't want to call somebody and somebody reports me that I haven't done that in a while, so what's the right way to do it? Julie Varney: Usually you only get reported if someone complains but there are tons of people to reach out to but you can do in office training that is three or four hours. Some people have CEs they can give. Sometimes, myself, I'm going to tomorrow. I have a four-hour infection control training and OSHA, it'll be fun. But it should be customized to your office. It also should provide CE because 90 percent of the licenses out there need CEs. I know if you're a lead assistant you need two CE a year infect control. Julie Varney: But also if you don't know there's https://www.osap.org/, you can reach out to for $150 dollars a year, you can get a membership to OSAP that has all this information about infection control on it. Right at your fingertips, download form, figure it out, they have it all right there for you. Julie Varney: They promote the safest dental visit. When you send the file off an email, I will give you a code Tiger so that they can get 50 percent off their yearly membership to this organization. Tiger: Fantastic. Julie Varney: I know. But there's no reason why any dental assistant out there should not know the proper way. Because there's so much information out there and so much free information out there that they should know the proper ways. Tiger: Right. So, do people really need to pay for OSHA inspections? Is it somebody that has to be certified who does the training or it can be anybody? Julie Varney: Well, there's credentialing. I mean people have credentials in this stuff. I don't think there's a certification in OSHA but there's a lot of experts out there and I would definitely do your research before you hire somebody to come in. Because if they tell you wrong and then you're doing it wrong, there's a lot of fines behind this stuff. Julie Varney: So really, if you hire somebody to come into the office, there's Dr. Kathleen Schrubbe, she's right there in Illinois. She does a lot of infection control in OSHA, and stuff like that. Linda Harvey, she does all the HIPAA, she's very good at that stuff so there's a lot of experts out there and you want to go with that just not winging it. Julie Varney: I know HIPAA but I'm not an expert in it, I could do a yearly training to update you on it but if you're just starting off the bat, I will funnel you to Linda because she's an expert in the HIPAA. Tiger: You got it. All right. So let's do a recap. Julie Varney: All right. So, number one was your PPEs. 10 Things Every Assistant Should know about Infection Control: PPEs - 4 items - mask; gloves; goggles; gown Utility Gloves Transport bins - to transport our items from the operatory to the sterilization area in a closed puncture proof, leak-proof container. With a biohazard sticker. Disinfectants - 2 step or 1 step. One step or two-step and are you doing, if you're using a two-step, are you doing the true two steps. Loading Autoclave - Paper down. Plastic up. Dating Indicators on pouches - Loading the autoclave indicators, on pouches, there's external and internal. Then on the wrap, they're on paper and tape, the tape changes to stripe but we also need to put an indicator inside our cassettes. Seven, was the date your items by load date and autoclave if you have more than one. Eight was you need to weekly spore test your autoclave or whatever sterilizer you use. Then always read your IFUs, your infection, we're talking about infection control, your instructions for use on any type of product. Always read. Read. Read. Read. Ten was your annual training. Because things change, just like one of the changes last year was all handpieces that are air driven must be autoclaved, the last tip must be autoclaved between each patient. Julie Varney: Once a week yeah. Then always read your IFUs, your infection, we're talking about infection control, your instructions for use on any type of product. Always read. Read. Read. Read. Okay. Then ten was your annual training. Because things change, just like one of the changes last year was all handpieces that are air driven must be autoclaved, the last tip must be autoclaved between each patient. So your hygiene close feeds that people technically did not do that, they would wipe them down with a Cavi wipe or some type of disinfectant. They now have to be removed and autoclaved between each patient. Just like your high speeds. Tiger: So what's the instrument? Julie Varney: Your air driven motors. Your high-speed handpieces, your low-speed handpieces. The high speed always had to be autoclaved but the low speed now also is regulated to be autoclaved between each patient. Tiger: We'll put that as the bonus section. Julie Varney: Yeah. Put that in the bonus section. But if any assistant has any questions you can feel free to reach out to me. Like I said, join OSAP there's a ton of resources out there. There are checklists, there's protocol on that website. For $150 bucks a year, your whole office can know how to do everything. Tiger: Right. As a closing note, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how much dental assistants should know. Julie Varney: They should know as much as they could possibly know right? Tiger: Right? Just between this stuff here that we covered. My notes here, you can see how many notes I took. Julie Varney: You took a lot of notes. Tiger: And order supplies, and turn over the rooms, and assist the doctors Julie Varney: On fire that little Tiger: And then we probably didn't even scratch the surface of really going into the OSHA and all that stuff. Julie Varney: No, these are just ten common things that I see that are done wrong or done maybe half -done at times. That shouldn't be. It's really important that we stick to a good solid infection control plan because it only protects not