Episode : #1,187: Must-Know Tools for Re-Care + Reactivation

Podcast Description

This episode is all about eyes on fall/winter 2026. Tiff and Pam discuss what’s top of mind for practices as they look to the final stretch of the year, including stepping up on re-care and reactivation, how to talk about it with patients, and how to make sure it’s incorporated into your practice.

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Transcript:

Tiffanie (00:01)

Hello, Dental A Team Podcast Listeners. I am so excited to be here with you today. I always am. I literally love doing this with you guys. and I more than that, I love doing this with our consulting team. And I have very, very special women on as our consultant guest today. I have Miss Pam with us today, and you guys have actually not heard from her yet, even though she’s been here with us behind the scenes for a little while.

Getting these podcasts like scheduled and in the system and all of those pieces takes a little bit of time sometimes. And Pam is a prized, prized possession in our consulting department. And I am so excited for you guys to meet her. If you work with her already, you are very excited to hear her on the podcast today. I know there’s a few of you who are avid listeners who work directly one-on-one with Pam. so I’m excited for you guys to hear from her today.

Pam, I’ve got you here. We’ve got the listeners and I’m just so excited to be here with you this morning. You did some prep. I appreciate that. I love the questions and making sure we’re ready to go. you prep way more than I do and I value that and you push me to do the same thing. So Pam, thank you for being here. How are you today?

Pamela (01:12)

Hi, Tiff. I am doing fantastic. I’m super excited to be here.

Tiffanie (01:17)

Good. And you’re here in Phoenix as well. We always say we are just so hot and I think we had some rain the other night and I thought by by rain I mean I got some light sprinkles in the backyard and I thought, gosh, this might cool us down and I mean it did, but it was still like a hundred and five at eight PM last night. So how is it you’re like forty five minutes ish from me, how is it on your side of Phoenix?

Pamela (01:45)

Yeah, we did not get much rain like you. We got like the little pitter patter, but it no, it hasn’t rained. I think the storms just go around us. I don’t know what’s going

Tiffanie (01:55)

I think so.

Pamela (01:56)

on, but it just makes it humid, so we know what the

Tiffanie (01:59)

Yeah.

Pamela (01:59)

east coast feels like when there’s a little bit of rainstorm coming, but yeah, nothing nothing like the east coast, the humidity, but we do get a little bit.

Tiffanie (02:10)

I agree. I always when I travel and and I tell people where I’m from and Pam, I’m sure you have and will continue to experience this as well. When I say I’m from Arizona, everybody goes, my gosh, how do you do that summer? And I always say, Listen, there’s a season for everything and everyone, and I don’t have to shovel snow, and I love that. And I would take this hundred and twenty degree summer for two months over shoveling snow any day of the week. And Pam, you’ve done both.

Pamela (02:40)

I I have originally I’m from California, so when I moved to Utah to go to college, yes, I experienced shoveling snow and then I raised my kids there. And to be really honest, that’s the reason why I moved to Arizona. I couldn’t

Tiffanie (02:53)

Yeah.

Pamela (02:54)

get out of my driveway a couple of times and I’m like, nope, not doing this.

Tiffanie (02:58)

No, thank you.

Pamela (02:59)

So yes, I agree. I would take the two months of the heat and jump in the pool.

Tiffanie (03:04)

Yes, my fiance says the same thing. He had he says that there were multiple times he lived up in Lake Zend, Oregon area. He said there were so many times that he had to shovel out and shovel back in in the same day and he was done and moved to Arizona. So we like to say we don’t have a lot of natural disasters or issues here. We just have the heat during the summer. So here we are. I

Pamela (03:26)

That’s right. Yeah.

Tiffanie (03:27)

love it. Well, speaking of seasonalities, I think

Something that’s really fun about dentistry is that there’s seasonalities in that as well. Everything runs on a cycle, and we like to talk about those cycles within our consulting and Dental A Team runs off of a few different cycles ourselves. And one of those systems, systematic cycles, I shall say, is scheduling and walking into the fall slash winter. The fall slash winter in dentistry is like a mixed bag. I feel like a few years ago.

