Adding Orthodontics? 5 Key Metrics You Should Track for Practice Growth and Profitability

Tracking Metrics After Adding Orthodontics

Adding orthodontics to your dental practice allows you to expand your services in a tangible, multi-faceted way. However, to drive real growth, you need to know that you’re tracking the right metrics. 

Here are five key metrics you should monitor to measure success, understand where your practice is going, and make smart decisions.

1. Case Acceptance Rate

Case acceptance rate is one of the most important key metrics for dentists to track. This is the percentage of patients who say yes to your proposed treatment. It especially matters in orthodontic treatment, where case acceptance is often more challenging.

Getting patients on board with a filling or even a dental crown isn’t always that difficult, as there is minimal time commitment and the costs are often covered by insurance. In the case of orthodontics, though, both financial concerns and the prospect of wearing an appliance for months can deter patients.

Having a strong case acceptance rate shows that your patients trust you and that you are able to properly communicate the benefits of treatment and the downsides of avoiding treatment. If case acceptance is low, focus on bolstering these areas within your practice.

2. Production Per Orthodontic Case

Production per case is another one of the key metrics any dentist should be tracking. It’s the revenue generated per case, which can be calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of cases.

Simply going by the number of cases alone isn’t enough for a clear picture because many treatments have low revenue and don’t lead to long-term relationships. Evaluating your production per orthodontic case will help you improve pricing, efficiency, and overall value.

If production per case is low, you could consider additional orthodontic training to expand service options. As you develop the skills to take on more complex and less common cases, you open the door to being able to handle those with higher production per case.

3. Treatment Start Volume

If you’re tracking orthodontic metrics for dentists, you’ll want to make sure treatment start volume is on your list. This is simply the number of orthodontic cases you begin each month.

Orthodontic cases can take place over the course of months and even years. This means you can feel busy even if you aren’t taking on new cases, but you could find yourself with a sudden drop-off if you aren’t actually building your patient base in the meantime.

Strong treatment start volume indicates demand and growth for your new service line. Compare it month over month so that you can identify a falloff and take action before it impacts your profitability.

4. Chair Time Efficiency

When you track dental practice profitability, you don’t want to only look at total revenue. Efficiency is just as important, and you can calculate chair time efficiency by dividing production by the actual time spent. Breaking this down by type of treatment will also provide further insight into which cases are the best use of your time.

If your chair time efficiency is struggling, take a closer look at your workflows. Having organized processes supporting your orthodontic services lets you make better use of your limited time and resources.

Being able to handle more cases in a workday means higher profitability without having to add hours to your workload. Optimizing your processes, whether administration, patient onboarding, treatment, or follow-up, can equate to higher production within the same chair time.

5. Patient Retention and Referrals

The best-case scenario for any case is to build a lasting relationship with the patient. Bringing in new patients inherently carries a cost, so you want them to stick around. Tracking patient retention is important to identify when your practice needs a change of strategy.

If your patient retention is low, investigate the reasons why. Consider improving your follow-up communication to encourage patients to return for routine check-ups. Patient questionnaires can also be a great way to determine where the patient experience needs improvement.

Having a system in place to track patient referrals is also helpful. Make sure to ask new patients where they heard about your practice. If word of mouth from existing patients is a common answer, then that’s a promising indicator for your practice’s long-term growth.

Putting Your Practice on the Right Track

While treating patients is the most rewarding part of your work, it’s important to pay attention to business aspects as well. Tracking the right metrics can help you turn orthodontics into a reliable growth driver. Review these numbers regularly and don’t hesitate to adjust strategies as needed.

If you’re looking to achieve dental practice growth, orthodontics is a great pathway to explore. Ready to expand your options and build both the technical foundation and business acumen to grow your practice? 

The American Orthodontic Society (AOS) has empowered dentists for over 50 years through education, mentorship, and dedicated support. Register for an AOS course or connect with us to learn more today.