ourselves, but our patients and we don't want to be on the news for improper stuff and we don't want to be closed down or end up in jail. Or hurt someone. That's the biggest thing. Who wants to hurt somebody and they end up with some infectious disease. Tiger: Exactly. Awesome these are really cool. Ten actionable steps that any office can use. I love that, it's tightly packed and that in the notes I'll make a note on how people can reach out to you. Julie Varney: Yeah. Absolutely. Like I said we'll send them a code to get the credit for CEzoom for watching the webinar. I'll send you a code for the OSAP for them to get 50 percent off of the membership if anyone wants to sign up. Tiger: That's awesome. Julie Varney: Get all the resources and we hope to see you at that, the annual conference which we will be talking about infection control on there. So they'll learn more about that and the whole process. Julie Varney: Like I said it's just scraping the surface but if you don't know when you need to ask and if the older generation of assistants hasn't had any training we need to get some training too because we teach the younger generation the wrong way and it's not okay. CODE: darocks50 to use with OSPA.org
I’ve been asked this question a lot of times. Every time we onboard and train new dental practice this question comes up “How do I track my free goods?” My concern, they are not FREE!! There is no Santa Claus. There is no Easter Bunny. There is no such thing as FREE DENTAL PRODUCTS! Now here are my top 3 reasons why FREE goods are a bad idea to focus on: Reason 1: Cash is King and Cashflow is the vein system of your Practice! Buying more than you need is killing your cash flow. Can you imagine Starbucks or McDonalds saying “Let’s buy beans on special and we will use it in the next 6 month”? Let’s apply this example to a specific use case, most of the time and for most practices, you need one box of lidocaine (average cost $30/box). But there’s a special, buy three get one free (theoretically making a unit price of $22.50/box – paid for 3 and divide the total by 4 units). All of a sudden your attention is on buying three items because you’re going to get one box for free. See what happens here, you are buying three boxes versus one, therefore, you’re spending extra $60 on buying these two additional boxes. Therefore, you spent a lot more money than you should have. On one item it seems minor, only $60, however, this happens across 3-5 items per order, totaling $250-400 in extra spend per ORDER. 3 Problems arise from this reason: Expired Products: Typically these items are going to be sitting on the shelf and at some point will get expired. Cash should be used on marketing and other revenue producing activities. The business decision that you are making that extra cash flow is going to be sitting on the shelf (in the form of a product) versus producing you the money is terrifying. By the way, as of April 2019, investing an additional $250-$400 a month on Facebook/Instagram marketing can generate significant ROI. You are becoming a warehouse. Some offices are willing to turn an operatory room into storage!!!! Please avoid doing this. Most products can be shipped within 3-7 days. There is absolutely no need to stock items for more than 2-4 weeks. Don’t be in the warehouse/logistics business. Reason 2: Undersupply vs oversupply I remember being a kid. If I have a jar of cookies for the whole day and let’s just say they’re 10 of them, I’m going to eat the whole 10. But if I have a jar with just the one cookie, I’m probably going to get that one cookie carefully throughout the day. You get the idea! It’s the same mentality in a dental practice. If you’re going to put a stack of bibs, all of them at the same time in front of the team (where your daily stock is), most likely you’re going to use a lot more than if you just put 10 a day and you say this is all we’ve got. Or if we have 30 patients on the schedule, we’re going to put 35 on the shelf and that’s all we got. I visit practices weekly and it’s very common to see carpules, burrs, composite tips and all sorts of other things laying around on the floor, behind cabinets, and even in the garbage can. From day one, each practice should establish min use or develop a checklist for Lead Assistant to use when restocking the room with exact QTYs. Reason 3: Most Manufactures also don’t like free goods! During my meetings with manufacturers and distributors, everyone rolls their eyes on free goods. Then I ask “Why are you still doing it” and the answer is “Well, everyone else is doing it”. The point is it’s an old trick of getting people to buy more. At least at Zen, we are approaching it differently. Set a minimum price for the product and let the customer decide how many they need without forcing them into specials and free goods. Many times when you see a product on special or with a free good, you can purchase it at a lower cost per unit if you ask your rep (or ask your supply rep to get manufacture rep involved) or if you are part of the buying group. Conclusion: Above are just my very subjective reasons. However, after visiting 15-25 dental practices that consistently run dental supply budget under 4%, I realized the secret is in buying only what you need! End of Story. “If you look at how to get your practice to 5% overhead on dental supplies or below, it’s not that complicated. 80% of it is managing QTYs and only 20% looking for cheaper alternatives. With a proper inventory system and good discipline, you should be at 5% even using your favorite supplier” – Dr. Benjamin Johnson, AcreWood Dental P.S. If your budget above 6% it might be budget allocation issues. You can check my interview with Jake Conway where we discuss if Implants or Ortho should be in dental supplies or Laboratory. What are your thoughts? Let’s discuss this together!