Everybody was, you know, prepping for September is what we like to call it. And then prepping for October to December to be chaotic and crazy. And then I I really saw a shift within that after COVID. I think the COVID shutdowns were about six months from September, October. And so it shifted and changed quite a bit within that. But we do still see that scheduling really needs to be a high priority in this time period.

And I truly believe with everything I have, whatever we can prep and plan for and take the guesswork out, kind of control what we can and let the rest happen around us and then you know, control what we can within that is the best avenue to take. So making sure that we’re looking ahead at things and really taking in those killer systems that can really depict how your fall and winter are gonna go are are gonna be massive. So I wanted to take the listeners here, Pam through a couple of systems and

And again, this is kind of that seasonality. So we chunk it down and we we see every month or every quarter kind of seeing what does that focus need to be within Dental A Team. This is something that we believe is a heavy focus at this time period in this season. So with that, Pam, I really want you to chat through with me Dental A Team systems for sure, but Pam, you’ve been a consultant and you’ve been in dentistry for a while, and you’ve got tips and tricks and tools.

that you brought to our company as well as to the clients that you’ve served over the years. So I want to pick your brain and speak to obviously Dental A Team systems, but really pick your brain and and kind of see what are some things that you’ve done in practice, what are things that you’re doing with your practices as you’re consulting them to prep and plan for this. And one of those spaces and something that’s been coming up with a lot of my clients is that recare and reactivation. I know in dentistry and you probably remember this, Pam, I remember this from

years and years and years ago, everything was about new patients. And it was like, how many new patients can we get? How can we get them? Spend on marketing, get the new patients, get the new patients. And there wasn’t a lot of focus, I don’t think, on the other side of it. So keeping the new patients for sure was never a thought, right? It was just get more. And then the recare piece was kind of an afterthought. It was like, well if the schedule’s falling apart and we don’t have new patients, then we call on recare. And that mindset

really did a disservice because if we’re not taking care of the people that are coming, like what are we really doing? And I think it gave a little bit of a foothold for things like DSOs to step in and really take over, but we’re trying to shift that and practices are shifting that model. And hygienists especially are always really concerned now about what’s happening with my patient I’ve already spent so much time with.

So when it comes to recare and reactivation, we’ll focus recare first. Pam, what are some things that you hammer in with practices to make sure that that recare is happening, whether it’s a new patient or a patient they’ve had for 15 years?

Pamela (07:05)

Yeah, great question, Tiff. And I I do feel like I’ve seen that same shift as well.

Tiffanie (07:10)

Yeah.

Pamela (07:11)

So I I think that recare percentage is such a big deal because it does tell us are we bleeding out the back? Are we losing patients that were right in front of us and we could have scheduled them right then? That is the most effective and efficient way to do that. I I tell hygienists give the patient

A reason to return. Like notice an area that tells that says, hey, I’m well, I’m looking at this area. Your upper right is having a little inflammation and some, you know, I got just a little bleeding, not anything to worry about, but I’m gonna note that and write it down in your notes so they see you noting it, right? And

Tiffanie (07:56)

Yeah.

Pamela (07:56)

that you will come back to say to them, I’m I’m really excited to see you in six months. And when you come back, we’re gonna check.

check on this and and just you do a great job with your home care. Just do a little extra on that upper right side and we’ll see what you can do at home.

Tiffanie (08:15)

I love that because you’re really

focusing in on them being seen, you know, and the value of the cleaning. I think we oftentimes say, you know, let’s get you scheduled for your next cleaning. And it’s like, well, I schedule my next carpet cleaning when it’s needed. And I know you’re really heavy on the verbiage and the way that we speak about it as well. And and us as a company, we use things like you guys have heard of NDTR.

the handoff and the reason that the recare is in there is because we want to put the value on the appointment and not just that routine cleaning. So setting that up where it’s like, hey, we saw this, we’re gonna check on this when you’re when you come back in and then you look at your dose and you do it really sets the value for the personalization, the relationship, and it changes the script on the value of the quote unquote cleaning. What is it I’m trying to remember as I’m speaking palm and I’m not it’s not coming to me.

What is it that you there’s something that you change and I can’t remember what it is or you you coach practices through how to speak to scheduling that recare appointment and I can’t I can’t think of what it is. What is it?

