Faster Without Cutting Corners: The New Dentist's Production Playbook

About this Guide

Almost every new dentist hears it in year 1: "You need to pick up the pace."

It usually comes with no detail. So most people do the only thing they can think of. They try to move their hands faster.

That's the change most likely to cost you quality, and the least likely to save you time.

The real problem

"You're slow" is a total, not a diagnosis. You can't fix a total. You can fix the 1 step inside it that eats the time.

Some of that total isn't yours at all. Who fills the schedule, which cases reach your chair, and how production gets counted belong to the office.

**Production is not the same as speed.** It depends on which cases reach your chair, whether patients understand and agree, whether the work is done once, and how long each step takes. Hand speed is only part of the last one.

What you'll get

• **The gate:** a 1 week check to see if the problem is actually yours
• **6 levers, in order:** Diagnose, Standardize, Share, Explain, Repair, Expand
• **A leak finder:** 6 questions that point to the real cause
• **20+ scripts** for your owner, your assistant, your lab and your patients
• **12 changes** you can make this week, with no permission, equipment or course
• **4 stories** from real life and **5 places** good dentists disagree
• **A 90 day plan** with checklists, 1 change at a time

Written for dentists in their first 5 years. Also useful for owners and mentors helping a new dentist ramp up.

Where to start

If this is you Start here

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Someone said "you're slow" today The quick answer, the gate, then find the leak. 10 minutes.

Every appointment runs over Lever 1, then the 12 changes

Patients don't say yes Lever 4 and "When the talk stalls"

You're about to buy a course Lever 6 and its 4 questions

You feel pushed to rush "When faster turns into cutting corners"

**The key rule:** Take the time out of the waiting, the searching and the redoing. Never out of the dentistry.

This guide is for education only. It is not individual clinical, legal, financial or employment advice.

Faster is a result, not a method

The busiest schedule in the building can still produce very little. Real speed comes from less waiting, less searching and less redoing. Not from faster hands.

What "faster" should mean:

• **Less waiting** for the room, the anesthetic, or a missing instrument
• **Less searching.** Same order every time, so nobody guesses
• **Less redoing.** A crown that seats the first time is the fastest crown
• **More of the right work.** A full day of quick exams is busy, not productive

The corners you never cut

If 1 of these is your slowest step, start it earlier or prepare for it. Never shorten it.

• **Anesthetic time.** Give it earlier
• **Isolation.** Set it up faster. Never skip it
• **Caries removal endpoint.** Done when it's done
• **Margins, contacts and bite.** Check every time
• **Informed consent.** A rushed yes isn't consent
• **Notes.** Same day, with your reasoning

Step 1: Check it's actually yours

Before you spend 3 months on speed, spend 1 week checking that speed is the real limit.

Yours Shared The office's

--- --- ---

Your routine and step order Appointment lengths Filling the schedule

How you explain findings Assistant training Cancellations and no shows

What you redo Kit counts Which cases come to you

What you hand off and check Who reviews your cases How production is counted

**Say this to the owner:** "Can you show me how my production is calculated, with scheduled, completed, canceled and collected on separate lines? I want to know which part is mine to work on."

If nobody can separate those numbers, nobody can tell whether your problem is clinical. Getting faster won't change that.

Step 2: Find the slow step

Don't time yourself while you work. Ask your assistant to note the clock at 4 moments on 6 similar fillings:

1. You walk in

2. The bur touches the tooth

3. You start placing the restoration

4. The patient leaves the chair

**Say this to your assistant:** "For the next 6 fillings, could you jot down the time at these 4 moments? I'm trying to find where my time goes, not grade anyone."

Then read the times:

• **Always long** points to technique or equipment
• **Swings from case to case** points to setup or a system problem
• **Slow on simple cases too** points to setup, routine or ergonomics
• **Slow only on hard cases** is a mentor conversation, not a clock one

The 6 levers, in order

Lever What it means

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1. Diagnose Find the slow step

2. Standardize 1 routine, judged by the result

3. Share Hand it off, then check it

4. Explain Understanding, not pressure

5. Repair Count what you do twice

6. Expand Add range where results hold

Everyone grabs lever 6 first. A new procedure on top of an untimed routine and an untrained assistant isn't more production. It's a new source of redo work.

Do this, not this

Do this Not this

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Set the room before you sit down Stand in the room waiting for it

Give the anesthetic, then leave the room Sit still while it takes effect

Present the plan with the patient sitting up Talk while they're numb and reclined

Say the fee, then stop talking Offer a discount nobody asked for

Ask "How would you describe this at home?" Ask "Does that make sense?"

Photograph the prep before a remake Switch labs and hope

Change 1 thing for 2 weeks Change 3 things at once

**Say this when a patient came in for 1 tooth:** "What brought you in today? Once we've taken care of that, would it be okay if I showed you the other things I'm seeing, which ones are urgent and which can wait?"

Your first week

• Ask how production is measured, with each number on its own line
• Get 4 clock times on 6 similar fillings
• Start a redo log in your phone: date, procedure, what went wrong
• Pick your slowest step. Change 1 thing. Time it again in 2 weeks

What's in the full guide

• The gate: 3 checks and what a fair ramp looks like
• A full page on each of the 6 levers, with red and green flags
• The leak finder: 6 questions that rule causes in or out
• "When the talk stalls": scripts for 8 moments patients push back
• All 12 changes you can make this week
• 4 questions to ask before you pay for any course
• Red flags that the office, not you, is the problem
• 15 common mistakes, plus the questions to ask and who can answer them
• 4 stories from real life and 5 places good dentists disagree
• The 90 day plan, week by week, with checklists

**Download the Full Guide** to get the complete toolbox.

Guide Information

Chairlink Guides are general educational and informational resources. They are not medical, dental, legal, financial, employment or other professional advice.

This Guide discusses clinical topics. It is not patient-specific advice and does not replace professional judgment, diagnosis, treatment planning, consultation, or applicable standards of care.