How a dental answering service helps your dental practice grow

As a dental professional, you understand the importance of providing exceptional customer service to your patients. However, as your practice grows, handling everything in-house can be overwhelming – from incoming calls and appointment scheduling to follow-ups and emergency calls. That’s where a dental answering service comes in. 

A dental answering service can improve patient satisfaction and operational efficiency, allowing you to focus on providing quality dental care. Let’s explore how your growing dental practice can benefit from one.

Building trust with responsive and caring communication.

Dental practices are often faced with the difficulty of maintaining a high level of patient communication during their growth. As the number of patients increases, so does the volume of calls, inquiries, and appointment requests.

Staff already stretched with in-house patient care can struggle to keep on top of these communications. As a result, patients may experience delayed responses or feel neglected and frustrated at the service.

A dental answering service handles your calls so every patient receives a prompt response and no one goes to voicemail. 

Dental anxiety.

It’s a universal truth: nobody likes going to the dentist. And while it’s common for some pre-appointment apprehension, managing patient concerns can be time-consuming. If a patient can’t reach your staff about fears of an upcoming appointment, there’s a risk they may not show up for the appointment. In fact, ‘dental anxiety or fear’ was one of the top five reasons patients missed a dental appointment. 

A friendly and reassuring voice on the phone can make all the difference to the patient experience through your growth phase. A dental answering service is always available, empathetic, and efficient in handling queries and concerns. 

New patient intake.

New patients don’t always know what service they need and will look to your staff for initial advice. However, if they’re constantly met with a busy tone, they’re likely to move on. 

Every missed phone call could be a missed opportunity for your practice. 

A dental answering service can alleviate this challenge by efficiently handling new patient intake. With your customized script, HIPAA-compliant virtual receptionists can gather key patient information, eliminating the need for your internal staff to qualify each phone call.

Improved patient satisfaction.

One of the primary benefits of using a dental answering service is the impact on patient satisfaction and communication. Patients expect easy access to their dental practice, yet dental organizations are missing an average of 26% of inbound calls. 

As your practice grows, you’ll likely experience an influx of calls and appointments. While difficult, it’s crucial that you manage this surge effectively. After all, each interaction holds the potential for patient acquisition, retention, and referral. 

A dental answering service can support your growing practice during business hours, after hours, or 24/7. The more accessible you seem to your patients, the more likely they are to be satisfied with their experience.

Efficient appointment support.

As you hire more dentists or extend your services, managing the number of patients and different appointment types can be challenging. Common issues that arise include:

• missed appointments, 
• scheduling conflicts,
• double-booking, and
• inefficient use of resources

If these problems occur regularly, it can affect the practice’s operational efficiency and ability to grow. With the help of a 24/7 dental answering service, dental practices can handle rescheduling, reduce no-shows through automated reminders, and effectively manage cancellations. 

Self-schedule.

Medical appointment scheduling means your patients can also schedule, reschedule, and cancel their appointments without speaking to a staff member. They can access your practice’s schedule and find open slots that work for them, reducing wait times. 

Providing patients with a convenient way to schedule appointments also reduces the workload on your staff. This level of efficient appointment management supports your practice growth so you can expand without compromising the quality of patient care.

Cost reduction and increased profitability.

It’s the age-old problem: You want to expand your dental practice. But that expansion can be costly, especially when it comes to staffing and administrative management. You need more staff to handle increased call volumes, appointment scheduling, and new patient intake, which can strain your practice’s finances. 

Outsourcing these tasks to a dental answering service can help you save on staffing expenses and training costs.

A dental answering service can handle calls after hours, reducing the costs of running your office during non-operational hours. By providing 24/7 support, you can ensure your practice is accessible to patients. That improved accessibility can lead to increased profits and patient retention.

Plus, practices can minimize lost revenue from missed appointments with efficient appointment management.

Key takeaways.

• Dental answering services answer calls and handle appointments on behalf of your dental practice.
• These services can help reduce dental anxiety and no-shows while increasing new client intake.
• Dental answering services can also improve patient satisfaction, leading to better overall ratings and a stronger reputation.
• With secure appointment scheduling, dental answering services can help you manage your appointments and reduce cancellations.
• Finally, they can increase profitability and reduce overheads by helping you avoid costly in-house hires.

A dental answering service is more than just a solution for handling calls and appointments. It’s a strategic partner that can contribute to the growth and success of your dental practice. 

Enhance your practice’s reputation and success with the support of a dedicated dental answering service today.