Quick Warning: most likely you will see typos and sentences that would not make any sense. Please be patient with me since I refuse to use editors (except spell check) because I don’t want to lose my voice in the filtered/edited text. As many of you know I simply can’t stand still or be in the office for too long. I have a burning desire to visit ALL of our ZenFamily (clients). Therefore the decision to spend 2 weeks in Texas was super simple. I called my friend Andy (Dr. Andy Tran) and asked if it was ok to stay with them for a few days. After hearing a positive yes we were on the road! Linda and Andy's reaction when I called to ask if we can stay with them... Homemade food, 17 hours of drive, one stop in Memphis to sleep and we are in Austin. The first Item on the Agenda Food :) Adam (Zen Sales and Onboarding) was in charge of steak, Andy and Linda Guacamole and I made my signature salad. I’m reminded again why I started Zen and who in the world would’ve thought that I will ever share the meal with friends (who happened to be clients of Zen). Next Day visit to Ikea to help Andy bring countertops. Andy is opening a startup dental practice on February 4th, 2019 and I admire his drive a lot. He has been to more conferences than anybody I know, and I’m not talking about just dental. Andy and Linda (soon to be wife) have been to all dental conferences, Tony Robbins and most likely plenty more that I’m not aware of. After we picked up countertop, we are headed to the office, Apex Dental Studio sign greats us as we are pulling into the parking lot. The brand new building, end cap, perfect location for a dental practice. From the minute we entered the space I can see all the knowledge Andy gathered from conferences, books, seminars - no side cabinets, Tip Out bins, all treatment rooms in one row, and so much more. Super proud of Andy and Linda and I can see you guys are going to achieve great results and be very successful. Humble beginnings of every Dental Startup! Ikea furniture, deliver on the roof of the car and friends are your movers :) From Monday until Friday Adam and I divided responsibilities and were visited by our clients in the area. So many stories to tell about our ZenFamily. Let's get started! Dr. Hector Tijerina took over a failing practice in Austin Texas about a year ago (we discovered during our get together that it actually is 1 year ago). Through tough times, stress and lots of changes he turned the practice around. Now happy and expecting first born dr. Tijerina is smiling and itching for the next thing (common quality among Zen users :). Dr. Hector Carlos Tijerina DDS Randolph Family Dental and Dr. Fortuna Vardeman went through lots of changes and I absolutely admire her resilience. I felt positive energy being in the office and I was happy to see Dr. Vardeman’s brother Carino helping with supplies and other things. At the end of the day dental practice is a Family Business! Dr. Fortuna Vardeman and Carino Excellent Dental Specialist: Dr. Andrew Weber, DDS, and Steve. This is one of our large ZenFamily members in San Antonio with 3 offices. Steve who is in charge of supplies doing an awesome job keeping all 3 locations on track and within budget. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Steve and Dr. Weber on this trip but I was able to show customer service the Zen way and delivered back ordered water order myself - more on this here (Watch Here) Pflugerville Family Dentistry: Dr. Chris Mun and Alaa are awesome. Alaa took over Zen and ordering for a previous person and now is full control. From Tip out Bins (another common element of most successful offices) to verifying orders Alaa is doing a great job. Dr. Chris Mun Lonestar Endodontic Associates: Dr. Raj Shenoy, Angela, and Valencia. I’m simply impressed with their dedication. This is my second visit to the office and every time I go Angela has questions, she is determined and super positive. Honestly, this makes all the difference in the word - Attitude. Super excited to see how Zen can help Lonestar get organized! Dr. Raj Shenoy, Angela, and Valencia AcreWood Dental: Dr. Benjamin Johnson, Allison, Megan, and Kylee. AcreWood Dental was our first stop on Monday and this was supposed to be a routine visit to check and see how things are going. On the first visit we met with Alison (Office manager) and she was happy to show how they “Zen”. I was blown away. They really took the concept to the next level and got extremely organized. After an hour-long meeting, I felt I needed to come back and document the process better because it really challenged how we thought supplies should be organized. More on this we will cover in the case study and video documentary - stay tuned. Allison, DR. Johnson, and Megan Wheeler Pediatric Dentistry: Dr. John Wheeler and Christiana. We had a pretty busy Wednesday and ended up cutting it really close to 5 pm when the office is closing. Through Houston traffic and famous Texas driving, we made it 4:40 only to find that we went to the other location that was closed that day. Adam called back the office and asked to wait for us :) So drove even faster to make it on time and 5:03 we were there. Dr. John Wheeler met us we had a great chat for a few minutes. Super happy to have this office as part of ZenFamily and help them organize inventory between 2 locations. Adam and Dr. Wheeler David Rossen DDS: Brian and Kevin. Kevin (who also runs a very successful dental analytics company divergentdental.com) and I have become