You have been numerous in responding to our survey on major stress points encountered in your dental practice. The aim of the survey is to identify the most common topics and provide you with tips, best practices, and reviews on how these could e handled. Each week, we will feature a series of posts related to one or more topics of those listed below.

Here are the stress points you indicated in your responses to our survey: 

Human Resources

• Difficulty recruiting efficient, reliable staff, who would easily accept the practice vision
• Conflicts arising with and between staff
• Dealing with associates, particularly in cases of multiple DDSs holding different standards of practice and different philosophies
• Lack of openness and communication
• HR management practices and best practices in general

Patient Related

• Unreasonable demands and expectations and unsatisfied patients
• The “know-it-all” and the “bully” patient
• Lack of patient’s compliance with the proposed treatment
• Anxious patients
• Negative patient’s attitude
• Blaming the dentist for shortcomings

Professional Issues

• Limited treatment options due to insurance policies
• Decline in professional ethics (sales, advertising, treating anyone and everyone that walks in the door etc.)
• Dentists doing more than what is within their scope to survive in flooded market, oversupply of dentists
• Future of the profession (advertising, how long before dentists are not taken seriously anymore)
• General deterioration of the respect for the profession (questioning diagnosis, less loyalty to the dentist, low public trust level, treating according to the insurance coverage)
• Patients shopping for dental-service bargains
• Malpractice claims: who’s protecting the dentist’s best interest?
• Paying off student debt

Practice Management

• Lack of business vs. high overhead cost
• Office renovations and choosing best/latest equipment
• Time management and multitasking
• Practice administration
• IT issues and choosing and dealing with sophisticated IT software
• Dealing with insurance companies
• Late cancellations of long-standing appointments
• Appointment cancellations (in general)
• Bureaucracy
• Staff errors in booking and scheduling
• Dealing with associates and percentages

Clinical Matters

• Post-operative sensitivity following restorative treatment
• Hairline fractures
• Treating and managing TMJ
• Procedures that do not go as well as well as planned
• Administering local anesthetics
• Performing difficult procedures
• Unpredictable treatment outcomes
• Trying to be perfect