By: Candy Velez, CRDH, BSDH, IgniteDDS Dental Hygiene Coach
Miss part 1? Read it here, “Would Your Hygienist Recruit for You?“
We hear certain phrases so often in dentistry that we eventually stop questioning them. “That’s just dentistry.”
The schedule is chaotic. Everyone is stretched. Things fall through the cracks. So, we adapt. We work faster, create workarounds, and ask everyone to give a little more.
Dental teams are remarkably good at making things work. That may also be part of the problem.
When talented people compensate for a broken or missing process long enough, the workaround starts to look like the system. And instead of questioning it, we say:
“That’s just dentistry.”
But is it?
We Evaluate the Practice. Do We Evaluate the System?
Dental practices are constantly evaluated. Practices look at production, expenses, scheduling, technology, and patient care. They ask what’s working, what isn’t, and where there is opportunity for improvement.
But how often do practices turn that same lens of evaluation toward the systems behind the work?
Sometimes a system was intentionally designed. Sometimes it evolved over time. And sometimes there really isn’t a system at all, just talented people who have become incredibly good at making things work.
Think about a smartphone. If an important function stopped working, we could possibly find a workaround.
But we wouldn’t call the workaround efficiency. We’d eventually fix the system.
This same thinking belongs in our dental practices. And this is where an important distinction gets lost:
A system can function without actually working.
Patients are still seen. The schedule is still filled. Production still happens. From the outside, the system appears to be doing exactly what it was designed to do. But look closer.
Is the system creating that result, or are talented people continually compensating for what the system is missing? Because those are two very different things.
For a practical look at challenging this mindset, read why “this is just how it is” shouldn’t prevent dental practices from improving.
When a system only works because people continually work around it, the people are no longer supported by the system. They are supporting the system.
And that carries a cost. One that may never appear as a line item on the P&L.
What Is the Missing Piece Already Costing?
Consider a practice where everyone is already at capacity. Treatment is being diagnosed, but follow-up is inconsistent. The doctor wants a more productive schedule, but no one has the time to move treatment forward strategically.
Everyone helps when they can. But no one owns that lane. This is an ownership gap: an important function exists, but no one has the time, capacity, or clear responsibility to own the outcome.
The workaround is familiar: spread the responsibility across the team and ask everyone to fit it in. The system still functions.
But is it working?
Then someone suggests adding a treatment coordinator. The response is immediate:
“We can’t afford another person.”
We know exactly what another salary will cost. But do we know what the ownership gap is already costing us, or what closing it could create?
Imagine a treatment coordinator helps just one additional $5,000 case move from “I’ll think about it” to scheduled treatment each week. That’s potentially $20,000 in additional treatment scheduled in a month. And the value doesn’t stop with the dollars.
Closing that gap gives the doctor, assistant, and front team more capacity to focus on the work they are actually there to do.
Clear ownership and responsibility are important parts of effective delegation in a dental practice.
The right resource doesn’t just fill a role. It can make the entire system function better.
Suddenly, we’re not simply evaluating the cost of another employee. We’re evaluating the value of closing a gap in the system. The question changes from:
“Can we afford another person?”
to:
“What is it costing us to leave this function unowned?”
Sometimes efficiency isn’t getting more out of the resources we already have. It’s recognizing what the system is missing.
The Workforce Shortage Changes the Question
Now apply that same thinking to hygiene. Hygienists are difficult to find. That is a real constraint. But when a practice needs more hygiene capacity than its current team can provide, we have a capacity mismatch.
The common workaround? Ask the hygienists we already have to do more.
But stretching a limited resource doesn’t solve the mismatch. It simply puts more pressure on the people already at capacity.
So instead of asking, “How can our hygienists do more?” Ask: “How much of a hygienist’s day actually requires a hygienist?”
Ask: Can delegation, technology, and automation create capacity while letting hygienists focus on the work that requires their expertise?
For another perspective on improving productivity without simply packing more into the day, explore how a more productive dental schedule can work with fewer patients.
That isn’t about getting more out of fewer people.
It’s about creating a system that allows the people we have to function at their highest capacity.
Look at the System We’re Inviting People Into
There is another side to the workforce shortage worth considering: the workforce itself is changing.
The next generation has grown up watching technology continually remove unnecessary friction from everyday life. So, when something is inefficient, they instinctively question it.
Then they enter the workplace and hear the response: “That’s just how we do it.”
It’s easy to interpret that questioning as resistance to hard work. But what if they see friction we’ve become accustomed to tolerating? That may be an opportunity.
A fresh set of eyes can reveal the workarounds that have become so normal we no longer recognize them as workarounds. Because solving a workforce shortage isn’t only about attracting more people into dentistry.
Building a stronger team culture means creating an environment where people can contribute ideas and help improve how the practice operates. Learn more about building a strong culture with your dental team.
We need to build systems that remove unnecessary friction, create capacity, and make it easier for people to do their best work.
“That’s Just Dentistry” Should Start the Conversation
The workforce shortage is forcing dentistry to confront something bigger:
We cannot indefinitely solve capacity problems by extracting more capacity from the people we already have.
At some point, the system has to evolve. The answer will look different in every practice. But the question is the same:
Where are talented people compensating for something our system is missing?
- An ownership gap?
- A capacity mismatch?
- A process that made sense years ago but no longer serves the practice today?
Once we can identify what isn’t working, we can stop treating the workaround as the solution. A functioning practice isn’t necessarily proof of a functioning system.
Sometimes it is simply proof that good people have become exceptionally good at working around one. We already evaluate our practices because we understand that dentistry changes. It’s time to give our systems that same attention.
For ideas on making everyday processes more consistent, see these daily dental practice routines for success.
So the next time someone says: “That’s just dentistry,” don’t let that end the conversation. Let it start one.
Because “that’s just dentistry” doesn’t mean that’s how dentistry has to be.
And we don’t have to keep getting better at working within systems that aren’t working for us. We can choose to create something better.
