By: Dr. Anthony Bolamperti, DDS
This topic originally appeared on ConvergentDental.com. Dr. Bolamperit granted permission for igniteDDS to share with our readers.
Every doctor who invests in a Solea dental laser has a transformation. Every transformation may be a little different, but they all have common threads that tie us together. My transformation began earlier than most.
My Solea Dental Laser Transformation
Eighteen years ago, I decided I wanted to be a laser dentist, starting with a little tabletop soft tissue diode laser. It was a fiber tip so it was charring tissue, but for $6,000-7,000, I felt it was doing what I needed.
Then I invested in a DEKA laser, which is a 10.6 micron CO2 laser that strictly cuts soft tissue. I was blown away by how clean and precise it was, but I still needed something for hard tissue.
That’s when I entered the erbium world, which just left me more frustrated than happy. It simply did not cut well enough or fast enough to make it worth using for hard tissue, so I pushed it aside and resorted to numbing my patients and using the high-speed handpiece.
Then I saw Solea at the Academy of Laser Dentistry annual meeting. I was super impressed with how clean, precise, and accurate it was in cutting hard tissue, but I still felt burnt from my erbium investment.
I was very intrigued and interested in investing in Solea, but it took almost a year for me to pull the trigger. Finally, Solea was wheeled into my office and I was ready. That was four years ago, and as a single practitioner, I utilize both my Model 2 and Model 3 Solea all day, every day.
My success with Solea actually starts with soft tissue. Even though I had my erbium laser, I was still limited to certain procedures. Solea opened the door to a countless number of soft tissue surgeries that I would never have thought about. Infant frenectomies are a prime example. I never would have worked on a newborn until Solea.
I’m doing gingivectomies, extending teeth to make them look longer in the anterior maxillary quadrant, and removing fibromas. Not to mention that 93% of all these procedures are done with no shot and no anesthesia. Hard tissue procedures became just as easy and predictable.
I now have other general dentists referring soft tissue procedures to me instead of sending them to a periodontist. When you take blood out of the equation, you can see what you’re doing. Patients can leave your office with no gauze, no sutures and they’re so happy about that they tell their friends.
Next is patient flow. My patients get an incredible experience, whether it’s not needing anesthesia; saving a tooth instead of pulling it; keeping that patient in my office and not having to refer out; or doing an infant frenectomy on a two-day old. That patient experience has become my advertising.
My patients quickly started telling their family and colleagues about their appointments, leading to more and more new patients. With that increased patient flow, I increased my efficiency. I had better clinical outcomes because the predictability and the reliability is a hundred percent there with this technology. And those outcomes further fueled new patient referrals.
In my first year with Solea, I had a 300% new patient flow increase, with $0 spent on marketing. My monthly revenue continued to increase, allowing me to drop about four or five PPOs in the last four years to become fee-for-service. I can practice dentistry the way that I know my patients deserve and get paid for it.
After seven months of using Solea, I re-branded my practice from “Optimal Health Dental” to “Omaha Laser Dentistry.” Word had gotten out, and I reached my goal. I’m now known as the laser doc in my community.
And this year I added Solea Sleep, another excellent application Solea offers that boosts patient experience and production in my practice. By just starting the snoring conversation, I’ve uncovered so many patients and partners that I can help get a better night’s sleep. We are changing lives once again.
My Solea dental laser transformation wasn’t something minor. I like to say that a lot of it had to do with my skills and my knowledge, but when you have something like Solea that makes you stand out, that you really enjoy and have passion for, it really propels your practice forward.
So, while the Solea transformation is something unique to each clinician, it will always involve adding new procedures, increased new patient flow and efficiency, and better clinical outcomes.
