How to Bring a Little Fun into Your Dental Office

I don’t know about you, but I love hearing the playful banter between smiling coworkers when I’m sitting in the waiting room at the dentist’s office. The sound calms my nerves and relieves the tension that usually knots up the muscles at the back of my neck. At theyoungdentist.com, they believe that “a fun practice is a successful practice,” and so do I. I think that adding a little fun and laughter to your exceptionally busy day helps to raise morale, increase staff retention as well as production, and reduce fear and anxiety in your patients. Adding an element of fun and bright colors and decorations to the office are also effective in providing positive word-of-mouth. Below are six suggestions to bring a little fun into the office for the benefit of you, your team, and your patients.

Decorate for the holidays

Halloween is coming up and now is the perfect time to decorate your office to match the holiday and entertain your team and patients. There are many ideas out there for you to choose from.

We made a board on Pinterest to help you with this. Decorating the office changes the atmosphere dramatically not just for your staff but also for your patients. Instead of discouraging your patients with a tense atmosphere encouraging feelings of fear, create an atmosphere that is more light-hearted, creative and relaxing.

Design or redesign your office

If you feel that your office is lacking a little more color and life, if there are a lot more grays and browns than you’d like, it’s time to change it up. Try a relaxing blue or turquoise or maybe you want to brighten the atmosphere even more. 1-800 Dentist suggests that you don’t even have to use just one color. Mix it up. You can also add interesting designs and “Decorate your walls with not only diplomas and CE certificates (which are important) but with fun pictures of people (doctor, staff and patients) smiling, laughing, generally happy.” It isn’t just the people in your dental office but also the walls surrounding them that will make a significant difference in how they view your practice.

Play games with your team

To raise morale, encourage your team to participate in some fun games. Games not only lighten up the atmosphere and make people smile, but they also advocate teamwork such as DMD Basel Badawi’s game called “Three Wishes” in which he tells each member of his staff to write down three wishes without saying why. He goes on to explain that “for one year’s time, every month we worked as a team and met our monthly office goals, one of the staff members would then be granted one of his/her wishes.” He made sure to let the entire staff participate in making the decision. Getting your team together to have a good time will tighten the bond between you, so even if games aren’t your preference, do something like a barbecue or outing that requires bringing everyone together to let loose and have a little fun.

Play upbeat and happy music

Some workplaces change their style of music to fit the current holiday coming up. Let your patients enjoy some popular Halloween songs this October and Christmas songs as we enter December. Music has a positive impact on people and upbeat happy music can dramatically change someone’s mood and might even encourage them to sing along. You can also provide music while your patient is in the chair, allowing them to choose for themselves what they prefer listening to and what will make them feel the most comfortable.

Have fun with your patients

It is important to be able to be able to have a little fun with your patients as well and this starts with treating your patients like people. Doing so can promote a positive air in your office and, with this personal and emotional connection, you will encourage positive reviews and positive word-of-mouth about your practice. Try to laugh and joke with your patients. Get to know them on a personal level and let them get to know you. Giving your patients a moment to laugh and talk freely will ease the tension and anxiety they’re feeling and, as a result, will provide your practice with patients more willing to return and less inclined to miss or cancel appointments.

Laugh at yourself

Lighten up! Don’t be so serious that you can’t laugh at yourself every once in a while and maybe even make your team and patients laugh in the process.

What do you do to bring a little fun to the office? Let us know in the comments section below, and if you need some good tips, please feel free to check out the links provided here.

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