1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,440 All right, listeners. 2 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,320 Please jump right into the Health Lifelines podcast. 3 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:38,440 Today we're going to be talking to Dr. Brian McKay. 4 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:47,840 This doctor has taught me more than anyone in dentistry over the last 40-plus years about 5 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,160 what's important about relationships and the culture of a practice. 6 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:59,320 I walked into his practice after quitting my job because I was burned out and I couldn't 7 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:00,560 take it anymore. 8 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:08,120 So I'm excited to have you hear from him how he has dealt with the age-old problem that 9 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,440 exists between hygienists and dentists. 10 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:17,080 The dentists are looking at how to make their hygiene department profitable and the hygienists 11 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,680 want to be paid more because they're doing all the hard work. 12 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:23,280 So let's jump right in. 13 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:24,960 So welcome, Dr. McKay. 14 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:27,520 It's nice to be here. 15 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,520 Thank you for joining us. 16 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:37,600 So I'm sure you're well aware of this conflict that's going on between hygienists and dentists, 17 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,480 particularly. 18 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,560 So I'd like to talk about that today. 19 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:52,320 And I know you have some very distinct beliefs about how you run your business because your 20 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,440 practice is a business. 21 00:01:54,440 --> 00:02:03,920 So I'd like to know what kind of action you took to make that hygiene pay profit equation 22 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:12,440 work to be a win-win for the practice and for me as your hygienist and for the patient. 23 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,880 The patient always gets left out of this, don't they? 24 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:22,880 Well, I think that's a key point is that we forget that we work for the patient. 25 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:28,280 We don't work for the insurance company and we don't work for, you don't work for me. 26 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:34,040 We work together and hopefully for the benefit of our patient. 27 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,360 And if we can't benefit our patient, what the heck are we doing here? 28 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:46,960 And so it's all about aligning our belief system as to who we're going to be for our 29 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:54,160 patient rather than what we're going to do to or for our patient. 30 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:55,160 Exactly. 31 00:02:55,160 --> 00:03:04,520 I mean, the whole concept of the term patient is antiquated and the definition of patient 32 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:09,880 is someone that can do nothing to help themselves. 33 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:11,320 This is really old thinking. 34 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:20,640 We need to recruit our patient to be a resource in their wellness and allow us to help them 35 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,160 achieve their wellness goals. 36 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,960 So they're not helpless. 37 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:27,760 They're critical to be involved. 38 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,240 I mean, people don't need cures for problems. 39 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,920 They don't think they have. 40 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:39,320 And so you can take a look in somebody's mouth and see all kinds of things and until 41 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:43,800 you can get them to understand that this is their mouth that we're working with and that 42 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:49,440 we have their interest in mind and we just want to know what they want, which is kind 43 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,200 of the key to the whole kingdom right there. 44 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:58,520 The four most important words that you could ever ask your patients is, what do you want? 45 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,000 Yes, that's for sure. 46 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,320 And then shut up, let them answer. 47 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:17,360 So does that wants dentistry kind of encompassed the culture of your practice and what we did? 48 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,360 Wouldn't you say? 49 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:21,360 Well, yes. 50 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:29,640 I mean, we dedicated ourselves to our patients and everything we could do to help our patient 51 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:36,600 achieve their goals, which of course we didn't know until we asked them what they wanted. 52 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:42,520 It was the key to the whole, to all the success we had over the many years because we couldn't 53 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:50,040 rely on the canard of hooking up to a insurance company or signing up for an insurance plan. 54 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:51,480 Are you on my list? 55 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:57,520 Well, for the last 27 years of my practice, I was not anybody's list. 56 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,560 I used to go say, how the heck did you find me? 57 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:02,640 Because I know I wasn't on your list. 58 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:08,680 Well, I went to your website or one of my patients is a, one of my friends is a patient 59 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:16,680 of yours or, I know Chris Duvall and she said I should call you and come in, you know, whatever, 60 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:18,320 doesn't matter how people get there. 61 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:25,080 You still are trying to serve them, not the insurance company. 62 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:30,080 And unfortunately, dentists have learned to become expert diagnosticians of your dental 63 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:37,320 plan and try to fit the solution to all your problems and do what's going to get covered. 64 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:41,800 And so when you ask a question about what can we do to make this better? 