Pamela (09:24)

Yeah, yeah,

no, I know exactly what you’re talking about. So I I teach teams to say something like, you know, we consider this a confirmed appointment as a courtesy. We will always send you text reminders by email, you know, let’s make sure, let’s go up front. You said you didn’t get one last time, let’s make sure we have the right phone number on on file and

If you happen to have a change in your schedule, please let us know 48 hours in advance. And that way we can get you back in. But I really want to check on that one area so that you go back to that reason to return as you’re doing that handoff. But I like saying that it is, we already consider this confirmed.

As a courtesy, we are just going to send you those reminders. So it’s an easy

Tiffanie (10:14)

Yeah.

Pamela (10:15)

way to kind of also inform and remind your patients about your cancellation, or we don’t say cancellation, right? About your about your

Tiffanie (10:24)

Yeah. Confirmation process. Yeah.

Pamela (10:27)

exactly. Yeah.

Tiffanie (10:28)

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And what you did there too is they’re scheduling in the back office then. So it sounds

Pamela (10:33)

Yes.

Tiffanie (10:34)

like you’ve got hygiene scheduling their next recare, which I think allows for that personalization again and that like importance that’s being placed on it. Not to say that other appointments aren’t important, but they’re coming up quicker. And so when the when you’re tied to the hygienist and that is the person you’re coming to see, I mean, we’ve all experienced where

a patient, you know, gets switched to a different hygienist or the hygienist maybe moves out of state and they’re no longer seeing that hygienist. They’re like, wait, where’s Joanna? Like I’ve been seeing Joanna forever and they’re a patient of the practice, but they get attached. My fiance’s very attached to Amy at his place. Like I’ve never even met her and I know I know about her because he’s very attached to her. The kids are attached to her. And that places value on the appointment and makes it more difficult for us to cancel it.

Now recare is phenomenal, tracking that, making sure that there’s like in the background, there’s constantly recare efforts going on. So we’re making phone calls, we’re sending out the emails, coming up due, do now, past due reminders, all of those pieces are always happening. Pam, something that I struggle with. practices. If you’re busy, what tends to happen is we’re like, well, we can’t if I can’t fit

appointments in my hygiene schedule. So I’m not going to call on them because then I’m just disappointing patients. The likelihood of them answering is very slim. And so when you reduce your outgoing efforts, now you need the schedule full and you’re just igniting those efforts. You’re not going to see a result for probably 30 to 45 days realistically, because it takes like four to seven times your effort to get that return back in. So I beg of you

Please make sure no matter how busy your schedule is, you’re always doing recare efforts to help you keep that schedule busy. Something that I love to do with my practices, Pam, I think we all do, is really, really, really capitalize on the patient base that they have, not just active patient base. But there’s some some practices have been around. I’ve got one that’s been around for like 30 years. It was his grandfather’s, it was his dad’s, now it’s his.

And they’ve got like 19,000 patients in their database and like six thousand active patients for three doctors, right? So I’m like, you guys have thirteen thousand patients that haven’t been touched. And I’m not saying everybody’s got thirteen thousand, but everybody has inactive patients. Every month patients go inactive. That’s your attrition rate. Every month patients are sliding out the back door, like Pam talked about, and we’re focused on new patients. You got 24 new patients, but you lost five.

You only have nineteen patients added to your patient base. So those five patients, when are they being touched on? So that reactivation program or campaign, I really have them focus, Pam, on those patients who are not active in the practice and just getting touch points onto them like emails. You can do phone calls too, but really making sure we’re hitting those people who have an established relationship, just maybe haven’t come in, they forgot. What do you what do you do?

Pamela (13:43)

Yeah, no, I I love that and I think that’s really true. I think sometimes in dentistry we think we haven’t seen them in 18 months, they’ve forgotten about us,

Tiffanie (13:52)

Yeah.

Pamela (13:53)

but I don’t think so. I think that they still think, that’s my dentist. And

Tiffanie (13:58)

I agree.

Pamela (13:59)

right when they even if it’s been two years and they haven’t been in, you know, people may not be as conscientious about coming every six months. That’s okay, but we still want to reach out to them and whether that’s by email, whether

It’s you’re making you know a big email campaign to reactivate those patients, or it’s a texting program, right? That you have. I think you know, look for those patients that haven’t had an exam and reach

Tiffanie (14:27)

Mm.

