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Eleven tips for success in your dental clinic Part II: CAPS & CLIMB

Photograph: (Geralt/PixaBay)

Tue. 14. February 2017

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Today, I will share with you the knowledge I have gained within the past 25 years of managing and evolving my clinic so you can always be one step ahead and avoid mistakes I have made in the past. The third very important tip that I am going to share with you today in order to be and remain successful at your clinics is how to regain your power.

We learn a lot of things during our studies in the dental schools. We learn how to make the best fillings with great contours and biocompatible materials; how to treat a tooth that needs a root canal therapy, but do we really learn anything on how to find the best employee that will make our life and daily routine easier?

Firstly we should make a job analysis by listing the CAPS of the candidate. If we do not take the time to complete this process, we will not know from the beginning exactly what we are looking at and by this we will increase the risk of making the wrong choice.
If, for example, we go to the supermarket without our shopping list, what will we end up doing? We will most probably buy unnecessary things or even forget the things that we went in the beginning there for. My point here is that when we decide that we need to hire an employee we should know upfront what we are looking for, otherwise we might make mistakes that will cost us money and time!

Let’s have a look now what does CAPS stand for:
Capacities: The mental and physical abilities required to do the job. How smart and how strong (physically capable) must the successful applicant be?
Attitudes: such as customer service, orientation, team player, reliability, honesty, willingness to follow rules, problem-solving, loyalty, safety-consciousness, ability to follow through—Imagine having a receptionist who, although she is doing the job without a mistake, complains about everything all the time. Is that a person that you would love to have as part of your team?
Personality: traits such as competitiveness, assertiveness, attention to detail and sociability—Also search whether the person will manage his or her personality to get the job done, since as social scientists declare about 60 per cent of our personality traits are inherited and most of them are set by age nine. In other words: personality can’t be taught and it doesn’t change much over time.
Skills: Expertise required to do the job—Skills are the easiest job requirements to identify. We could do that by asking the candidate to perform certain tests. For example, if we are trying to find a receptionist we could ask her to translate an article, or through role playing to check how she responds in certain scenarios.

Have always in mind the quote ‘we hire them for the skills but we fire them for their attitudes’!

So finally we found our A-star employees and now what do we have to do in order to keep them?
The fourth very essential tip of today’s article that I would love to share with you is the different ways that we can use to retain our A-star employees.

Apply CLIMB to retain your team!

Now let’s explain a little what does exactly the acronym CLIMB stands for:
Challenge: Studies have shown that the main reason that our employees resign is that they are dissatisfied with their tasks. That’s why we should give them challenging duties to accomplish. And what will the result be? They will feel useful and they will find it difficult to leave from a job that offers them different and unique experiences.
Loyalty: Be human with your employees and do not be afraid that you will lose your power. Show interest in their problems and lay back in times that they cannot handle any more pressure.
Investment: Invest time and money to them so they will feel appreciated. During my lectures I get regularly the question that we reward them by giving them bonus and still they are not motivated enough, what shall we do? My answer here is that you must renew your reward system regularly.

Sometimes you can give them cash (as bonuses) or maybe you can offer them other kind of incentives, like buying them a free trip for vacation on Christmas, for example. Research has proven that the more powerful and effective incentives are the ones that are specific, tangible and non-cash.

Also please remember to ‘Reward not the best in sales but the best’ A major mistake that we usually do is to only reward the ones that bring money to our clinics. Instead we should reward the best in our practices, the ones that are completing their tasks in excellence unconditionally to what this task is.
Measurement: Conduct a fair performance appraisal every six months.
Building: Demonstrate your commitment to them by showing them opportunities of career development.

During the next issue we will analyse two new tips that will reveal new opportunities and potential of our dental clinics. Till then, remember that not only are you the dentist in your clinic, but you are also the manager and the leader.

You can always send me your questions and request for more information and guidance at:
dba@yiannikosdental.com or via our Facebook account.

Looking forward to our next trip of business growth and educational development!

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New Zealand Dental Association wants more dental students

According to the New Zealand Dental Association, dental services in the country risk being overwhelmed without additional graduates entering the profession. (Image: hdesert/Adobe Stock)

Thu. 4. December 2025

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand: Besides a persistent dental crisis, New Zealand is facing an annual migration net loss of tens of thousands of young working age adults. However, according to the New Zealand Dental Association (NZDA), most dentists who complete their training in the country remain in the domestic dental workforce. The association is urging the government to expand dental training places by 50%, warning that the current shortage of practitioners is undermining access to care, particularly in smaller towns and rural areas.

As the country marked National Oral Health Day in November, NZDA President Dr David Excell emphasised in a press release that nearly half of New Zealanders have not visited a dentist in the past 12 months and that one-fifth of those who did book an appointment faced a waiting time of at least four weeks. “That’s unacceptable for a country that values health equity,” Dr Excell said.

The association’s new Roadmap Towards Better Oral Health identifies workforce shortages and regional imbalances as key barriers to improving access and turning the tables on a deepening dental crisis. Although the overall number of dentists in New Zealand has increased over the past decade, the report shows that the ratio of dentists to population has actually declined, a trend that is acutely felt in rural areas and smaller regional centres. In some areas, the number of dentists per capita is only a third of that in major urban centres, the report states. Dentists working in underserved regions report heavy workloads, extended hours, and difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff—factors that contribute to increased stress and burn-out across the profession.

Data cited in the report shows that between 2012 and 2024 New Zealand’s population aged 15 and over grew from 3.5 million to 4.4 million, while the number of practising dentists rose from 2,127 to 2,724. Despite this, the ratio of dentists to population fell by almost 5%, and dentists are estimated to be working around 19% more hours each week on average. According to the NZDA, this pattern points to a workforce that is already stretched simply to keep up with rising demand.

Regional figures underline the inequities. By 2024, around six in seven New Zealand health service regions had 45 or fewer full-time equivalent dentists per 100,000 adults—a level that other countries have associated with serious difficulties in access, recruitment and retention. A 2022 NZDA survey also reported that roughly three in five dentists in rural practices and around two in five in urban and suburban practices considered their workload heavier than they would like and that more rural practitioners reported poor mental health.

Investing in dental care now to safeguard the future of oral health

Dr Excell said the most effective immediate step would be to increase dental student intake. “We need more dentists, better distributed. It’s that simple,” he argued. Increasing annual graduate numbers from 60 to 90, he said, would help build a sustainable workforce pipeline to serve communities nationwide, including those outside the main cities, where recruitment remains challenging.

According to the NZDA, delivering on the Roadmap’s workforce proposal is not merely a matter of convenience. It is critical to prevent further deterioration in oral health outcomes and to protect equal access to care. The association’s call for a 50% increase in new dental graduates underscores a growing urgency and is framed as “an investment in the dental workforce of the future”. Without additional graduates entering the profession, the NZDA warns, the current system risks being overwhelmed, putting both patients and practitioners under unsustainable pressure.

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