really good friends. I always look forward to chatting with Kevin and bounce ideas. This time we didn’t take a picture, but Dental Success Summit is coming in a few weeks and we will have plenty of opportunities there :) Stop for Coffee: Jo’s Coffee located in the heart of Austin - South Congress and is a part of my favorite hotel San Jose, highly recommend to stay here when in Austin. This hotel has an incredible story and you can pick up a lot of inspiration from staying here. As I’m sipping my cortado I had to pinch myself to make sure it’s real life - I get to do what I truly love, meet people I truly admire and build a business that allows me to do all that. I would never imagine this in a million years and I’m super grateful to all ZenFamily (our users) who help us build the company we dream off every day. (Dr. Dave Maloley I thought about you and taking a moment to be grateful :) Breakaway Practice: Meeting with Dr. Scott Leune. Scott and I first met at the Voice of Dentistry 2018 and became good friends. I truly respect Scott for his bold vision and what he has built so far. I have a feeling he has a lot more to accomplish. Dr. Scott Leune Next Level Management: Dr. An Le, Aniket and Joann. Joann was our Person and Office of the Month in January and every time I’m in Dallas it’s a must for me to stop and chat. Joann always has great feedback and new challenges for us. I’m super great to have Next Level as part of ZenFamily and look forward to watching them dominate Dallas as they continue to expand (currently with 7 locations). Joann Nguyen Michael Hardcastle DDS and Andrea. When you meet them in person you will know why I always have a big smile just thinking about this couple. My friend Ashlee calls Michael “Papa bear” for a reason. Caring hug, great dinner and really deep and meaningful conversation with a glass of wine with Michael and Andrea are one of the big reasons why Dallas is special for me. Not to mention t was Michael’s birthday and I had a chance to wish him all the best together with the entire team. Really special moment and I captured most of it just need to edit the video :) Dr. Michael Hardcastle and Andrea Last stop on the trip Heartland Mirror Lake Dentistry with Dr. Jeff Slutskiy. I’m very impressed with what Jeff has accomplished in a short amount of time and I look forward to seeing what’s in the future. I really hope to be the part of their growing organization and I think Jeff can easily be This is all, but it’s not the end. We have many more clients in Texas that we couldn’t visit on this trip but we will be back. Thank you to all for being an inspiration to build Zen! More images that didn't make the cut : Adam introduced us to slow maker to prepare best steak and I made my famous salad :) AcreWood Dental Kylee AcreWood Dental Dr. Johnson Verifying all orders with Megan Sunset on Lake Travis
Finding Zen is far easier at some times than others. Waking up in the morning, before the sun has crept over the horizon, the world sitting still, a great session of meditation, a great book, or a simply piping hot cup of coffee can bring that wave of calm. When things go wrong, it is much more difficult to see past those challenges to achieve Zen. After driving down from Chicago, narrowly escaping a massive winter storm, Tiger was standing in Austin, Texas. Not only was the capital city a welcome reprieve from the winter cold, but Austin is always lively, bustling with activity. But this was a business trip. With a full agenda already on the books and things to do, there was little time for side-bars. In one instant, all of that changed. A client in San Antonio sent in a routine support request for a back-ordered product. Their Sam’s Club order for patient waters had not arrived and the store nearest to their office was out of the bottles. This meant that very soon they would be out of beverages in their cooler for their patients. Typically, this request would go to customer support and they would work with the distributor to get the issue corrected. They may even inquire from other vendors if we could get purified water there faster. This would have solved the issue in a day or two. Instead, Tiger decided that this office was getting their water TODAY. After all, they are seeing patients . Every patient deserves that same 5-star service. Tiger jumped into action! He dropped everything and headed off to Sam’s. After securing a temporary membership, it was off to the water aisle and then on to San Antonio. This was the delivery of more than water. It was the delivery of a promise. The promise to provide uncompromising levels of support and to do anything in his power to go the extra mile, or a few hundred, for our clients. That commitment, coupled with unwavering work ethic produced a result that was truly impactful. At last! Cold, refreshing water ready for use! The thirsty patients now had purified water chilling in the fridge. The team had peace of mind, knowing that they have a partner committed to their success. Zen was achieved. Want to see the 1st-hand account of Tiger’s journey? 17 Hour Drive to Deliver Water
We traveled a long way and our first stop in Texas did not disappoint! We were blown away by the systems put in place at Acre Wood Dental. They got After embracing Zen, this office dropped their supply overhead from 10% in October to 5% in December! (And they are doing it in January) Stay tuned to the blog to see more details on this and other success stories from our AMAZING Zen Family.