Pamela (14:27)

out for those patients just to get them back in. And like you said, it takes some time to do, but when they are prompted, I think, and they know that you care, they’re more likely to just give you a call. And in this day and age, I’ve

believe a hundred percent what you said people are not picking up their phone right yeah so it’s yeah I might pick it up either I don’t pick it up either unless I recognize the number so

Tiffanie (14:47)

Yeah. Yeah. I’m not. I no ain’t nobody got time for that. No. Yes.

And I’m ready to talk to them. I still have to be ready to talk to them. I have to be in a space. I have to be in a mindset. I have to be ready to engage in whatever this conversation is that’s about to come. So even if I recognize the number, I’m like, I don’t really have the space for it right now. So I will call you back. And then six months goes by and I’m like, wow, I never did that.

Like I never I never finished that. So then two years goes by, right? I have a friend that was we were messaging on Instagram just last night about her wedding and our wedding coming up and all of these pieces. And she’s like, I can’t believe how big Brody is. And we realized my son is 18. We have not seen each other in person since he was a baby. She lives three hours from me. Like we put that together and I was like, gosh, but the reality is it didn’t feel that long. It felt like

It was just the other day because we have this this social media connection, right? She’s in front of me. And so it felt different. And so when we’re in front of the people, even our email correspondences, things like that, if we’re in front of them, that time passes differently. It doesn’t feel as long into your point, Pam. With all of those correspondence continuing to go, you still feel like that’s my dentist, right? That’s my practice, like that’s who I’m going to go to.

when I’m ready and how many patients have we answered the phone for and they’re like, my gosh, I can’t believe it’s been two years since I’ve been there. I’m like, time really does fly. so the reactivation campaigns are huge. And to me, I think of those patients almost like new patients, right? Because they haven’t been seen. And so they they need a full workup. They need all of the pieces. You didn’t spend any money to get them.

And their appointments are easier because they already have a relationship with the practice. So it’s way less work, time, and money to reactivate people than it is to continue to search for new patients. Let the new patients come in, let the new patient flow be there, and reactivate patients simultaneously.

Pamela (16:59)

Yeah, a absolutely. And I I love your point that it’s just it’s should be part of our processes. It should be part

Tiffanie (17:05)

Okay.

Pamela (17:06)

of our systems. And you know, if we tend to let that go, we’re letting a huge opportunity just pass us by. And just if we focus only on those eighteen months patients, you know, we’re doing a huge disservice truly to our

Tiffanie (17:20)

Absolutely.

Pamela (17:21)

patients. And I I think it’s really wise to keep that going. you know, whether that like

you like we said an email campaign or a texting campaign and just put it on a system so you know whatever that is tackle it by you know x amount of patients per day per week however you’re gonna do it just systemize systematize it so that you are continuing to hit those patients reach out

Tiffanie (17:49)

Yep, I

have a practice I talked to about this last week and she was like, Well, do we do this every month? And I’m like, actually, you’re gonna do it twice a month. And you’re gonna have one that’s 18 to 24, and then you’re gonna have one that’s 24 plus, and they’re gonna go twice a month because every day someone new falls into one of those categories. And so no matter what, you’re hitting them multiple times in the foreseeable future, and eventually they’re either gonna call back and say, Hey, we moved out of state.

Or they’re gonna call back and say, Thank you so much for sending fifteen emails. You finally got my attention and I’m scheduling this appointment.

Pamela (18:23)

Yeah, and and that’s a really good point, Tiff. Like being conscientious and really aware of when you are deciding to delete a patient, right?

Tiffanie (18:36)

Yeah.

Pamela (18:36)

I think there needs to be some actual communication and that you’ve talked to that patient and they say, Yes, I have moved, and you don’t know what happened. They could have said they were gonna move and they didn’t, you know. So and then we just delete them out of our system, and I I don’t think that’s

right thing. I think we need to be really aware and have have a system built in. If you have talked to the patient and they told you that they have moved, then okay, I get that. But we don’t just go deleting patients willy-nilly.

Tiffanie (19:10)

I totally agree. I totally agree. And even I have doctors that are like, well, I just purchased this practice, right? So like I need new patients. And I’m like, my gosh, phenomenal. Everyone who’s ever been in that practice is a new patient to you. You’ve already paid for them. So let’s get as much as we can out of that before paying for more new patients.

