Economic Changes at the Dental Practice

In this survey, three of four dentists (74%) said they have made changes as a result of the slow economy.

Half (48%) said they’re reducing office expenses, 30% are instituting layoffs or staff reductions, and 13% are reducing employee compensation.

In terms of  dental marketing, 30% have increased their spending, while 9% have reduced marketing costs.

Here are some of their comments:

• “In rural areas, the downturn is not affecting us as much. We don’t see the big ‘ups,’ but also don’t see the big ‘downs.’” (General dentist)
• “People are reluctant to spend.” (New Jersey dentist)
• “We are relying upon the internet for more of our new patients, especially Yelp.com.”
• “Fewer chairside hours.” (California dentist)
• “We did not lay off team members, but we chose to work with a smaller team and did not replace some team when attrition occurred. Team has 6, including 1 dentist.” (Canada dentist)
• “We added staff.” (Georgia dentist)
• “We have added new procedures.” (Texas orthodontist)
• “We negotiated and joined a couple of dental insurance plans. We negotiated a very good fee schedule and are getting more new patients, too!” (Ohio prosthodontist)

Read more: Recession Economy Affects Dentists, Dental Practices