It's the mix that matters

Have you ever wondered why some dentists are so much more financially productive than others. Here's the answer.As dentists we perform a whole range of different services.On some services we lose money, on some we break even or make a little money and on some we make a very decent profit.Successful practitioners spend more of their day doing profitable services and less of their day losing money or breaking even. It's that simple. Let's see how that works.Most single dentist practices have overheads of about $300 per hour.During school holidays, when the schedule is jam packed with kids, a dentist struggles to cover overheads. If you see a child every 12 minutes for the entire day at $60 per check-up then you have worked a whole day and made zero profit.On a normal day, doing fillings, you might gross $3,000 which leaves a small profit but doesn't amortise the capital investment in your practice, fund your retirement or cover your end-of-year holidays.But, If you do two or three crowns per day, suddenly your gross rises to $5,000 or more. This covers all costs with enough left over to cover all the necessary extras."How do I change the mix of services?" is the question.More on that in future blog posts.