A question that many dentists obsess about and one that I am often asked is, "What is a good case acceptance rate?" It's not a question that is as simple as it appears, because the truth is, it depends on what kind of cases you are talking about. For instance, having a case acceptance rate that is above 90 percent sounds great, unless all you are presenting is routine basic dentistry. In that case, the dentist who is getting an acceptance rate of just over 60 percent who is presenting comprehensively every time he or she steps into the operatory, is clearly doing more for the practice and the patients. Every practice has a threshold for routine acceptance. The dollar value range where you feel comfortable presenting and where you feel confident that patients will accept because it is within their comfort zone, too. Then there are the cases that fall within your comfort zone, but not the patient's. You recognize that these are not routine, so you invest more energy in creating and communicating value for these procedures. The biggest gains; however, come from making inroads into case presentations that are beyond the usual comfort zone for both you and the patient. These "outside the norm" cases are the ones that give you a real measure of your progress. Once you master the "records-diagnosis-treatment plan" process at a high level, you start to realize that the process of case acceptance starts very early. You get really good at communicating value for cases that are "beyond the usual." In fact, you set a new standard for what "usual" means and everything below that becomes routine. This is why I suggest tracking acceptance above a certain threshold amount. The routine stuff will take care of itself—what you want to do is monitor your success at gaining acceptance for everything above that amount. And as your competence grows and your acceptance increases you keep moving that threshold higher. It's like increasing your level of physical fitness. If you're out of shape, those first attempts at a serious workout will leave you out of breath. But if you keep at it; you keep raising the bar and you keep redefining what is "easy." In other words, getting a true reading on your success is not just a matter of taking a simple overall measurement. To get a real sense of where you stand you have to start by deciding what is worth measuring.


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