If you’ve been reading my articles for awhile, you’ve heard me mention that you must know your Perio Percentage.  Every consultant has a slightly different way of calculating this percentage but they all come down to comparing perio procedures to prophies.

So where do you stand? In my opinion, this is the single most important indicator of the growth potential of your hygiene department.  It’s easy to find out with a simple tool.

I’m happy to share our Perio Calculator Tool with you.  Click here to download the tool. With a 12 month production report this tool will help you determine your perio percentage in just a few minutes with no cumbersome calculations.

Once you’ve determined your perio percentage, it’s time to take a look at what that number means.

If your percentage is below 15%-then your perio program needs immediate attention. Most of your patients are receiving prophies and there is a good chance that there is a lot of untreated periodontal disease among your patient base. A low perio percentage is one indicator that it is time to evaluate the quality of diagnostic care occurring in hygiene. The 1st step to increasing perio treatment is making the diagnosis. This is of course a team effort between the hygienist and the doctor. The hygiene team collects all the data and educates the patient and the doctor confirms the findings and the diagnosis.

If your percentage is between 20 and 30%-you are doing better than most practices. Perio maintenance also keeps perio percentage at a healthy level so be sure that all patients that are enrolled in active therapy are aware of and committed to ongoing maintenance. If you are at this level, take a look at the perio program and see where you could shore up a few systems to increase enrollment and take it to the next level.

If your perio percentage is over 30-40%-you are delivering a very high level of quality care and should be very proud of this accomplishment. Continue to review your protocol at least twice a year to be sure you are on the cutting edge with techniques and adjunctive services.

If you’d like to explore how to increase your perio percentage and hygiene productivity along the way, check out www.PerioWorkshop.com or email Gretchen@InspiredHygiene.com to schedule a time for us to talk.

Stay Inspired,

Rachel