Presented by Gary DeWood
Sponsored by Academy Financial

In this interactive program Gary will discuss the 4 riddles that all dental teams must solve to achieve success. The Patient Riddle, the Technical Riddle, the Behavioral Riddle, and the Financial Riddle.

THE PATIENT RIDDLE – Who is this person, why are they here, why me, why now, what are they after, what are their expectations? ….. Knowing the answers to these questions enables the team to connect and to serve. Service is the key to creating missionaries for your practice.

THE TECHNICAL RIDDLE – What is the appropriate solution to the problem this patient presents with? There is only one correct diagnosis – there are multiple solutions. How does the conscientious dentist arrive at the appropriate one for each patient?

THE BEHAVIORAL RIDDLE – If it were all about telling patients what was in their interest and doing it every dental practice would be infinitely successful. Helping patients come to ownership of a problem for which they desire a solution, or helping them see and understand their health in a different way requires behavioral skills and practice.

THE FINANCIAL RIDDLE – Unless the practice is a FREE dental clinic everyone involved needs to make a living. It is the responsibility of the leader to see that the practice is profitable. It’s not possible to just do the dentistry – you must get paid for it. It’s not possible to leave it to your accountant to tell you how expenses are – you must monitor it. The dentist has 3 jobs in most practices, dentist, manager, and entrepreneur – all of us do number 1, some of us do number 2, few of us do number 3.

Speaker:

Gary DeWood has been practicing general dentistry for 32 years, focusing the majority of his time on teaching for the past 10 years after leaving his private practice in Pemberville, Ohio.  He served as Clinical Director at the Pankey Institute for 5 years and held appointments as Assistant Clinical Professor at The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Associate Professor at The University of Tennessee College of Dentistry prior to joining Frank Spear’s education company, The Seattle Institute, in 2008 as its President. With the merger of The Seattle Institute and The Scottsdale Center for Dentistry in 2009, he relocated to Phoenix, Arizona and assumed his present position with the newly formed Spear Education.  He and orthodontist wife, Cheryl, have 3 children, the youngest of whom is currently pursuing a career in dentistry as a student at Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine in Glendale, Arizona. Gary lectures internationally on esthetics, occlusion, appliance therapy, the business of dentistry, and making connections with patients. He is an active member of: Central Arizona Dental Society, Arizona Dental Association, American Dental Association, Academy of General Dentistry, American Equilibration Association, American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics, and American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.