To ensure success, the practice chooses vendors that share those same core values.
That’s why, for nearly 10 years, Clay Center Family Dental Care has called on the experts at Henry Schein to deploy, integrate, maintain, and service the computer network and practice-management technologies that drive the efficiencies of its digitally-based practice.
“When I began practicing dentistry in 1977, a computer took up an entire room. I never envisioned that my practice would some day operate in a completely digital environment. We couldn’t have done it without Henry Schein,” says Dr. Rick Hammel of Clay Center Family Dental Care.
Over the years, Clay Center Family Dental Care has grown from a small three-chair practice to a multi-dentist practice with seven operatories in a 3,600-square foot building. “One of the main reasons we are able to grow our practice is the efficiencies we gained from going digital with solutions recommended by Henry Schein,” says Nancy Hammel, Office Manager for Clay Center Family Dental Care. “Henry Schein continually exceeds our expectations as they care for our technology needs. As a dental speaker and someone who is active in various online dental communities, I have access to many the technology experts across the country. There are a lot of companies to choose from. We chose Henry Schein because they have taken such good care of us from day one.”
Dental-Specific Technology Expertise
Dr. Hammel and the entire team at Clay Center Family Dental Care rely on Henry Schein because of the solution provider’s decades of expertise and experience in designing, building and supporting integrated technology solutions tailored to the dental industry. “Most dentists believe in doing dentistry right the first time,” Dr. Hammel says. “Redoing procedures is unproductive and expensive. The same is true for technology investments. You want to pick a solution provider you can depend on and who does it right the first time. Over and over, Henry Schein has proven that it does it right the first time.”
In talking about how Henry Schein helped the practice move from a paper office to a digitally based practice, Nancy says, “It can be a stressful leap of faith to make the transition to digital, but it’s much easier when you can put your faith in someone with a good reputation, that you can depend on and that will walk with you through it step by step. Henry Schein will not let you down. They’re professionals you can trust.”
Giving Back with Technology’s Help
Clay Center Family Dental Care also appreciates the fact that Henry Schein provides integrated and fully tested offerings that have optimized their systems’ performance and increased uptime and operational efficiency. That efficiency helps the practice reach out to those in need.
“When we are efficient and productive, we are blessed with more freedom to give back to our community and to the world. Every year we go to Belize with the Belize Mission Project and donate dental care,” said Nancy. “Because of our experience in Belize we began our own mission here in Clay Center, the Clay Center Dental Mission.
On this annual day of providing dentistry to the community, we rely completely on the technology that Henry Schein has provided for us. At last year’s event, we saw over 77 patients in one day – something that could have never happened without digital solutions.”
“Henry Schein not only understands how to tie all of our computers and systems together, but they understand the intricacies of a dental practice,” Nancy said. “Having an integrated digital office reduces our overhead, increases our efficiency, and lets us be more productive. With everything tied together, anyone who is authorized can log in from anywhere in the office, at home, on the road, or even from a smart phone and access any patients’ information. With a click of a button we can see X-rays from yesterday or two years ago. I can schedule them for an appointment. I can see when they last visited and what procedures they had done. It’s a very efficient and cost-effective way to serve our patients.”
With Henry Schein, the Clay Center practice achieves efficiencies and cost savings without the worry of downtime that other practices often deal with. “We simply can’t afford to have our systems go down,” notes Nancy. “Most businesses depend on technology, and dentistry is no different. Downtime affects your ability to care for patients. It affects your patients’ lives, and it impacts your livelihood. That’s why we rely on Henry Schein. I don’t have to worry like I used to.”
More Satisfying, Efficient, and Profitable Dentistry
To summarize how going digital and choosing Henry Schein Dental as its trusted team has benefited Clay Center Family Dental Care, Dr. Hammel stated, “Many dental practices do wonderful dentistry, but they’re not achieving their potential. In today’s economic environment you have to be efficient, and you can’t waste time. With Henry Schein’s help, our digital practice lets us be more efficient and more financially profitable. It also creates a more emotionally fulfilling environment for our patients and our entire office.”
About Clay Center Family Dental Care
Dr. Rick Hammel attended Kansas State University and graduated from UMKC Dental School in 1977. Nancy Hammel has a B.A. in French and Biology from Kansas State University. Together, the Hammels have built a successful and thriving practice that incorporates all facets of dentistry, including sedation dentistry. Their state-of-the-art facility was built in 2000 and continues to incorporate cutting-edge technology in their practice. Nancy is a former speaker for Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation and is an active contributor to DentalTown meetings and forums. To see how Clay Center Family Dental Care gives back dental care to the world’s underserved, please visit their Web site at www.claycenterdentist.com.