65 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:49,360 And you know, the solutions are only what's covered by your insurance. 66 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:55,320 So insurance does not match with people's needs or wants or their health objectives. 67 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:56,320 It's sort of help. 68 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,240 It's an important part to help. 69 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,400 You don't want to deny it or poo poo it or anything like that, but just say, I want to 70 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:03,640 help you. 71 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,120 We can figure out how to, how to bill your insurance. 72 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,640 So they most likely to help you with this. 73 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:14,960 But at the end of the day, it's all about what you want. 74 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:21,800 That is such a powerful approach to a culture, I think. 75 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,760 It really is. 76 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,200 It's so simple. 77 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:29,720 I've mentored dentists. 78 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:37,480 I've mentored physicians on going insurance free, whatever that is. 79 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:38,480 You never really are. 80 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:40,360 I mean, people are still attached to their insurance. 81 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,800 They want to get something out of it, but they also want to be well. 82 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:46,680 Or they have a reason for calling you. 83 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:51,760 People don't pick up the phone and call a dental office because they want to buy a Toyota. 84 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:52,760 Okay. 85 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,120 They call the dental office because they have a perceived need. 86 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:57,120 They want wellness. 87 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:58,120 They want health. 88 00:06:58,120 --> 00:06:59,120 They want beauty. 89 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:05,320 They want, they don't want to lose their teeth like their parents did or what, there's variety 90 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:06,320 reasons. 91 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:09,240 You'll never know those reasons and say, unless you ask. 92 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,320 And the first thing is what do you want? 93 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:12,760 And then there's some follow up questions. 94 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:13,760 Why? 95 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:15,560 Why do you want to be a dental officer? 96 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:16,560 And they'll tell you. 97 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:20,080 Careful what you ask for because they will tell you. 98 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:21,080 And then you give it to them. 99 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:25,200 And oddly enough, the answer is usually dentistry. 100 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,680 They need dentistry to achieve those goals. 101 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:32,800 So there's no shortage of opportunity to diagnose treatment plan, present and have patients 102 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:38,400 accept care when they in fact ask for it on the way in. 103 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,160 By answering that question, what do you want? 104 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:47,040 I mean, if I, we could write everything I know on to, that's important on to a three 105 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:48,540 by five card. 106 00:07:48,540 --> 00:07:50,040 It's none of it. 107 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,480 None of it is, people will say, oh, so it's so complicated. 108 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:55,440 What kind of patients do you guys get up there? 109 00:07:55,440 --> 00:08:02,280 And I go, well, you know, most of them are alive. 110 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:03,480 But they have a perceived need. 111 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:08,640 They're leaving someone else's practice because their needs aren't being met. 112 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:10,140 Yeah. 113 00:08:10,140 --> 00:08:17,200 And I think that my favorite question, and if I didn't know the answer to that question 114 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:22,400 before I went in to talk to a patient, you might as well put a three inch piece of duct 115 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,080 tape over my mouth because I had made the decision. 116 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:30,720 I wasn't going to make assumptions about what people wanted for themselves. 117 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,160 I think that's a big mistake. 118 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:39,000 But I loved asking patients, tell me about what you want for yourself. 119 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,920 And then like you said, just shut up and let them talk. 120 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:44,960 And if they say, well, I don't know. 121 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:48,120 Well, if you did know, what would it be? 122 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,440 Well, you're forgetting, you know, you used to ask a great question. 123 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,640 Because I heard you do it every day when you'd escort a patient from the reception area 124 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:57,880 to your, your operatory. 125 00:08:57,880 --> 00:08:59,960 What did you ask them? 126 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:02,480 Tell me about something great in your life. 127 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:03,480 Hello. 128 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:04,480 Okay. 129 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,000 So, you know, what was the answer? 130 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:08,000 My teeth? 131 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,000 No. 132 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:10,000 Never. 133 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:14,000 It's my grand kid, you know, my son or daughter. 134 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,200 I, my, I just got a raise in my position. 135 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:18,200 I'm really excited. 136 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,360 You know, whatever, it doesn't matter, but you're connecting with people. 137 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,880 You know, social grace is, takes mere moments. 138 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:27,480 Yeah. 139 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:32,680 And people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. 