Good Oral Care Is Good for Business

Regular oral health care is essential for pets, given how many of them develop periodontal disease early in life. The Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine reported studies showing that 80% to 90% of dogs over age 3 and 50% to 90% of cats over age 4 have periodontal disease. Those percentages represent a huge problem for pets and their owners and a significant opportunity for veterinary practices.

“Industry data shows that dentistry generally accounts for under 10% of gross revenue but could be as high as 25% if planned and implemented concisely,” said Kelly Burich, the principal at Sitch Consulting.

If so many patients have dental disease, yet only 10% of the average practice’s gross revenue comes from oral health services, hospital owners have an excellent chance to grow the business and secure its financial health.

Thinking about veterinary work as a “business” that “sells” knowledge and goods can be uncomfortable in a field rooted in healing. However, patient care is always the top priority, and veterinary teams must be paid fairly. Generating revenue is what keeps everybody employed.

Why Is Veterinary Dentistry Good for Business?

I have five answers to that question.

• If the percentage of pets with periodontal disease is as high as the studies show, veterinary professionals are obligated to help those animals. Emphasizing preventive oral care is an obvious way for veterinarians to fulfill their oath to prevent and relieve animal suffering. The satisfaction of seeing some patients get almost immediate relief is something to be proud of.
• As the sale of vaccines and medications becomes increasingly competitive, dentistry procedures are a potentially sizable income source. Just as important, the services cannot be sourced on the internet and must be performed in the veterinary practice. “In the practice” is where you want your patients so that you can earn their owners’ trust, build relationships and work together to achieve the pets’ best possible health.
• Pets that live longer are patients longer. Enough said, yes?
• All client interactions help you improve the bond. The stronger the bond, the better the retention. Client retention is always a positive and indicates that pet owners trust your practice.
• A strong oral health program extends beyond the procedures. It also promotes long-term growth in ancillary revenue from services and products.

Making Dentistry Work for the Practice

So, where do you start on the journey of growing dentistry in your hospital? “The first step is to look at your numbers,” Burich said. “What percentage of revenue comes from dentistry? How does your data compare to industry benchmarks? How much would you like that percentage to grow, and on what timeline?”

Remember that while industry benchmarks are helpful, comparing your numbers over time is the best way to see how your practice is performing.

After you conduct an internal review, Burich said, “Develop a strategy and then train, implement and measure. Use SMART goals to stay organized.”

The five elements of a SMART goal are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

In addition, here are six other critical points.

1. Obtain Team Buy-In

The most important part of growing oral health services in your practice is gaining the commitment of every veterinary team member. Without that assurance, they won’t confidently show clients why a recommendation is essential in supporting and maintaining a patient’s good health. To secure buy-in from the entire team, veterinarians must feel confident in their recommendations. The support team will follow the doctors’ lead.

2. Prioritize Staff Training

All support team members must learn why good oral hygiene is so important. Give each employee the time for professional development. Some team members, such as veterinarians, need continuing education in medical topics. For everyone, training in client communication is vital. Teams should understand how to deliver information in ways that help clients feel knowledgeable and empowered to make informed decisions with a veterinary team they trust.

“Connect the team’s efforts with the outcomes and the rewards,” Burich said, and celebrate the achievements.

3. Enhance Client Education

In the absence of knowledge, clients base many of their decisions on price. Helping pet owners understand the complexity of a dental procedure, its value and the benefits to a patient’s health goes a long way in securing their buy-in. Remember that your clients are not veterinary professionals. Many of them know only that they drop off and pick up a pet, pay a lot of money, and see teeth with less tartar (or maybe a space where a tooth was).

4. Change How You Think About It

Promote a practice culture that celebrates good dental health in early cases and relieves pain in more advanced cases.

5. Change How You Talk About It

This one is massive. Veterinary teams commonly use the term “dental,” but what does that word mean to a client? “Mrs. Jones, Fluffy needs a dental.” Huh? Likewise, COHAT is a meaningless acronym to pet owners, and telling

Mrs. Jones that Fluffy needs a “comprehensive oral health assessment and treatment” is cumbersome.

I prefer to say “oral health procedure” because it covers routine dental prophylaxis and advanced oral surgery. Most clients understand “oral health” and “procedure.” After all, the procedure can mean preanesthetic lab work, anesthesia, radiographs, teeth cleaning, extractions or periodontal flap surgery. You also will have an easier time saying, “Mrs. Jones, Fluffy needs an oral health procedure, which means ….” Regardless of the terminology you use, avoid acronyms like COHAT and OHP because they are pointless slang to clients.

6. Promote It

Good oral health is critical every day of the year. Designating February as National Pet Dental Health Month is a wonderful tactic for spreading awareness of the topic’s importance. It gives the practice a theme to support marketing and client education. Oral health care is relevant all year, so while February is a great time to emphasize pet dentistry, publicize the topic every month.

Client Buy-In

How can you incentivize pet owners to proceed with your recommendations? A layered approach to client education is best. For example:

• Teach oral health care passively over time with your marketing campaigns.
• Educate pet owners about it during exams and through your recommendations.
• Send clients home with educational handouts reiterating what they heard during the exam.
• Make follow-up calls to answer questions and encourage clients to schedule a dental procedure so Fluffy stays healthy or receives pain relief. (Sometimes, you might offer a price incentive, like $100 off if you perform the work within 30 days.)

Finally, a prophy or surgery must be followed by a plan to keep the patient’s teeth and mouth in good condition. Have the pet return a few weeks after the procedures for an oral health follow-up. That visit is a great time to review maintenance options, such as brushing, water additives, diet changes and pet chews. If you bring pet owners back into the practice, they hopefully will leave with products you stock.

Now that you have identified the massive opportunity to improve patient health and your practice’s financial well-being, the final step is to track your accomplishments. Compute the change in dental revenue from one period to the next, the number of procedures performed compared with how many you recommended and how much engagement your marketing efforts generated. The final measure is your team’s dedication and everyone’s excitement in seeing vast improvements in your patients’ oral health.

LEARN MORE

Visit go.navc.com/4dI1MyV for VetFolio’s catalog of RACE-approved continuing education sessions. Topics include “Elevating Your Patients’ Oral Health,” “The Use of Antibiotics in Veterinary Dentistry” and “Surgical Tooth Extractions In Cats.”

DID YOU KNOW?

According to a position statement posted at bit.ly/3M9j7oK, “The American Veterinary Dental College firmly advocates taking full-mouth intraoral dental radiographs, or analogous full-mouth imaging such as cone beam computed tomography scan, during dental procedures.”