These dental practices do great things. Yours can, too.

Dental expertise, customer service know-how and business savvy are all crucial to running a successful dental practice. But some dental professionals take their concept of service up a notch. Here’s our list of innovators that go above and beyond through community service and patient care.

Helping out: These dental practices make service a priority.

We’d like to give a shout out to a few dental practices that use their expertise to solve the oral health problems of people in need.

Smiley Dental: Operation Smiley

Smiley Dental of Dallas, Texas has been donating their services to people in need every holiday season since 2013. They’ve donated over $250,000 worth of services since they started the program. We’re giving Smiley Dental a great big thumbs up for their outstanding service.

Kool Smiles: Operation Troop Treats

Every year, nationwide dental network Kool Smiles gives kids toys in exchange for their Halloween candy. The candy is then put in care packages for members of the armed services who are serving overseas. The troops get a taste of home, the kids get cool toys and healthier teeth, and Kool Smiles gets our kudos for serving the community in multiple ways.

Comfort Dental/Dr. Rick and Cindy Kushner Scholarship Fund

Each year, the Comfort Dental/Dr. Rick and Cindy Kushner Scholarship Fund provides $50,000 in scholarships to dental students. Established by Dr. Kushner, the fund is an outstanding way to give back and help educate a new generation of outstanding dentists.

Dr. Field Harrison of Mint Dentistry

Mint Dentistry and its founder, Dr. Field Harrison, participate in a great deal of philanthropy. Dr. Harrison donates his services to provide dental care to wounded veterans, and the organization supports various charities. We can’t wait to see the great projects this fast-growing practice takes on in the future.

The latest and greatest: These dental practices stay on top of health, science and tech.

Dr. Clint Herzog of Floss Dental

As the owner of Floss Dental, Dr. Clint Herzog is more than a dentist. This innovator seeks to bring a unique, comfortable dental experience to his patients while keeping up with the latest technology. We think Dr. Herzog’s focus on patient comfort and health—as well as his business concepts—are worthy of attention, and Dallas Business Journal agrees. Dr. Herzog was named one of the journal’s 40 Under 40 in 2013.

Familia Dental

Familia Dental is noteworthy for its outstanding attention to the unique challenges its patients face in their dental health. Its blog features articles about dental problems and includes information that relates to patients’ overall health. Familia Dental’s focus on the whole patient is admirable.

Jefferson Dental

Jefferson Dental is an outstanding dental practice that makes research a top priority. Their blog includes links to the latest research, such as a study that links gum disease to a risk of breast cancer. Their concern for their patients’ overall health as well as dental health is an example of true holistic dentistry.

West Coast Dental

By incorporating the latest technology into their offices, West Coast Dental provides a state-of-the-art patient experience. Digital X-rays, chairside oral scanning and intraoral cameras all make for a high-tech dental-office experience that increases oral health and boosts the patient’s confidence in the dental professional.

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What could your dental practice do with more time and money?

Just by owning a practice, private practice dentists have already proven that they’re capable of doing great things. But time and money often get in the way of big dreams. Now there’s a great way to save both while working on one of the unavoidable parts of practice ownership—hiring. Imagine keeping more of your profits and having more time to work on your business. What could you accomplish?

Want more resources to pursue your goals? Check your hiring practices.

If you’re still using a dental staffing agency or a dental hygiene temp agency to fill your gaps, consider how much time you spend searching when you need a dental hygienist or a dental assistant. You’re at the mercy of the temp agency when you need dental support staff. By the time the dental temp agency gets back to you, you may have already lost income by having to cancel appointments. If the agency sends someone you can’t work with (and that’s always a risk), you may have to go back to the agency for someone else, which will cost you even more time. These are just some of the cons of working with such an agency.

When you fill your dental temp jobs through a staffing firm, you’re spending more money than necessary, too. Most dental temp agencies charge you a percentage of the dental professional’s hourly rate. And if you choose to hire one of the agency’s professionals for a permanent position, you’ll pay hefty permanent placement fees.

Here’s a breakdown of the annual cost of hiring temporary help using the most common avenues, based on personal experience and conversations with actual dental practice owners:

$2,300 – Average amount spent on markups from temp staffing agencies per year.

$4,800 – Average cost of time spent with self-help per year. This is assigning your staff to look through social media and other public sources to try to find help in pinch. It’s a time consuming misallocation of your resources.

$7,100 – Estimate of average total cost of temporary hiring per year.

There is a better way. Cloud Dentistry is here to help.

If you’d like to save time and money on hiring, you can leave dental staffing agencies behind for good. Now there’s a way to connect directly with dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, office personnel and specialists in real time. Dental practices can view profiles, check schedules, read reviews and communicate with dental professionals in real time. That means you choose who you want to hire without the wait or the markup.

Here’s what one of our early adopters has to say:

“In just a few short months, I’ve already used Cloud Dentistry to book nearly 20 temporary dentists, including an endodontist and an anesthesiologist. The whole process was quick and easy. And it cost me less than one-tenth of what I would have paid through the placement agencies I was using before. Nothing else on the market can compare.”
–Ali Khan, DDS, Smile Doctors

Browse our database of providers free. Connect with dental professionals in real time for a small 30-day access fee. If you’re ready to save time and money so your dental practice can do great things, try Cloud Dentistry, the high-tech hiring platform that gives you total control at a much lower cost than a temp agency.

Dr. Reza Sanjar is a co-founder of Cloud Dentistry, LLC and co-owner of Dental Art in Katy, Texas. His years of experience as a dentist and dental practice owner give him unique insights that inform the practices of Cloud Dentistry. A graduate of Boston University and Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Sanjar has been practicing dentistry since 2009. He knows the industry well and is pleased to bring the benefits of Cloud Dentistry to other dental practices and dental professionals.