Pamela (19:30)

Absolutely. And I have several practices like that right now that have just purchased in the last two years. And I remind them of that constantly because they, you

Tiffanie (19:39)

Yep.

Pamela (19:39)

know, and and right we hear this all the time in dentistry. I need more new patients. I need you have a gold mine sitting there. And so

Tiffanie (19:48)

Yeah.

Pamela (19:48)

go go mining. Go get them. They’re

Tiffanie (19:50)

Yes.

Pamela (19:51)

yours.

Tiffanie (19:52)

Yes. I agree. I agree. And when they say the team says, I don’t have time, great, let’s strategize and let’s find the time. And like you said, Pam, like so many things can be automated right now. And I think everyone prefers the automation at this point. It’s not I think in twenty eighteen to like twenty twenty two we were really still fighting that automation piece. But now it’s twenty twenty six at the time of recording this and we are we are ready for it. Just allow to use it. Yeah.

Pamela (20:19)

I I agree a hundred percent. Like we can do more in the dental let’s not stay back in those ages. Let’s move forward to, you know, with

Tiffanie (20:27)

Yes.

Pamela (20:28)

the times. And I it just makes life easier anyway because people are oriented that way now. So

Tiffanie (20:31)

Yeah. I agree.

Pamela (20:34)

yeah, so I think great point. Love it.

Tiffanie (20:36)

Always impressed me how dentistry can be so forward thinking and have so much tech in the back office, right? We’ve got C B C T scans that were never there when I was physically in office. We’ve got all these scanners, we we’re making crowns in office, they’re making dentures, they’re painting dentures and doing this in office and blowing my mind. But we still have paper charts in some offices. Like I can’t

I can’t understand, my brain can’t understand the difference, the stark difference in the back office versus front office, like forward thinking and and movement there, the advances.

Pamela (21:13)

Yeah.

I I could not agree more and you know

Sometimes we have people that are just sort of stuck in doing that

Tiffanie (21:20)

Okay.

Pamela (21:21)

and that that’s okay. But embrace it because I I’m gonna tell you it will make your job so much easier to embrace that

Tiffanie (21:28)

I do.

Pamela (21:29)

technology. And I think the front office is more difficult to move to that direction. You know, when I go in an office and I see them handing the patient a paper chart, I’m like, okay, well, and and that is applicable in a lot of areas. Okay, in some places, I get that, but

And you know, digital is the way of the future. We need to catch up. And once you make that switch, you will go, my gosh, this is amazing. It’s so awesome.

Tiffanie (21:59)

I agree.

I totally agree with you. Yeah, I love it. Well, I think those are two incredible systems that really truly help build a profitable schedule and help prep for if you’re gonna have a September, have a September, but also it helps prep you for even the busy period. It just keeps it consistent. And when you can build that consistency into anything in life, it becomes less chaotic, especially when you can build the consistency back into your schedule, whether it’s hygiene.

or doctor side, these patients have to come in somewhere and they will all be caught within a recare system andor a reactivation system. So Pam, this was incredible. I I knew it was going to be amazing. I knew it was going to be very easy. Thank you for your time today and everyone, all of all of our listeners here today, if you’re interested in these, obviously reach out. If you don’t have them in place or you’re like, gosh, maybe you guys have something that’s a little bit different.

Reach out [email protected]. We’re always happy to share as much information as we possibly can. You can also go to hello, nope, to TheDentalATeam.com No, hello. You can go to TheDentalATeam.com and you can always schedule a call with us to chat about any of these pieces. [email protected], TheDentalATeam.com. And as always, leave us a five-star review so that we know that you loved and enjoyed this. Pam, thank you so much for your time today.

I know we had to reschedule this as well. Thank you for being flexible with my schedule. you are an incredible consultant and you are so valued on our team. And I cannot wait for all of the listeners to hear this. So Pam, thank you.

Pamela (23:34)

Thank you, Tiff, it was a pleasure.

Tiffanie (23:37)

Of course, of course. All right, listeners. if you are driving, go sit down somewhere, listen back to this, take some notes, reach out to us, hello at the dunalytime.com, and as always, have an amazing day. We’ll catch you next time.