Budget is one of the main reasons dental practices sign up with Zen. A single place for all distributors provides a better platform to manage the budget. Therefore that's one of the questions we ask and the answer can be anywhere from 2.8-12%. To be honest, when I hear anything more than 7% I tend to think it's primarily due to wrong budget allocations. So I decided to ask my good friend Jake, who is VP of Business Intelligence at Flagship Dental Group and works along the side of Dr. Mark Costes, to help me out on this one. I asked Jake proper allocations, sample form and what targets practices need to look for. Hope you enjoy it. Tiger Savarov: You and I went on this back and forth several times, and I still keep coming back to it, I guess, until, with your help, I want to write a solid piece on my blog about budget allocations and the details of the budget allocations. So I do want to take maybe 10, 12 minutes of your time to go into this because you have so much perspective, you have so many clients coming to you. Tiger Savarov: I'm just going to fire up some questions at you and let's go into the details. Jake Conway: Sure, go ahead. Tiger Savarov: Okay. So, first of all, when people come to you before they join the DSI and mastery group, what are the percentages that you see that people spend on supplies? Jake Conway: Oh, the percentage of the supplies. So once we sift through the missed allocations and get a true percentage, I'd say it's between 6% and 8% on average before they come to us. Tiger Savarov: Okay. We will get to the missed allocations. What do you think drives that 6% to 8%? What's your gut feeling? What's the number one reason? Jake Conway: Just not knowing, just unaware of what they're spending, unaware of their ordering processes, and unaware of their inventory, so just overall general unawareness of those three, I guess, three underlying issues in the practice. Tiger Savarov: And then when you sit down with them, what's the number one thing you tell to do? When you see that high percentage, what would you say that would help them to get pretty quickly to a lower number, at least cut a percent out? Jake Conway: I would say start by looking at what a budget would be. So yeah, we can look at percentages, but what's that dollar amount look like and what are we currently spending per month? *Tiger: Take your last month collections (or as Jake suggested net production) and multiply that by 4%, that’s the dollar amount you are looking to spend per month Jake Conway: Once we find out that dollar amount, then we can start looking at how our ordering processes work to start, who's in charge, how does that work? Is anyone in charge? I guess alongside that is to get a handle on who you're ordering from. So, looking at ways you can shave two, three, five, 10, sometimes 15, 20% off of each item line and kind of start there to see how we can start shaving and kind of get a spreadsheet going or a list of the supplies you're currently ordering, who you're ordering from, and then start the negotiation game there. Tiger Savarov: Got it. So why are you doing budget off of the collections? Because I know you and I and Mark talked about this extensively. Why not productions or net productions? Why do you always go by collections? *Tiger: This is where I have my own point of view. I like to spend what’s on the bank for the last month. I see that net production is a more accurate way to plan for supplies. However, this is just my POV. In the end, we are talking about minor difference. Jake Conway: Sorry, I meant to say ... did I say collection? I meant to say net production. Tiger Savarov: Okay. Jake Conway: I mean, ordering is based on that and, of course, you have ebbs and flows in the collections. So it is based on net production just because that's what's driving the ordering. It's not collection. Tiger Savarov: So now let's look into the missed allocations. What are some missed allocations have you seen? Jake Conway: Oh man, a lot of implant material. We actually have a lab/specialty item line and that's where we allocate implant supplies. I see a lot of like BioHorizon, which is I think along the same lines. Some Ortho lab cases will go into supplies (Invisalign), and equipment as well. Equipment is a big one. If the accountants or CPAs don't know if it's a Henry-Schein order or something like that, even like a chair repair or whatever, a lot of equipment gets snuck into supplies as well, which actually should go in facility equipment. Jake Conway: So between facility equipment, lab, and supplies, there's a lot of misallocation between those three item lines. Tiger Savarov: Okay. Would it be possible if you share how you do the allocations, like a spreadsheet or a screenshot, of what you suggest? Jake Conway: Yeah, I can actually send you a ... I have a 2019 allocation cheat sheet that breaks all that down every category. Tiger Savarov: Awesome, awesome. So under supplies, you're just going to have dental supplies, and then you have a lab bill or the lab line item, and under the lab, you're going to have the implants and ortho and stuff like that, right? Jake Conway: Yes. That will fall into a lab and what we're calling this year labs/specialties. That way we can discern the difference between the two, lab and what true supplies are. Tiger Savarov: Got it. And what are you shooting between ... So what's your goal for supplies when it's properly allocated and what's your goal for the lab/specialty? Jake Conway: Good question. So ultimately, we want to get our supplies to 4.5% or lower and lab, we want to get that to 7% or lower. So between the two, it's 11.5% Tiger Savarov: Okay. Where have you seen people putting CAD/CAM? Jake Conway: Supplies. A lot of times it