Dental Practice Tip: How to Implement New Technology in the Workplace

Modern technology has completely revolutionized the way we do endodontics. From operating microscopes, to cone beam technology, to canal-cleaning instruments like the GentleWave System and dental laser, we now have so many tools at our disposal that make doing root canals easier, safer, and more comfortable than ever before.

That said, adopting new technology in your practice isn’t exactly an easy process. It’s an investment of not just money, but also time and energy, which can feel like such a huge barrier that you don’t even want to get started in the first place. Rest assured, however, that the journey is well worth the benefits you’ll experience in your practice for many years to come!

Three Phases of Implementing New Technology in the Workplace

Understanding how to implement new technology in the workplace really comes down to knowing what to expect throughout the process, so let’s review what I see as the three primary phases of integrating new technology into your practice.

Phase 1: Confronting Your Limiting Beliefs

The first phase of bringing any new technology into your practice is having to confront your limiting beliefs about the value of the tool itself. Even after you’ve made the financial investment, there are often lingering doubts about whether it was a worthy purchase and whether you can justify charging your patients for it. This is usually true no matter how many good things you’ve heard about the technology!
When I first got my cone beam (CBCT), I was NOT sold on its value to my practice. Even though I had made the purchase and was one of the first endodontists in my community to adopt it, I was afraid to charge my patients for it because I didn’t really understand the impact it could have on my diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up with patients.

What’s important to understand is that this part of implementing new technology in the workplace is entirely normal, and it’s a product of simply being new to the equipment. When you lack experience using the tool and don’t yet fully understand how to leverage it, it’s natural for you to feel as if you can’t charge more for it—or even doubt that it was a good purchase at all! How could you possibly put a price tag on the benefits when you aren’t able to see them yet? 

Rest assured that, as you start using the technology and integrating it into your workflow, you will begin to recognize its full value to your practice and patients and gain confidence in raising your prices to match it.

Phase 2: Dealing with Workflow Disruption

Speaking of your workflow, the second phase of implementing new technology into the workplace is dealing with workflow disruption. Like anything new, adding a microscope, rotary file system, cone beam, or GentleWave to your practice is going to come with a bit of a learning curve. It doesn’t have to be a big piece of equipment to make a big impact!

To some extent, that’s par for the course, right? You can’t expect to be an expert in a tool you’ve hardly, if ever, used! But don’t underestimate the domino effect of bottlenecks and schedule disturbances that ensue because of it. If we’re being honest, it does take a while before you start to get the hang of things and find a new flow that works for your team.

That said, please don’t let that discourage you from adopting the technology. I know it can feel daunting to march into chaos that’s guaranteed to happen, but it’s crucial to remember that this phase is temporary. After some time, you WILL work out the kinks, and the technology-boosted workflow that emerges on the other time will not only better support you, but also your patients!

Phase 3: Finding New Uses and Revenue Streams

If you can hang on through the first couple of phases, your reward is that you’ll finally enter the third, final, and most exciting phase of implementing new technology in the workplace: finding new uses and revenue streams! That’s the benefit of sticking it out and investing time in fully learning how to use your new technology—you begin to understand exactly how to leverage it to benefit your practice and patients.

Let me return to my cone beam as an example. Early on in my adoption of the CBCT, I would primarily use it for diagnosis, keeping the images to myself because I thought I was the only one who could benefit from seeing them. But as I continued to use the technology in my practice, I started to see the advantages of reviewing the images alongside my patient and using it as a tool to both facilitate communication and educate the patient on what was going on inside their mouth. From there, it wasn’t hard at all to justify charging more for the technology, as it was clearly bringing so much value to my patients.

Here’s another example: When I first started using the GentleWave System, I thought its only function would be to help me clean out canals. Boy was I wrong. With time, I discovered that it could not only get canals squeaky clean, but also help me find them in the first place! Not only that, but the power of the GentleWave also helped me reduce my chair time, decrease the number of visits needed for treatment, and even bring down patients’ post-op sensitivity. That’s a heck of a lot of value that I would have never uncovered had I let the technology sit in the corner collecting dust.

Stay the Course and Reap the Rewards

So, what’s the main takeaway in terms of how to implement new technology in the workplace? It’s that plucking up the courage to stay the course, even when things get tough, can bring incredible benefits to your practice. That’s true of more than just adopting new technology, too! That old saying may be cliché, but it’s true nonetheless: Things worth having don’t necessarily come easy. Sometimes you have to withstand a little temporary discomfort to reap the rewards.

Adopting technology is just one way in which you can invite incredible transformation into your practice. My upcoming vision-to-actualization course for dental providers and practice owners, Heal Your Practice, can help you build leadership skills, optimize your efficiency, and uplevel your customer service so you can take even further steps toward creating a practice and career you love.

Join the waitlist today and be the first to know when the course becomes available!

– Sonia