Like most healthcare providers, your reasoning for going into dentistry was most likely to help people. Like the dentists and dental hygienists on your team, you want to make a positive change in people’s lives and health. This is a heartfelt, intense goal shared by most of those who go into the dental industry.
Unfortunately, you can’t keep helping people if your business can’t pay to keep the lights on.
A good business sense is important for any type of business, no matter what its purpose is geared toward. In fact, practicing good business hygiene is especially important for dental practices: dentistry is considered to have the highest overhead, including employee compensation, rent or mortgage, supplies, equipment, phone bills, internet, and utilities. The cost of running a dental business is higher than in any other medical field. The current atmosphere has done nothing to help this. Beginning in 2021, labor costs sharply rose, and the ongoing 2022 recession has increased costs exponentially as well.
Wondering what exactly is included in the long list of dental expenses? Well, it will most certainly include things such as:
- Rent
- Wages
- Lab fees
- Technology
- Insurance costs
- Dental supplies
- Marketing
- Repairs
- & much more
Dentists and dental hygienists alike go into healthcare because they want to make people’s lives happier and healthier. They want to fix problems for their patients and see the results firsthand of how they have improved people’s lives. They seldom want to become businessmen and businesswomen as well. However, it’s important to not neglect the business side of dentistry as well – or else your practice, your patient satisfaction, and your overall career success will suffer as a result.