goes in supplies. I've seen it in office supplies as well, but that should be ... it should be facility equipment. Tiger Savarov: Well, what about the blocks? If we look at the ... like if people are buying ... Jake Conway: Oh, the blocks themselves? Tiger Savarov: Yeah. Jake Conway: Yeah. That usually goes to supplies, which should go into the lab. Tiger Savarov: So that would be lab/specialty? Jake Conway: Correct. Category Sub -Category "Overhead Goal %" Facility & Equipment Rent Facility/ Equipment Repair Equip Lease Storage Real Estate Tax Landscaping Alarms/Fire Protection Building Insurance Cable/Utilities Computer Hardware/Repairs Dental Supplies 4% General Dental Supplies Ortho Supplies Lab Fees/Specialties 7% Implant Materials Crown and Bridge Ortho (Invisilign) Specialty Supplies Tiger Savarov: Okay, got it. So I've talked to some of the offices, probably the last question. I've talked to some of the offices, right, and some of them are very successful, and you and I both know people that run at 2.8%, 2.9%. Obviously, the reallocation plays a huge role, right? Tiger Savarov: They would put separate items in the lab/specialty separate in supplies, but one of the things that I hear from some of my offices, they say, "Look, I want to put implants as part of the dental supplies because if we start doing implant cases, our collections are going to go up or the net production is going to go up. So we want to make sure that it's in one category so that the budget is there if it goes up and down based on the net production that we're doing for the implants." What's your take on that? Jake Conway: I mean, you could track that in a lab. If you have a big lab spike and overhead in general spikes, there are a few things that could come out of that. Either we're not collecting and collection percentage drops, maybe the treatment of customers is going down, whatever the case may be, but the bottom line is if, if we see a spike in the lab or overhead, then we can look at the different contributing factors to that. So I would say that's a mute point because either way, you can track that. Tiger Savarov: But technically it doesn't matter. As long as they know where they're tracking it, they can put it under supplies, right? Jake Conway: They could, but just know that that's going to obviously fluff the supply category. Speaker 1: Have you seen people, and again, we'll look at your sample. Once you share it, I'll include it in the article. Have you seen people doing these allocations within the supply category? Like they will have dental supplies, and under dental supplies, they'll have a subcategory as they would do in QuickBooks? Jake Conway: Yes, I have seen that often. In fact, so I've had actually some of the clients request in our reporting where we break out implants under lab, so we can track that stuff like implant supplies and so forth, or like Ortho sometimes we'll break out Ortho Sub Category. So I do see that, especially if it's like a big specialty office with GP/Specialty, we will just have like a blended reporting where we do break out like specific item lines out. So we can track those separately, but ultimately it does fit the bottom line of either supplies or lab when it comes to that, so, to answer it in short, yes. Tiger Savarov: Would you suggest startups or the growing private practices to start doing it from the get-go? Jake Conway: I mean it's nice to have that broken out for sure. If, your plan is to be a specialty of multi-specialty office or if you really want to push, you know, big cosmetics or whatever, you know, I would say that it might be a good, a good idea to go ahead and break those up just so you can track that as you grow with it. You know, if it's sort of built in, you can see the impact of not only production collection, but the cost associated with that. Tiger Savarov: Got It. Anything else you would add to this question? What you've seen, anything that I missed that I should've asked you? Jake Conway: I would say to make sure we're tracking on an accrual basis because sometimes that will definitely jack with the numbers month to month. So, accrual, what I mean by that is let's say you get, you know, a lab or dental supply bill, we're going to record that bill when it comes in rather than when we pay it because that's the truth, you know, the true nature and the true performance of the practice itself. Jake Conway: So when you're trying to, you know, for dentist's office, they are trying to nail down their budget. I've worked with your CPA to get accrual basis going on the expenses side and make sure that's in place so you can get a truly accurate representation of the expenses coming in. Tiger Savarov: So meaning you got the bill from your lab April 15th and even though you have been at 30 and you're gonna pay it May 15th, you need to record as the April 15th bill? Jake Conway: Absolutely. That's exactly right. Tiger Savarov: Okay. Awesome. Well, I hope this would be one of the pillars that we don't need to go back and forth on, too because I've been asking you this question probably like 55 times, and I really appreciate you finding the time for me to do it to answer these. You can contact Jake directly for a more detailed template for budget allocations and consulting on your financials - Jake Conway jake@custompracticeanalytics.com