140 00:09:32,680 --> 00:09:40,400 And so once you start connecting on a, on a heart basis, you know, now we're having a 141 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,000 conversation, now it's real. 142 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,160 And when you, when you say, okay, we're at a dental office, weird. 143 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,240 So I'm going to ask you a couple of dental questions. 144 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:50,240 What do you want? 145 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:51,840 What's most important to you? 146 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:55,960 And by the time our patients in our office had gotten to you, Chris, we'd already collected 147 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:57,240 records. 148 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:02,960 We'd already had to chit chat with our treatment coordinator about life in general, what's going 149 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:03,960 on. 150 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:11,080 Another one of my favorite things is, is, is the more you know about your patient, the 151 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:13,920 more they think you know about dentistry. 152 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:21,240 And so, so the, you know, the auger cat, boxers or briefs, whatever, the more we know about 153 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:25,160 our patients, the more they think that we know about dentistry. 154 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:29,400 And by the time they got to you, you had a little insight into some of those things. 155 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:34,560 And so then you could be, you just had a whole hour to be up close and personal and ask them 156 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:35,560 some follow up questions. 157 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:38,360 And it wasn't an interrogation setting. 158 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:43,400 It was, you know, I'm really curious, you know, you said, you said to Candice that you, 159 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,560 who is our treatment coordinator and you said, you know, this or that doesn't matter. 160 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:49,040 And so tell me more about that. 161 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:50,360 What do you mean? 162 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,560 And they would oftentimes tell you lots of interesting things that we would never have 163 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:59,320 guessed, let alone if we tried to be an assumption meter, which, as you know, only makes an 164 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:00,320 ass out of you and me. 165 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:07,000 So they'll tell you all the answers and all the enough that the, the, the answer to the 166 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,800 question is almost always dentistry. 167 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,960 They want something dental, whether it's appearance oriented, whether it's health oriented, whether 168 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:21,000 it's non, non-mercury oriented, whatever, didn't matter when we were going to meet that 169 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:22,000 need. 170 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:26,520 And it's so easy to fulfill their needs when they actually say, here's what I want. 171 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:27,520 Yes. 172 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:34,320 And I think another important thing that I learned early on was you have to be able to 173 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:43,400 hit the right motivator with people because I know from my own experience, I had a good 174 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:48,520 friend of mine that was a patient in the office and she was concerned about her teeth because 175 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:52,400 say we're starting to break and cracks and fillings were falling out. 176 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:59,720 And I said to her, oh, well, Dr. McKay can help you with that. 177 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:06,000 And I made the mistake of going and talking to her about aesthetics that we could help 178 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:13,000 her teeth look better, but she wouldn't give herself permission to do it. 179 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:19,600 And then you asked me that day, what does she want? 180 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:20,600 And I go, I'm not sure. 181 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,200 And believe me, this was like in my first couple of weeks of being in the practice there 182 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:26,520 because I learned very quickly. 183 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,360 But what her motivator was, was function. 184 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:31,360 Yes. 185 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:34,920 She wanted her teeth to function better. 186 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:40,560 If they looked better, that was great along the way, but she would not give herself permission 187 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:48,000 to engage in what we could help her with until she got her motivator of having her teeth function 188 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,960 better, until she had that. 189 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:58,560 And then she gave herself permission to engage in a full mouth process of making her teeth 190 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:02,360 function better and along the way, they looked better too. 191 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:09,800 Well, you know, that back to what I said publicly a couple of times about, you know, once you 192 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:14,520 find out what somebody wants, doesn't matter what it is. 193 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:18,360 But the answer, because they're in your office, they came to your office for a reason and 194 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:19,360 it's for dentistry. 195 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:20,760 They just don't know how to ask for that. 196 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:22,280 And they're not quite sure what to do. 197 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,080 They're not quite sure what's important. 198 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:26,080 They may want health. 199 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:27,080 They may want aesthetics. 200 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,600 Usually it's all of them. 201 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:31,040 But the answer is still the same thing. 202 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:32,040 Okay. 203 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:33,040 So yeah, we could help with that. 204 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:34,040 And here's what we do. 205 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:35,040 We fix these teeth and those teeth. 