Episode #411: Overcoming the Obstacles to Comprehensive Dentistry, with Dr. Bill Robbins

 Your patients deserve comprehensive dentistry. So, what's stopping you from providing it? Today, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Bill Robbins, one of the creators of the Global Diagnosis system, to help you overcome some of the obstacles to comprehensive dentistry. One of the hardest parts is forming your vision, and Dr. Robbins has a list of advice to help you get started. If you're committed to providing the best care for your patients, listen to Episode 411 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

• Have a vision of where you want to go.
• Attend study clubs to form that vision.
• Find a mentor to help shape your vision.
• Hire a consultant early in your career.
• Prioritize developing your leadership skills.
• Create a team based on your practice.
• Develop the skillset you need with CE.

Quotes:

• “My “why” is because [comprehensive dentistry] is what patients deserve. I believe that when a new patient comes to me, they're coming to me for two things: they're coming for my expertise, and they're coming for a treatment plan. And I'm going to give them both of those things. And sometimes, they don't need anything but two sealants and bleaching, and I will have spent a fair amount of time doing a comprehensive exam on them. But there's value in that.” (6:03—6:32)
• “I consider a comprehensive exam not only to be the right thing to do, but to be a wonderful marketing tool. I've never spent any money on marketing. That's just not been my way. I mean, we've got a website, so that's not true. We do spend money on a website. But other than that, my marketing has always been through word-of-mouth, essentially. And so, I see the comprehensive exam as both what a patient deserves and as a way to get more patients to come in.” (6:47—7:15)
• “If a dentist doesn't do a comprehensive exam, then the dentist cannot do comprehensive dentistry.” (9:23—9:29)
• “The downside [of a comprehensive exam] is that I waste some time. If you consider time that I could've been doing single-tooth dentistry, I'm wasting it talking to a patient who just needs single-tooth dentistry. I get that. And so, I think there are certainly variations on the theme. It doesn't have to be, every patient gets a comprehensive exam. But every patient that’s going to get comprehensive dentistry has to have a comprehensive exam. I do know that for sure.’ (10:59—11:23)
• “I think the hardest part of this whole thing, the absolute hardest part of moving your practice into doing comprehensive dentistry and comprehensive exams is getting a vision of doing it. Because once you get a vision, then you have something that’s out there and all you have to do is figure out the steps to get there. But it’s the belief that that's where you want to be. The problem is that once you get it — you, meaning the dentist — you have to share it with those around you. Because if your family at the office isn't on board, then it ain't going to work out.” (12:57—13:36)
• “I think it’s really important to have an older dentist, a mentor, that you admire and who you would like to emulate in terms of practice philosophy, but also personal life and all the other important things, and approach them.” (18:01—18:16)
• “Make leadership [your] primary focus ahead of dentistry. Because if they don't see you as a leader in the office, both when you know they're watching you — when they're with you and you're not paying attention to them, they're watching you for sure. And how you manage patients, and how you manage staff problems, and how you manage all of the crap that comes into our lives, that's the most important thing around a dental practice. So, I really think leadership and relationship-based leadership is one of the major keys.” (34:00—34:38)
• “Leaders are created. They create themselves; they're not born. And it takes work to become a leader.” (35:00—35:06)
• “The hardest part is getting a vision. That's the most important and the hardest part. The second hardest part is creating a team. And depending on what type of dentistry you do, it’s going to influence who your team is.” (42:28—42:43)
• “My [interdisciplinary] team is based on the nature of my practice. And that's what everybody’s team is going to be. The more a dentist does on their own, the less they need these other team members. But I think it’s folly to believe that a general dentist can literally do everything. It’s too complicated and there's too much to do today. It’s very, very unusual to have the skillset to do it all. And even if they do it all, dental wise, they can't do it all from a medical perspective. So, creating the team, and communicating with the team, and having a way of communicating with the team, I think, is a real difficulty in doing interdisciplinary dentistry.” (44:17—45:00)
• “[A young dentist] may have reticence to apply [for AGD or GPR programs] because they weren't high in their class. Let's say they're in the bottom third of their class and they go, ‘God, I could never get in.’ Let me tell you, if you've been in private practice for a number of years and you say, ‘I want to come back and do a program,’ you move really high up on my list regardless of what your grades were in dental school, because I see a commitment there that may not be in that young dentist that's number-one in his class. But he doesn't know any different, so he’s just going to go do a program. If you've been out for three or four years and you come back to do a program, I've got a great deal of respect for that.” (54:17—54:51)