Recently, we’ve been pounding on why having a smart inventory management system like ZenSupplies is so important for dental practices, and just how much money there is to be saved simply by having access to real-time price comparisons. And while that’s certainly all well and good, today we want to talk about the things you can do with your savings. Sure it’s great to put the money you save with us away, or pay off your building’s mortgage a little quicker, or buy that shiny new tech you’ve had your eye on for so long. But there’s a problem with those things: they aren’t going to help drive revenue for your practice. When allocating your savings, it’s absolutely critical that you invest in things that will continue to grow your practice and attract new patients. That being said, here are five things your practice can invest its savings in, if you’re not already. And if you haven’t worked with us yet, well, then consider these as ideas for the future! These days, simply having a well-made sign that says your name and “D.D.S.” next to it isn’t enough to draw in new patients. It’s the practices who have the strongest web presences and engage their patients and target audiences the most who grow. This doesn’t mean you have to hire some fancy ad agency to build you a “cross-channel marketing campaign” or even hire a marketing employee. No, it’s actually a lot more simple than that. Put shortly, social media has made marketing easy and affordable for just about everyone. Simply by having a social media web presence where you actively engage, entertain or educate your audience (2 - 3 posts a week), you’ll spread your practice’s name. And if you do it really well, you’ll even start attract some new patients. We recommend focusing on Facebook and Instagram exclusively, to start. Consider Facebook the place you promote deals and discounts, or share patient stories, or insightful articles. They key here is quality of content - only share or write things you would read yourself. Conversely, look at Instagram as the place to tell your own story, giving viewers a window into you and your staff’s personalities and daily lives (community events, sponsorships, office culture, employee highlights, etc.). But because Instagram is a platform with very little, if any self-promotion, it’s important you avoid promoting on it at all costs. This will serve as an immediate off for any potential followers. If you do want to promote your practice, or a current promotion you’re running, or perhaps your new website, do so on Facebook where it’s far more customary. You can even “boost” posts by backing them with nominal amounts of money ($1, $3, $5, etc.) to increase their reach! For beginners, My Social Practice is a great resource for free advice and tips on how to best leverage social media. And if you’re feeling extra ambitious, start a blog on your website where each week you share some powerful insider tips you feel strongly about, or an inspiring story of how you helped transform a patient’s smile! The more quality content you share, the better. Interior Remodeling No, we don't mean “remodel your whole office top to bottom through a contractor.” That would be unnecessary and expensive, and probably defeat the purpose of this post. Rather, focus on the look of your reception area and what could be better about it. Is it welcoming in its appearance? Are there comfortable places for patients to sit? Is it a room you would enjoy waiting in? If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, or you have to spend more than a few seconds thinking about it, then your reception area likely needs some updating. When you have a break in your day, or perhaps at the end of one, have someone that knows you well and has a good eye for things - it could be a friend, patient, or perhaps even someone you know with interior design experience - assess your reception area. Ask them what about it is most uninviting, outdated, or deterring. Then, replace or update these things according to your budgetary limits. Whether it’s getting a new waiting sofa at Home Goods, or installing some simple shelves to hold quirky decorations, or giving the room a new, more calming paint color, there are a litany of affordable things you can do to improve the look and feel of your reception area for patients. And if you see this as a fairly non-essential endeavor for your practice, just consider the fact that your reception area is the room where all of your new patients develop their first impressions of your office. Pretty important, if you ask us. Professional Photography We don’t want to assume, but if you’re like most practices, you likely still have a few of those anatomical diagrams of teeth or macro photos of mouths hanging up somewhere in your office. Our advice? Get rid of ALL of them. Pictures like these are huge turn-offs for new patients and are part of the reason why so many people, especially kids, fear going to the dentist. If you have any pictures remotely similar to things like this, get rid of them! Once you’ve done that, hire a professional photographer, or simply exhaust your personal network to find someone with photography skills and experience. Prior to their upcoming appointments, ask 7 - 10 of your patients if they’d be willing to have their picture taken while they’re there. You can even incentivize them with a $5 - $10 gift card for participating. Be thoughtful in which patients you select, considering ones who would be most willing and inclined to smile for these pictures. Make sure you have a few pictures taken of each patient so you’ll have something to choose from (in different rooms, from different angles, with/without you or another employee in the shot, etc.). Then, after selecting your favorites, have them developed as large prints (portrait or landscape), and hang them on your walls. Now, next time your patients walk through your office, they’ll see other smiling patients and not weird diagrams of the human mouth! Much more inviting, right? Team Dinner Attending a seminar dinner, or having a distributor you partner with wine and dine you is one thing, but taking your team out on your own dollar