206 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:36,640 Oh yeah, all your teeth. 207 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:38,360 And then you have what you want. 208 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:39,360 You have function. 209 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:40,600 You have longevity. 210 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,840 You have aesthetics. 211 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:48,040 And sometimes they'd stop me and say, well, it doesn't matter to me whether they look 212 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:49,040 very good. 213 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:50,720 And I'd say, well, that's okay. 214 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,120 We can make them as unesthetic if you like. 215 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,560 Well, no, I mean, really, I kind of like them to do good. 216 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:03,840 But that's, you know, that's just kind of working through some of the people's preconceived 217 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,000 notions about what cosmetics is. 218 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,640 And oftentimes cosmetics, people see as a crutch. 219 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,720 I don't want, I want to do it just because it's good looking. 220 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:15,200 But if it's functional, we, I want that. 221 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,880 But if we, we address their functional issue, they made an aesthetic choice. 222 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:20,880 Yeah. 223 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:31,800 Well, and I think a lot of what we did was meeting people's expectations. 224 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:35,480 And you don't know unless you ask. 225 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:43,520 And that was the culture of the practice, you know, your, your vision and mission statement 226 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:49,880 was enriching lives by exceeding expectations. 227 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:55,680 And wow, what a great culture to set for your team. 228 00:14:55,680 --> 00:15:08,840 And then it was so much more rewarding and easily to engage our patients into that vision 229 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:13,680 and mission statement and philosophy of care that came out of all of that. 230 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,080 Well, that's exactly right. 231 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,440 And let's not miss, you know, a big part of that. 232 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:26,000 And that is, as we're here talking about your role and, and, and hygiene in relation to the 233 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:27,800 overall wellness of the patient. 234 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:31,880 I mean, what percentage of our patients that went through comprehensive care didn't need 235 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:38,360 perinatal therapy to start their journey and to make sure that they were in excellent 236 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:43,240 health before we even started their restoration process, almost all of them. 237 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:48,520 Very unique to not have someone need therapy, which is what we call scaling and root planning 238 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:54,480 and without getting into us getting a root planning as an ancient procedure that was 239 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:59,360 done in, in advance of periodontal abatement surgery. 240 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,360 Yes. 241 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,920 And what periodontal says periodontal abatement surgery anymore? 242 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,200 I don't know. 243 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:07,200 No. 244 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,040 Almost none, I should say. 245 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:15,560 I mean, all the fine people that we've worked with over the years, they were the best implantologists 246 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:17,440 in town. 247 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:20,480 We didn't need them to do a periodontal abatement surgery. 248 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:25,240 I mean, people that have advanced periodontal disease, you know, there's different, there's 249 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:30,000 going to be different answers for them as far as achieving their goals. 250 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:35,120 And holding on to each tooth as it goes away slowly, but surely is not an answer. 251 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:58,680 It's not a solution. 252 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:03,800 You're listening to Health Lifelines, a podcast brought to you by the Lifeguard Approach, your 253 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:10,520 trusted source for insights, solutions, and training that empower you to become a lifeguard 254 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:14,000 for your patients, health, and well-being. 255 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:19,240 This episode is just a taste of the strategies and stories we will share to help you and 256 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:22,640 your patients live longer, healthier lives. 257 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:30,280 If you're enjoying the content, make sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. 258 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:38,480 As a reminder, this podcast and the opinions expressed here are not a medical diagnosis. 259 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:45,400 And don't forget to explore our additional resources, tools, exclusive content, courses, 260 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:53,080 and coaching solutions from the Lifeguard Approach by visiting our website at thelifeguardapproach.com. 261 00:17:53,080 --> 00:18:21,480 And now let's jump back into today's episode. 262 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:34,960 You know, going back to that profit and pay conundrum that we have in dentistry, I knew 263 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:42,240 very early on within the first week what your philosophy was with that and the culture of 264 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,560 the practice with that. 265 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:49,120 And you took me to lunch the very first week that I worked there. 266 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:52,400 Do you remember what you challenged me with? 267 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:58,960 Yeah, I said we need our patients to be healthy, and I need you to be the leader of their health. 