Digital Smile Design (DSD) aims to help dentists solve the common challenges of daily clinic life – and make delivering high quality dentistry simpler. The solutions work for dentists from all around the world because they have been developed over 15 years and in over 35,000 cases. But it’s true that DSD isn’t the right choice for every dental office.
If you’re reading this article, you may have already attended a course and are probably thinking about getting started with DSD. Perhaps you’re wondering whether you and your team are ready to adopt the methodology and fully implement the workflows in your clinic.
To help you work out if DSD could really help your dental office, in this article our DSD Implementation coaches outline some of the most common scenarios in which DSD will not work for you.
Implementing DSD may not ‘work’ for your dental clinic if:
1. You face some obstacles in changing the way you practice
There are no two ways about it - fully mastering and implementing DSD takes time and there can be a steep learning curve involved. Being prepared and remaining open to changing the way you’ve been doing things is a fundamental mindset shift that can make the difference between successful implementation and abandoning the process.
Clinics who are open to adjusting their workflows and methods to align with our recommendations and optimize performance are the ones who see success with DSD.
2. You are unable to commit time to learning
As previously mentioned, learning to implement DSD takes time – and it won’t work in your clinic if you and your team are not able or willing to dedicate the hours.
For example, aspiring DSD Clinics who are eligible join our DSD Clinics Program which covers every aspect of systems adoption — from initial assessment to full implementation and ongoing training. While this program is estimated to last approximately 6-9 months, participants are fully accountable for the tasks involved in the process which means the exact duration will depend on how much time you are able to dedicate.Even for clinics who do DSD without being a certified DSD Clinic, being eager to learn and grow – and attending courses and other learning experiences is an important part of making DSD implementation successful.
3. You’re not able to invest in your clinic
Just as being successful with DSD takes time, it can also require a financial investment to improve your own skills, train your team and ensure that you have the equipment and set up you need. DSD is a good fit for clinics that are financially sound and able to commit to long-term improvements that add value.
4. The associate doctors in your clinic do not have the same vision as you
Given that successful implementation requires a significant financial and time investment, team alignment at leadership and clinical level is crucial. Mastering DSD won’t happen if the entire dental team doesn’t share the same goals and vision.
When your whole team is onboard, and working together towards the same aims, implementation becomes much smoother.
5. You do not see the value and benefit of planning and performing comprehensive digital dentistry
This is a mindset shift that is critical for the success of DSD in your dental office.
Seeing the best results requires you to understand the philosophy behind DSD and focus on precision, effectiveness and long-term quality rather than just upfront cost savings. It’s important to be open to change and willing to invest in making this happen – and this is where you will see success.
6. Achieving ‘Copy-paste' dentistry is not your priority
Copy-Paste Dentistry allows us to follow our initial plan right through to the end of the patient’s treatment and achieve a result that is as faithful as possible to what they were promised. To make this a reality in your cases, you will need to guided dentistry and be willing to learn how to make it part of your workflows.
Achieving this authenticity and consistency between the DSD case presentation and the final clinical result is a hallmark of successful DSD implementation. Copy-paste dentistry and guided dentistry can mean delivering excellent outcomes with less stress, and patients who feel safer in their proposed treatments.
7. You want to take shortcuts
While implementing DSD can improve and simplify your treatment plan decision making, help you achieve better and more consistent results from your lab and transform the way you connect with patients, it’s not a shortcut to achieve any of these things.
Fully mastering, implementing and seeing the results from DSD in your clinic takes time and effort and the clinics who see success are the ones that understand this. The effort is worth it and the payoffs are plentiful!
8. You want to turn around a struggling business
DSD is not the solution if your clinic is struggling and you need one last attempt to change things. DSD is not designed to ‘save’ dental offices in this type of situation.
Instead, DSD is suitable for small or medium-sized clinics who are financially stable, expanding and looking for solutions to structure and professionalize their workflows.
9. You only think about case acceptance and not about the average ticket yield
Part of making DSD work involves focusing on the long-term value of higher quality cases (average ticket amount) rather than chasing volume of cases or patients.
The lifetime value of a happy patient is worth more than a large volume of low-value cases in which the patient never comes back.
10. You can’t commit to the full workflows
Are you ready to go all in? Those who achieve the most success with DSD and see the best results are those who implement it fully. It’s not about just doing mock ups or Emotional Presentations, but implementing full workflows and strategies. That’s where the magic happens.
11. You are inconsistent in your workflows
Following on from point 10, implementing DSD successfully means implementing it consistently; DSD won’t work if you or your staff aren’t crystal clear about who is doing what and when.
Instead, making workflows a routine - with defined steps, designated staff who are accountable for each task and consistent expectations - can transform the experience for you, your team and your patients.
12. You do not trust your team, train them or delegate to them
DSD won’t work if you don't empower your team to take ownership and be part of the journey.
Offices that succeed with DSD are those in which the whole team is on board with the vision, and trained and empowered in implementation. Prioritizing staff training can help you to maximize the potential of the solutions provided, and giving them the time and space to learn, practice and carry out their new tasks is also fundamental.
In addition, our years of training teams in DSD implementation have demonstrated the importance of the DSD Coordinator role. Having this one team member who can focus solely on helping you to implement DSD can make all the difference.
13. You hope that the DSD Planning Center will 'do all the work for you'
Whether you are working with the DSD Planning Center after a DSD Provider course or a certified DSD Clinic with full access to the whole range of services and products, you as the doctor are still always the ultimate decision maker.
Dental clinics who work with the DSD Planning Center share responsibility for the work involved in their patient cases and benefit from collective intelligence.
14. You are not ready to upgrade your patient experience
DSD emphasizes creating a patient-centric experience with not just clinical techniques but ways to connect with and improve the experience for your patients. Dental clinics which are focused only on clinical outcomes without addressing Emotional Dentistry, storytelling or patient engagement may fail to achieve DSD’s full potential.
Dental offices that succeed with DSD aim to stand out by offering personalized, responsible services centered on patient experience and satisfaction.
15. You plan to use DSD as an exception, instead of considering it for all patients
When DSD is part of your workflows, it can become a standard part of how you treatment-plan every case; more eyes can benefit the patient’s treatment even when it comes to simple planning.
In a similar way, DSD is unlikely to work if you think it is only for new patients and can’t be applied to your existing patient base. The clinics who see the greatest success with DSD are already prepared for delivering comprehensive dentistry in the majority of their patient cases and have transitioned away from doing mostly family dentistry.
16. You don't invest in any type of marketing
One benefit of being a DSD Clinic is exclusive and customizable marketing content and a dedicated account manager who can offer feedback and advice for social media accounts and websites. In addition, dental clinics which complete the DSD Clinics Program are then eligible to begin the supplementary DSD marketing training program.
However, while DSD provides this support for DSD Clinics when it comes to marketing efforts, we definitely don’t do it all for them. Investing in marketing is fundamental to bring in more of your ideal patient cases.
17. You think DSD is just a selling tool
DSD is a philosophy and a way of doing dentistry that can help you to improve your efficiency and predictability while reducing stress in your dental practice. Implementing DSD is not just a way to increase the number of cases you close; it can fundamentally change the way that you, your team and your patients experience dentistry. If you see DSD as just a tool to ‘sell’, it’s likely not the right path forward for your dental office.
Is DSD right for your dental office?
If you can say ‘no’ to the 16 statements above and are interested in starting the process of mastering DSD implementation in your dental office, book your consultation call to find out your first step.