is entirely different. It shows that not only do you care about your practice, but you care about them individually. It doesn’t have to be at the fanciest, most expensive steakhouse in the area, but personally taking your team out to dinner can only bear positive things. Not only will they feel personally appreciated and valued as a member of your team, but it will also contribute to their motivation levels in their work. And as practicing dentist and team leader, maintaining your team’s motivation levels is critical to your practice’s success. But don’t let that be the primary reason you take your team out to dinner - do it because you care about them and want to take the time to connect outside of work. The benefits from doing this will be immediately evident in the morale and camaraderie your team gains from it. Updated Logo This is probably the least essential facet of your practice to reinvest your savings in, but it’s important nonetheless. If you’re like most practices, you probably either don’t have an official logo, or have had the same one for years. If you believe your logo has stood the test of time, and has a strong level of recognition associated with it, then disregard this portion of the post. If you don’t have a logo however, or have one and consider it outdated or visually unenticing, our advice is simple: get a new one. Hire a local graphic designer or conduct the same personal network search you did to find a photographer, and sit down with them one on one. Talk with them about your practice’s values, the sort of qualities you want to exude as a business, and exactly how you want to be perceived by prospective patients. If you’ve contracted a good graphic designer, they’ll come up with something that aligns strongly with your description and conveys what you want to your patients. Once you’ve created your new logo, do things like sharing it on your new social media pages, updating your office’s signage to match it, and maybe even coming up with a new slogan to go along with it! The key here isn’t just to look current, but to imply to your patients, both new and longstanding, that you care about how you’re perceived. Because, as unfortunate as it may be - and as you likely well know - it’s far too easy to judge a book by its cover. _________________________________________________________________________ We hope these tips for reinvesting your savings with ZenSupplies back into your practice were helpful and inspiring! We firmly believe that if you do these things, and do them well, your practice will continue to grow, and you’ll become better equipped to provide your patients with consistent quality care and a more holistically enjoyable patient experience. As always, if you have yet to work with us or don’t know much about ZenSupplies, you can give us a call at 872-225-2ZEN!
Some people might say it is crazy; we say it is a great adventure, and we like crazy. We, Tiger, Liz, and Erika, have now set sail on a burgundy colored, rented Jeep, headed south, while our Minsk-team is working to keep everything afloat. We have a seven-day trip planned (as much as planning is possible) and our Jeep is going to take us close to 5,000 miles, on a course through Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. So why are we doing this? Zen is a quickly growing company and we want to be a part of every growing aspect. We do not have a little store, where local customers come and go on a regular basis and give us daily opportunities to interact. Instead we have a web of customers stretching all over the country, but we still love the interactions. Interaction is a big part of Zen and we enjoy meeting, chatting, training, and visiting our clients, no matter if they are located in Chicago, Dallas, or Boise. Phone conversations are not bad, but nothing beats meeting a person face to face. We want to get to know our clients, see their offices, and be able to spend some time with them. We do not want to be a robot voice, a company without real people behind it, and we also do not want our clients to only be a voice and a name listed in our software. Meeting our clients for the first time is always exciting, and as we say at Zen, we always go for the hug. We have 9 stops planned on our trip and those stops are the only thing set in stone for this week; the rest will be an adventure. Will we stay at a hotel? Will we stop by Target and buy a tent? Nobody knows. It does not matter, we are simply too excited to meet our clients and see their offices, and the rest will solve itself. Other than that, our only expectations are to see a variety of different, beautiful landscapes along the way. So here we are, crossing the border between Missouri and Oklahoma, on our way to Reflections Dental Care in Oklahoma City. This will be our first stop before continuing to Dallas. From there, we will go to Houston and then up to Colorado and Vail, before reaching our final destination in Boise. We will meet clients for interviews, for training purposes, and for the joy of being able to stop by and see how they are doing in general. Being as involved in the inventory process as we are, it is natural for us to be interested in seeing dental offices and how they are dealing with their inventories. There is always something we can learn, and hopefully we can help with ideas and inspiration as well on our visits. A business is never one-sided; while we help our clients to grow, they certainly help us to grow. Our clients are our inspiration and motivation and that is why we are on this trip. We want to get to know our clients and to get faces behind the voices on the phone. O, keep an eye out for us, because the Zen Team is on a tour and we are excited to meet as many people as we can!