Impact of COVID on Dental Clinics
The impacts of COVID have changed the shape of the dental industry.
It is vital to ensure your clinic has responded to the needs of patients safely as the industry begins to recover.
It is a great time to start thinking about the future!
Here are things to consider when developing your clinic:
Oral Health inequalities
The influence of COVID had a more severe impact on those who have poorer health outcomes.
These people can come from ethnic minority backgrounds, people from deprived areas, and people with disabilities.
In the future, practices will need to consider the demographic of their area in depth.
Becoming more accessible for all people will have a more significant impact when attracting new patients.
Workforce impact and retention
There have been concerns over the impact of the dental workforce post COVID.
They are shown in the decrease of graduates and pressure of both NHS and private dentists to consider leaving their profession.
Higher charges, fewer staff and redundancies expectedÂ
Consider new accessibility for patients
Due to constant changes in regulations, dental services have been severely limited.
This is due to:
- Appointments being cancelled or postponed
- Less than 50% are aware of urgent dental care
- Only one in ten patients contacted by their Dentist during lockdown
This shows that some practices need to develop new ways of reaching patients more efficiently.
Dental clinics have begun to think about the future with the assistance of Dental business consultants.
The best way of tracking your progress and building towards the future.
One of the leaders in dental consulting is Dental Wealth Builder.
Multiple media appearances including BBC, all seasons of Extreme Makeover UK, This Morning and national newspapers.
Influence of evolving online services
There are some positives to consider due to the pandemic.
Some developments have been accelerated as a result of this:
- Acquiring skills of all members of the dental team
- Remote consultations/Prioritisation of medical care
- Digital options help with low capacity / Acknowledging changes to public and patients
- Improvement of communication / Practical support
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