268 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:05,360 And you can have whatever coaching or help or any education or supplies or equipment, 269 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:09,240 whatever you need to get that done. 270 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,560 Yes, yes. 271 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:18,320 And I took that as you didn't come right out and say it, but you helped me come to that 272 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:25,760 conclusion on my own, which I think is much more powerful than just being told what you 273 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:27,680 expected of me. 274 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:33,680 And what I heard you were saying amidst all that was you wanted me to paint a much larger 275 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:38,440 canvas of who I could be for our patients. 276 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:45,960 And that really made a huge impact on me and set me in a new direction and destination 277 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,920 of a place I'd never been before. 278 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,640 About who you could be for your patients and that you could have all the support you needed 279 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:57,400 and to get people healthy because dentistry has been upside down. 280 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:04,600 People have been doing bloody prophesies and chat and polish hygiene practices for decades. 281 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:08,800 This is nothing new, this friction between hygienists and dentists. 282 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:18,320 This is a really uncomfortable place because really we should be united behind getting 283 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,320 our patients well and having them be happy in their wellness. 284 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:29,240 I mean, all that you talk at some time, maybe in one of your own podcasts about wellness 285 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:34,240 based hygiene and being an advocate for the wellness for your patient extends way the 286 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,640 heck beyond calculus and pocket depth. 287 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:45,760 I mean, it's a profoundly impactful role in their lives and you had a giant impact on 288 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:52,400 people's lives as far as accepting their role as their wellness, their own personal wellness 289 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:53,400 advocate. 290 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:58,920 And the gateway was outstanding oral health. 291 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:04,960 And we had so many patients that had transitioned from chronic periodontal disease, case type 292 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:12,160 one or two, just not enough to warrant surgery back in the day because I'm old enough to 293 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:19,640 remember all that stupid stuff, but to guide them away from that from something that you 294 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,120 coined the danger zone because that's where they were. 295 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:26,120 They were just hanging out next to the edge, walking in tightrope next to the pool. 296 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:32,080 Sooner or later, you fall in and now you're in trouble and you got issues and it's not 297 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:37,560 good and you just guided them into the wellness place and they stayed there perpetually. 298 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:38,560 Yeah. 299 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:47,280 I mean, you know, a discussion of the percentage of procedures done by hygiene. 300 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:51,840 Since we know statistically that eight out of 10 people have some form of periodontal 301 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:57,760 disease, how come less than 10% of all disease, all procedures performed by hygienists and 302 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:00,960 dental offices are periodontal coded? 303 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:01,960 Yeah. 304 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:09,960 It's a fear, a fear to tell people what's really going on with their teeth and have permission 305 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,200 to be as honest with them. 306 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:13,880 Once you've asked them, what do they want? 307 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:14,880 I want to be healthy. 308 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:23,000 I want to keep my teeth and say, oh, well, then we need to, here's how we do that. 309 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:28,080 It was so easy and really very joyful. 310 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,720 It was just being able to help people. 311 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:39,360 I think the big overall picture was people aren't used to asking for help. 312 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:40,360 Patients aren't. 313 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:45,120 They just come in and they say, well, I'll do whatever he tells me to do or I won't take 314 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:46,120 it. 315 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:47,120 Yeah, for a couple of days. 316 00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:48,120 Yeah. 317 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:49,120 Yeah. 318 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:58,280 My role really turned into being I was teaching them how to advocate for themselves, how to 319 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:04,920 speak up and ask for what they wanted and ask for help to get that. 320 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,240 So that was my big goal is to be their advocate, to teach them how to do that. 321 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:16,360 You enrolled them in a discussion that was an ongoing dialogue that they were the key 322 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:17,360 to. 323 00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:18,360 Not you. 324 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:22,280 You were there to answer their questions. 325 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,840 But let's break through to the real thing that would happen. 326 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:30,720 What really happened was that as you started treating people's periodontal disease because 327 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:36,720 it was there and moved them into a wellness place and kept them in the 4910s and the other 328 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:37,720 codes. 329 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:45,120 Not that I remember a lot of that because I'm the artist formerly known as a dentist. 330 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:51,080 So I don't live in that world anymore, but what happened to your production? 331 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,760 Oh, my gosh. 332 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:54,760 It skyrocketed. 