Snippets:

• 0:00 Introduction.
• 1:39 Dr. Robbins’s background.
• 3:43 Why this is an important topic.
• 7:18 Downsides to doing comprehensive exams.
• 11:31 Now is the most exciting time to be a dentist.
• 12:48 Have a vision of where you want to go.
• 13:58 Where to get the vision.
• 17:14 How to find a mentor.
• 20:15 The systematic approach to comprehensive dentistry.
• 24:26 Not loving Mondays.
• 26:56 Global diagnosis synopsis.
• 28:44 Dr. Robbins’s treatment planning.
• 31:09 Never make patients wait.
• 32:43 Make leadership and relationships your primary focus.
• 37:16 Treatment plan presentation.
• 39:45 Tips on presentation.
• 42:20 Create your interdisciplinary team.
• 45:01 Ortho will change how you do comprehensive dentistry.
• 47:35 Ortho support when practicing in a small town.
• 52:50 Where to gain the skillsets you want.
• 56:19 Learn more about Global Diagnosis Education.

Reach Out to Dr. Robbins:

Dr. Robbins’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.robbins.79656

Dr. Robbins’s social media: @billrobbins91

Resources:

The American Academy of Restorative Dentistry: https://www.restorative-academy.com/

The Academy of Operative Dentistry: https://academyofoperativedentistry.com/

The American Equilibration Society: https://aes.clubexpress.com/

The Crown and Bridge Society: https://www.tcbsc.net/

The Pankey Institute: https://www.pankey.org/

The Dawson Academy: https://thedawsonacademy.com/

Spear Education: https://www.speareducation.com/

The Kois Center: https://www.koiscenter.com/

Seattle Study Club: https://seattlestudyclub.com/

The Norris Experience course by Dr. Tito Norris: https://www.dynaflex.com/the-norris-experience/

Global Diagnosis Education by Dr. Bill Robbins and Dr. Jim Otten: https://www.robbinsdds.com/#about

Dr. Bill Robbins Bio:

Dr. J. William Robbins, D.D.S., M.A., maintains a full-time private practice and is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School. He graduated from the University of Tennessee Dental School in 1973. He completed a rotating internship at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas, and a two-year General Practice Residency at the V.A. Hospital in San Diego, California.

Dr. Robbins has published over 80 articles, abstracts, and chapters on a wide range of dental subjects and has lectured in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He co-authored a textbook, Fundamentals of Operative Dentistry – A Contemporary Approach, which is published by Quintessence, and is in its 4th edition. He recently co-authored a new textbook, Global Diagnosis – A New Vision of Dental Diagnosis and Treatment Planning, which is also published by Quintessence.

He has won several awards, including the Presidential Teaching Award at the University of Texas Health Science Center, the 2002 Texas Dentist of the Year Award, the 2003 Honorary Thaddeus V. Weclew Fellowship Award from the Academy of General Dentistry, the 2010 Saul Schluger Award given by the Seattle Study Club, the Southwest Academy of Restorative Dentistry 2015 President’s Award, and the 2016 Academy of Operative Dentistry Award of Excellence. He is a diplomat of the American Board of General Dentistry. He is past president of the American Board of General Dentistry, the Academy of Operative Dentistry, the Southwest Academy of Restorative Dentistry, and the American Academy of Restorative Dentistry.