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We all know the benefits of dental radiology so I won’t go into that but here are some basic sums:
Maintenance costs are next to none unless you use a new disposable sleeve for each film exposed (we reuse them till they disintegrate which is a long time). Sure there are some time/labour costs to factor in (it takes us from 3-4 minutes for a cat up to about 10 minutes for a large dog to get a full mouth series) but those costs are passed directly to the client.
You bet.
Our 2 ½ vet regional practice currently bills out over $2000 in dental radiology per month so that’s more like 4-5 patients per week. Some weeks we will x-ray well over 10 patients.
We all know the stats of how many cats and dogs walk into our clinics with dental disease.
Yep.
The above calculations are super conservative. Let’s say on just one of those patients you find a problem that requires a tooth extraction that you wouldn’t have picked up without the x-ray (think feline resorptive lesion, retained puppy premolar, root abscess etc.). All of a sudden you are going to do a lengthier anaesthetic, local anaesthetic block, extract the tooth using a mucoperiosteal flap (probably) and suture the gum using packet suture. Add that up and the bill just went up around $300. Minus costs and you probably still make at least $200
$200 just once a month adds up to $2400 per year.
And I would suggest that this will happen more like once a week once you get started…
Well, in my opinion, it’s a no-brainer.
We are talking about an additional service (not like going from conventional to digital radiology which is just an upgrade from an existing service) that will provide significant extra income as well as enable you to provide a much better, more thorough and professionally satisfying dental service.
If you have any questions for Rhys about how he works with dental radiology in his practice, ask him in the comments section below.
Rhys went to School in Adelaide before going across to Melbourne to study Veterinary Science, graduating in 2001. He worked with Katrina in mixed practice in North-East Victoria for 2 years, then spent a year locuming throughout South Australia and New South Wales. After 3 months of travelling through Eastern Europe Rhys started at Strathalbyn and Riverport in May 2005. Rhys’ main interests include small animal surgery and emergency medicine. He was admitted to the Australian College of Veterinary Surgeons in the field of Small Animal Surgery in 2010. He is also a chartered member of the Australian Veterinary Association. Rhys loves a challenging surgical case! In his spare time Rhys enjoys cycling, golf and surfing. He enjoys following the Aussie cricket team and the Adelaide Crows.
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I totally agree Rhys, dental xrays pay for themselves, but it is also getting harder to cover yourself if you do miss things or if extractions go wrong if you don’t have xrays. So for the patients’ health, and your own peace of mind, they are a no-brainer too.
Thanks Christine – now the key is to work out how to get the message out there!
Hi guys sorry I missed the comments but I didn’t actually realise the blog had been published until IM3 told me today at the ASAVA conference (damn Facebook telling me what I should and shouldn’t see in my newsfeed…) I try not to think about any possible legal ramifications but spot on Christine it really should be considered a standard piece of equipment.
Sorry Rhys – my fault – I forgot to give you the heads up that it was in the eNewsletter! Hope you’re enjoying the conference – sorry the weather’s a bit chilly.