333 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,560 And what happened to your production too? 334 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:02,320 Well, yes, absolutely. 335 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:09,360 But the point I wanted to have people understand since we're on this for as a hygiene oriented 336 00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:13,840 discussion is that not a lot has changed. 337 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,360 And I practiced for 42 crazy years. 338 00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:19,320 And I've been out a few years now. 339 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:21,680 And the facts are still the same. 340 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:23,720 Hygienists deserve a third of what they produce. 341 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,360 I'm sorry, it's just the math. 342 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:28,080 You can be up and down a few percentage points. 343 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:33,080 But once you get out of whack with that, everything gets out of whack for the office or the hygienist. 344 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,360 And if something's not fair to both, it's not fair to anyone. 345 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:36,600 And then it doesn't work out. 346 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,280 And there's a lot of weeping and gnashing and upset and all that sort of thing. 347 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:48,800 So as your production rose, what did I tell you? 348 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:50,480 It's time for a raise. 349 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:51,880 Time for more money. 350 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:53,880 Yes. 351 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:55,040 You earned every bit of it. 352 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:56,680 And you came to me. 353 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:04,040 I remember you coming and saying, you know, I want to get this. 354 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:05,400 I think it was the Florida probe. 355 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,040 I think you want to get it. 356 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,400 And you go, okay, I want, I want the Florida probe. 357 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,560 And I go, well, I thought you were coming to me for a raise. 358 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:16,560 And so you definitely deserve a raise. 359 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,360 So which one do you want? 360 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:22,560 You want the Florida probe or you want a raise? 361 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:24,360 And I said, I want the Florida probe. 362 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:25,960 And you said, good end. 363 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,120 What did you get? 364 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:29,120 I got both. 365 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:33,760 Got a Florida probe and a raise. 366 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:45,120 You know, when the collaboration of patient first, you know, team, second, self, third 367 00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:51,040 always improves the self way more than it's going to be when you're selfish. 368 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:52,880 And selfish just means out for yourself. 369 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:53,880 It's not a bad thing. 370 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:58,880 It just, you should advocate for yourself, but, but you came to me with facts and figures. 371 00:25:58,880 --> 00:25:59,880 Yes. 372 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:00,880 And my favorite. 373 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:06,160 I've been here for six extra months and no one's given me a raise yet. 374 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:07,160 Yeah. 375 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:14,800 Well, you told me, you told me when you hired me, you had not an ounce of belief in cost 376 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:15,880 of living raises. 377 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,000 So I knew that was out. 378 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:27,480 So what I had to do was I figured I needed to increase my value to you in what patients 379 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,480 chose for themselves. 380 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:34,520 And that was my favorite thing to do with you was to come to you and say, not look what 381 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:42,800 I have done, but look what, what my patients have chosen for themselves this month. 382 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:43,800 All different. 383 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,200 Well, yeah, it is. 384 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,260 And the number stood up. 385 00:26:49,260 --> 00:26:53,960 You know, when you stand up and do the right thing for your patients, the production, the 386 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:59,960 productivity, let's just call it that, it shows itself to be what it is. 387 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:00,960 Yes. 388 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:02,560 And that was undeniable. 389 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,440 We knew it was in front of us and we were both happy. 390 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,320 I mean, I don't know, you want to get into it. 391 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,480 I remember when you asked for a salary, you wanted to be paid the same every month. 392 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:15,600 I go, wait a minute, you're a producer. 393 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,200 You decide to get to get a part of your production. 394 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,400 You go, no, no, no. 395 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:21,480 Everybody else here's on a salary. 396 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:23,840 I want to be on a salary. 397 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,720 And so we figured out a salary that works for you and for me. 398 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:28,720 And it worked very well. 399 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:30,560 And it was a pretty damn good salary. 400 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:31,560 It was. 401 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:32,560 Yeah. 402 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:41,560 But I mean, that's the real fun is to have met your patients needs, exceeded your patients 403 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:48,440 needs and wants and have that relationship based practice that you had with your patients 404 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:54,840 and to have that much fun doing what we're doing because we know we're helping our patients 405 00:27:54,840 --> 00:28:01,320 make made our lives simple and easy and straightforward and non adversarial. 