I often talk about the difference between "in practice" revenue-producing time and "on practice" clinical and professional development time, and how both are vitally important to success in dentistry. But I often find that when it comes to "in practice" time, everyone understands the need for a rigorously-maintained schedule, while the "on practice" time is more loosely booked, using a sort of "I'll fit it in where I can" approach.

But if you're going to get the most of your "on practice" CE time, you're going to have to have a strategy and you need to appoint it. You need to have a CE plan. Our philosophy at Spear is that success is built on excellence in treatment planning and case acceptance. If you believe that too, you have to approach your CE plan as strategically as you would a treatment plan. You have to diagnose your needs (which particular skills you want to develop), and assign the right budget of time and resources to get it done within a determined time frame.

It's easy to just look at the cost of continuing education and be concerned about the expense, but think of what it can be worth it to you. How many complex cases would it take in a year to completely fund your education? And beyond those tangible return there also the intangibles: the renewed sense of passion and excitement and the energy that brings to your everyday life when you are performing at a higher level. You can't put a price on that. And the rewards keep coming because you will have the skills for the rest of your life – skills that allow you to serve your patients at a higher level. Everybody wins.

The other thing I often hear from dentists is that they just don't have the time to devote to that much education. But again, it's a matter of what you get back. When you increase the level of your dentistry you increase the value of your time, which means you will able to do more satisfying dentistry in less time and be able to take more time away from the practice.

If this sounds unlikely, I invite you to read this success story from one of our clients, Dr. Peter Virga. He has gone from taking six weeks off a year to taking 12 weeks, and he attributes that change in lifestyle to the higher level of case acceptance he has gotten the training to achieve.

So don't leave your ongoing education to chance. Don't approach it in a haphazard, piecemeal way. Have a CE plan for yourself and your team, understand its value and execute that plan with full commitment. You may surprise yourself with how great the returns can be.


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