Obstacle #2: There Are No Systems

Based on their analysis, I expected to find a hygiene team that was not performing a complete perio exam on every patient and was not aware of each patient's condition. Very quickly, I realized this was not the case.
 
This team was doing a fabulous job with calling out the perio numbers and recording each number on the chart along with bleeding points, recession and furcation. They had a threshold for the number of bleeding points before they recommended some form of periodontal therapy. But that's where they hit their biggest obstacle. There was no system.
 
Although it seems intuitive to some of us, it is critical to have a clear system for:

• Distinguishing health vs. disease
• When to place patients into gingivitis and/or perio disease treatment
• How to present this treatment
• Clear fees and coding for perio therapy
• When and how to follow up on therapy
• What adjunctive products/services to use
• How to keep those patients in periodontal maintenance

This is especially true when there are multiple doctors and hygienists in the practice. Everyone must be on the same page and using the same system. What happens when we're confused is we do nothing, we shut down. This is true for patients as well. When patients are confident and clear on both the problem and the solution, they say yes!
 
The great news is that when we put a system in place for taking periodontal patients into active therapy and maintenance, this team sky rocketed! They already had a strong foundation in place. They didn't have to start from scratch.
 
Here are a few signs that this is one of your obstacles:

• Low perio percentage despite thorough periodontal exams
• Acceptance of perio treatment is low
• Not starting treatment until the disease has progressed to a moderate/advanced stage
• Most of your perio patients are being referred immediately to the periodontist

If this sounds familiar, sit down with your team and talk about it.