Hey there, dental professionals and industry enthusiasts.
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attendees and learned from more than 80 speakers
who are at the forefront of dental innovation.
You sat in on educational sessions exploring topics
that elevate dental care as a critical element
of whole person health. You've witnessed firsthand how
digital technology is revolutionizing
patient outcomes
and how both large DSOs and independent practices
are flourishing.
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fall future of dentistry roundtable is from October
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Hello. This is Arianna Portallatin with the Becker's
Dental and Dental Review podcast.
I'm thrilled to be joined today by Doctor.
Tamika Nickelberry of TLN Family and Cosmetic Dentistry.
Doctor. Nickelberry, thank you so much for being
here today. Thank you for having me. Yeah.
To start off, can you introduce yourself and
tell us a little bit about your background?
Sure.
I am a general dentist practicing in the
Houston area.
I've been practicing since
2,005.
I currently own 3 de novo locations.
I started my own practice around 2009,
and have just been,
kind of trending in the de novo space
since then. I acquired a practice about midway
through, and eventually
sold that practice. And so now I'm just
focused
on my practices, growing my practices, growing my
doctors,
really trying to enhance, and increase the patient
experience.
Great. Thank you for that. And what are
some of the biggest issues that you're following
in the dental industry that's here?
One of the things I think that has
become a big issue is just building a
team.
I think it's become more challenging
to build a
qualified,
capable, and loyal team that really loves the
practice
of dentistry and loves patient care.
Something has happened since COVID, and that has
just made that more of a challenge where
you've got team members that,
you know, I think are harder to please,
that are just looking for something different, trying
to figure out whether or not dentistry is
really for them. Through the Through those type
of teams delivering excellent patient care has just
become more
difficult.
I also think insurance participation versus practice profitability
is a really big issue in dentistry
right now, being a really big issue in
dentistry right now, being a
profitability is a really big issue in dentistry
right now. Being able to stay in network
and stay profitable,
along with the rising cost of staff wages,
or having to make the decision to go
out of network,
and then figure out how you can continue
to be busy and profitable is also a
major issue in dentistry right now.
Okay. Yeah. Is that a decision that you've
had to make at your practice as far
as staying at network or leaving a network?
You know, it's something that we've gone back
and forth with. We are predominantly
in network providers, but I do have some
of my associates that we have tried to
go out of network with.
And it has not come without its challenges.
Mostly just getting the team
up to speed and well versed on how
to
relay that message to the patient
in a way that they can understand it
and makes the patient want to stay and
be a part of the practice,
patient
the team up to speed so that they
can relay that message to the patient effectively
is really
an issue. I think one of the solutions
to that, however, is
learning a skill set to provide dentistry
outside of what insurances typically cover. And that's
your implants, your cosmetic cases, your clear aligners,
things that really build value for the patients
that may not be within the confines of
their insurance plan.
Right.
Okay. And regarding some of the staffing challenges
that you mentioned,
earlier in your response, are there any specific
roles that are particularly being affected at your
practice?
I think we're all seeing the crunch for
getting,
hygienists
on board. Hygienists
are really starting to matriculate
in
the temporary space where they would rather fill
their weeks with,
you know, part times here and there, or
temping,
instead of committing to a full time engagement
with the office. So we have definitely
felt that we're having to be creative by
way of using,
you know, new graduate dentists to help back
fill some of our hygiene, where they're able
to,
you know, turn treatment out of hygiene range.
So that's definitely been an issue.
But not just that, I think, just in
totality,
just finding assistants
that truly love dentistry and love patients.
That is something that I'm big on. I'm
big on the patient experience.
I am big on making sure they're having
an exceptional experience and getting amazing dental care
that is beyond the quality and the standard
passionate about that. So, you may find team
members, but a lot of times, it's, this
is just my job. I just want to
do my job. But, you know, we're looking
for people that want to go beyond that,
that want to continue doing continuing education, and
just really want to
Okay.
All
Okay. All right.
And I'm also curious, what are you most
excited about when it comes to dentistry right
now, and what makes you nervous?
I'm most excited
about the opportunity for growth in dentistry.
I
still think this is an amazing space to
be in. The opportunity to grow your practice,
whether it is just growing your practice within
the walls of the location that you have,
or whether it's expanding
to other de novos or practice acquisitions, I
still think the opportunity is really amazing for
that. And so, I'm very excited about that.
I'm very excited about the scalability
of dentistry
and just doing it the right way.
I think the thing that makes me the
most nervous is kind of relates back to
the teams,
is having teams to grow with. While this
is an amazing
opportunity and space to grow in, you have
to have the people.
I am nervous about some of the talent
that's being released in the marketplace,
and just our ability to
effectively
grow and groom that talent. I think there
is a lot of growth and grooming that
needs to happen. A lot of education,
a lot of enhancement
of skill sets for the team. So, I'm
nervous about the ability to do that, having
the platforms for that and really being able
to see that through so that you are
able
to take advantage of this opportunity for growth,
but do it the right way with a
high standard and a high level of care.
Okay.
And last question here. What will the most
effective healthcare leaders need to be successful in
the next 2 to 3 years?
Hands down, I think the ability to lead
and build a team. I think everything flows
through that. I think if you can
acquire a team, train the team,
build a team,
create an amazing work culture for them, and
lead them through that, everything else will take
care of itself. They will then be motivated
to get the continuing education they need. They'll
be motivated
to go above the call of duty to
serve patients. If you can nail down that
piece of building the team, and learning how
to really lead them and meet them where
they are, and create a culture
that makes them want to come to work,
that makes them want to be a part
of the dental space,
I think nothing but excellence comes after that.
Great.
Well, thank you for joining us today, Doctor.
Nickleberry. It's been a pleasure speaking with you,
and I look forward to connecting with you
again in the future.
Fantastic. Thank you so much for having me.
I enjoyed it.