Inventory Checklist for a New Dental Practice

After being part of a large staff of dentists in another office, you are finally getting your very own dental practice. While you are excited to launch your new practice and work with patients, you know you have plenty to take care of prior to opening your doors. At your old practice, you had an office manager who took care of ordering most of the dental supplies and products to keep in your inventory room, but now this is your responsibility.

With this in mind, the following items should be on your inventory checklist, and will help get your new dental practice off the ground.

For the Equipment

As you know quite well, you use a variety of dental equipment to do your job. What you might not have realized is that many of these tools — from dental surgical kits to medical plunger tips — include at least one grommet. To make sure that these delicate and expensive pieces of equipment are always ready to go, it’s a good idea to keep an ample supply of grommets on hand. That way you don’t have to cut a procedure short if one suddenly decides to stop working.

For the Patient

When each patient walks into an exam room, you or your hygienist will place a bib across the person’s chest. You will probably give your patient clear glasses to protect their eyes during the procedure, and when the exam is over, you will present him or her with a goodie bag filled with a new toothbrush, floss and maybe a small tube of toothpaste. While you probably won’t need dozens of extra protective glasses on hand, it’s a good idea to order a few extra in case one drops to the floor and breaks. You should have dozens if not hundreds of bibs on hand in the inventory room, as you’ll go through them very quickly. For the goodie bag, you might want to consider ordering personalized toothbrushes with your name, practice name and phone number printed on them. Smart Practice has a nice selection of personalized toothbrushes, as well as small containers of dental floss with an attached key ring. Since you’ll be giving out a goodie bag to each patient, you might want to estimate how many people you hope to treat in the first six months and order enough to cover those patients.

For You

You probably have a good idea of how often you used certain dental accessories in the previous practice. Having said that, it’s still a good idea to err on the side of caution and have a few more than you need of each type of supply, so you will never run out with a patient sitting in the chair. As Quick Medical notes, there are a number of dental exam accessories to keep on hand in the inventory room; these include evacuators, mixing pads, mouth trays and face masks.

You’ve Worked Hard — Enjoy Your New Practice

You have put in plenty of years in school and work at another practice, now it’s your turn to shine as a local dentist with lots of pleased patients. By making sure you have plenty of the aforementioned supplies on hand in your inventory room, getting your new practice up and running will be a smooth and stress-free experience.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.