Stay in the car to win the race

If you want to see amazing speed, precision and efficiency you should look at Youtube videos of Formula One pitstops.

Here are some examples to enjoy: Formula One pitstops.The fact that it's possible for a team to change 4 tyres in 1.92 seconds shows just how efficient humans can be. Every person has a job and sticks to it with complete focus. The results are remarkable.

Is this relevant to the dental office? I'd argue that it is, very much so.

On the race track the aim of the team is to keep the driver going around for as long as possible. Time spent in the pits is time wasted. In the dental office the aim of the team is to keep the dentist diagnosing and treating patients for as long as possible.

The dental team needs to clear away all delays and impediments.The dentist has just one job — to stay in the car. That is, just diagnose and treat and delegate everything else to the team.

In Formula One it would be completely ridiculous for the driver to jump out of the car and say "Let me help you with the tyres!" Similarly in a dental practice it should be ridiculous for a dentist to take time off from patients to pay accounts, or fill in lab sheets, or write referral letters or pour up models or make phone calls.

Yet, as I travel around practices I see dentists typically filling up 25-40% of their days doing just those things.Dentists: How much of your day is spent "out of the car" doing work that should be given to the team?