406 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,360 And I would hope and wish that on everyone that they could get to that place where, where 407 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:06,360 they're producing. 408 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:09,040 And it's not just I took six. 409 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:10,520 White wings instead of four. 410 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:15,120 And so I've produced, you know, for this much more. 411 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:20,400 And we do an exam on everyone in fluoride and we do, you know, you probe everyone and we 412 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:26,760 all charge them all a cart, which is not so in my mind, you know, that just do what the 413 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,240 patient needs, charge a fair fee. 414 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,480 And we charge a fair fee for our procedures. 415 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:40,840 And since we weren't working with insurance companies, we had no assignment of benefits 416 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:41,840 with insurance. 417 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,200 We had no charge, whatever we wanted, which means people had to pay. 418 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:46,680 Yeah, they got reimbursed. 419 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:48,200 Yeah, we submitted their insurance for them. 420 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:53,800 Yeah, they got repaid, but they chose to come to us because of what they had learned when 421 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,880 they came to the office and they knew they were in the right place. 422 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:01,880 And they were happy and happy to pay. 423 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:07,480 You tell everybody what you train your patients to do when they walked in the door. 424 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:12,480 Well, a lot of them just handed me a credit card. 425 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:15,480 See, let's get that. 426 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:20,360 Remember you saying, let's just get the paperwork out of the way first. 427 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,840 And then, you know, when we're finished with our, with our care today, you're going to, 428 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,480 you can just jet out of dodge. 429 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:27,480 Yeah. 430 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:28,480 Yeah. 431 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:34,360 So, you know, it was a beautiful thing. 432 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:42,080 And when you, when you focus your care on the most important person is your patient and 433 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:48,600 have them guide you through the decisions, you get an opportunity to do outstanding care, 434 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:56,200 be paid well for it and, and patients gladly, happily pay for it. 435 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:57,200 Yeah. 436 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:07,440 We had some patients, a few patients that were on welfare that valued what we did so 437 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:14,280 much that they raised the money from family, friends, wherever, because they were not determined. 438 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:15,280 We played ball with them too. 439 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:16,280 And that was fine. 440 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:17,680 We're delighted to do it. 441 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,440 And so that's the real joy of the whole thing is being able to meet people where they're 442 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:22,940 at. 443 00:30:22,940 --> 00:30:25,160 And especially when people want what you have. 444 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,160 And you can tell that they value that. 445 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:30,600 You figure out a way to help them make that work. 446 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:39,600 Well, Dr. McKay, thank you so much for joining me here today on health lifelines podcast. 447 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:49,080 And I just encourage all of you to really listen and take advantage and create a way 448 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,400 to help your patients get healthy. 449 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:58,000 And the best part about all this and the most important thing to us in our practice was saving 450 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,040 lives. 451 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,960 That was the big, the big goal. 452 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:04,640 So the lifeguard approach. 453 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:05,720 Yep. 454 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:07,000 Thank you so much, Dr. McKay. 455 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:08,000 I appreciate it. 456 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,000 It's been my pleasure. 457 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:10,000 Thank you. 458 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:11,000 Take care. 459 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:17,960 That's it for today's episode of health lifelines brought to you by the lifeguard approach. 460 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:22,840 I hope you found inspiration and actionable insights to support you and your patients' 461 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:27,480 journeys towards better health and more fulfilling lives. 462 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:36,040 Remember every small step you take today builds the foundation for a healthier tomorrow. 463 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:41,520 If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate, review and share the podcast 464 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:44,360 with someone who could benefit from it. 465 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:49,600 Our support helps us reach more listeners and grow this community of health conscious 466 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:56,760 individuals and dental professionals focused on becoming lifeguards for their patients. 467 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:06,280 For more tips, tools and resources from the lifeguard approach, visit us online at thelifeguardapproach.com. 468 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:12,760 Also follow us on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn at the lifeguard approach. 469 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:14,640 Thank you for tuning in. 470 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:20,360 Until next time, stay informed, stay inspired and keep showing up as a lifeguard for your 471 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:48,360 patients at every single appointment.