Dental hygienists in private practice

[timwatley]

Does anybody know how much money a private practice can make off a hygienist? How profitable are cleanings? Hygienist salaries are anywhere from 40-60 and I just don't see cleanings being that profitable. Maybe they are though.

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[NDPitch]

Does anybody know how much money a private practice can make off a hygienist? How profitable are cleanings? Hygienist salaries are anywhere from 40-60 and I just don't see cleanings being that profitable. Maybe they are though.

The practice that I shadowed had a lot of their revenue come from hygiene. If hygiene wasn't profitable, I don't think you'd see it in offices as much. Not to mention, it establishes your patient base a lot of times.

 

[wired202808]

Does anybody know how much money a private practice can make off a hygienist? How profitable are cleanings? Hygienist salaries are anywhere from 40-60 and I just don't see cleanings being that profitable. Maybe they are though.

x

 

[timwatley]

The practice that I shadowed had a lot of their revenue come from hygiene. If hygiene wasn't profitable, I don't think you'd see it in offices as much. Not to mention, it establishes your patient base a lot of times.

Hmmm, interesting. Every time I go in for a cleaning at a small practice it's pretty quick and effortless. Makes me wonder if a well organized schedule could make it possible for the dentist to do all of hygienist's work.

 

[Seamonkey Doc]

The practice that I shadowed had a lot of their revenue come from hygiene. If hygiene wasn't profitable, I don't think you'd see it in offices as much. Not to mention, it establishes your patient base a lot of times.

I noticed the same thing at the place I shadowed.

 

[DHURT]

It's their bread & butter. Why do you think the ADA is mainly reluctant to expand collaborative practices?

 

[timwatley]

It's their bread & butter. Why do you think the ADA is mainly reluctant to expand collaborative practices?

I don't think it's their bread and butter - Root canals and restorative work.

 

[Tootyfruity]

you don't really make that much off of cleanings

you need them to expand/keep your client base

once your practice is large enough, you can hire someone for that

you can't really turn people away for routine scaling and then expect them to turn around and give you a grand for a crown

 

[wizi]

Does anybody know how much money a private practice can make off a hygienist? How profitable are cleanings? Hygienist salaries are anywhere from 40-60 and I just don't see cleanings being that profitable. Maybe they are though.

You should ask this question on Dentaltown forum. Those townies are the best...

 

[Jackson-Ave-Dental]

Does anybody know how much money a private practice can make off a hygienist? How profitable are cleanings? Hygienist salaries are anywhere from 40-60 and I just don't see cleanings being that profitable. Maybe they are though.

You were at a clinic or a place that took crappy insurance probably.

I've fortunately had the opportunity to view both sides... I live in a crummy neighborhood so my longtime dentist took crummy insurance. Cleanings for me took about 15-20 mins max. Now at the office where I work at is much more affluent and we reserve an hour for every prophy. The hygenist gets paid around $45-50 probably and we charge 165$ for a cleaning.

If you take into account just the cleaning with 4 BWs here and there... I honestly do not think that you make that much on it... you might even be losing some lol. Its not so much about how much the hygenist produces. Its about recalling the patients back in to see if they have any restorative work, which needs to be done. If you just do 3-4 CRs a day you can practically just go home afterwards because you'll be in the deep deep green 😀

You can think of it as a squirrel burying an acorn to dig it back up later. We're just checking back on what's left there from the coca cola company.

 

[Impulse155]

My moms a dental hygienist and makes around 60 a year. She works 3 days a week and one a month sat's. Not too bad of you ask me.

 

[dantemac]

Search for the SDN thread called "Let's buy a dental practice". Several dentists discuss how much of % hygiene should be in an office.

 

[timwatley]

You should ask this question on Dentaltown forum. Those townies are the best...

Yeah I thought of that right after I posted here and got a pretty good answer.

 

[timwatley]

Search for the SDN thread called "Let's buy a dental practice". Several dentists discuss how much of % hygiene should be in an office.

I've read parts of that thread but it was too long for me to finish haha. I'll try and pinpoint that info though, thanks.

 

[wired202808]

I've read parts of that thread but it was too long for me to finish haha. I'll try and pinpoint that info though, thanks.

I think that hygienists bring in a ton of $$$ for a business, but it depends on what type of calculations and overhead % you use. So some businesses make % look different, but I think that they bring in tons of cash if they are leveraged properly.

 

[timwatley]

I think that hygienists bring in a ton of $$$ for a business, but it depends on what type of calculations and overhead % you use. So some businesses make % look different, but I think that they bring in tons of cash if they are leveraged properly.

Agreed. A guy on dentaltown was saying something about how he uses 2 Hygienists and somehow makes more money that way. Sounds like a busy practice to me.

 

[KittySquared]

Depends on if you hire full time or part time hygienists. Benefits and such all factor in there.

That hour of e.g.

4BWX ($45) + Prophy ($120) = $165.

Even if you pay your hygienist $50, you're still making over $100 an hour off that cleaning. Overall, it's very profitable. Sure, not as much as an implant or denture case but while the dentist is doing the more "important" procedures, the prophies are constantly happening in the background. If you have 25 patients, that's around $1750-2875 a day, give or take some x-rays and stuff in this scenario. Not a bad day.