Shout out to those who love manga/anime: there's an anime called "Dr Stone" that's quite appealing to us nerds as it showcases real life chemistry and physics.
In one episode, the protagonist shares the recipe for making natural "cola" (called "Senku Cola" if you want to look it up) and it's actually apparently very close to the real thing
Usually patients pay on delivery, so for treatments like a filling it would be the same day that work is done. For lab work such as a mouth guard, they don't pay when we take impressions but rather when the work is delivered
Thanks for taking the time to write the suggestions! I work in Europe so the situation is somewhat different here as insurance is used by a very small percentage of patients compared to the US, and I'd say 99% of other offices do not make patients pre-pay, so some of those policies, while probably very good in the US, do not fit our situation very well (the double-booking one I will probably try, though..I've always refrained from it in order to not make patients wait but I guess a little flexibility on both sides is OK).
Disclaimer: Dentist here (and programming enthusiast)
The other side of the story, that nobody really talks about, is the psychological abuse that -dentists- are subjected to, by patients.
As an introduction: I was above average at my uni in terms of clinical and theoretical skills, bought my own practice from a retiring dentist and always behaved 100% ethically (I'm one of those that don't overtreat at all and I built a reputation and a client base that allows me to have more than enough work without resorting to that).
You should know that our days are basically spent in an almost PTSD status after having undergone years of abuse by patients in the form of dark, frustrating patterns that repeat every week. These are behavioral patterns that typically leave us in a frustrating and infuriating lose-lose situation through no fault of our own, and they seem ingrained in the general population.
A few examples: in my clinic and those of my colleagues about 75% of african immigrants that book an appointment, and confirm it 2 days before, end up no-showing for the appointment, and don't even answer the phone when we call them. this happens several times a week. I haven't found a solution because I can't just say "you're an immigrant and I won't book your appointment", nor can I make them prepay while holding native residents exempt from this rule. No-showing means I lose a sizable amount of revenue while having to pay the staff for nothing.
Example 2: a good percentage (20%?) of those with an infection are given antibiotics, I explain they should come back when the pain has subsided, -usually a few days- to perform the root canal / extraction (which will allow me to use anesthesia effectively - it doesnt work when you have an infection) and they also end up no-showing because "it doesnt hurt any more", without bothering to answer their phone when we call them. They call back 2 months later, in pain, demanding to be seen -today-, at which point my blood is boiling. Bear in mind I explain this at least 3 times during the first appointment.
Example 3: randomly, a good patient will turn rogue and decide that the crown I'm doing on her canine "looks too big" or "is too rounded" or some other subjective aesthetic bullshit like that. it's typically a middle-class 50-60 woman. This happened today to me, I showed the crown's thickness to the patient with a measurement tool, it was 0.5 -millimeters- and explained it's physically impossible to make it any thinner. Her answer "it's your problem, I'm not a dentist". These patients will typically then refuse to pay for about 1000$ of work, despite the work being first class, because "they are not happy". This happens randomly and is not predictable despite my best efforts, and is peppered with ridiculous episodes like crying in the chair, calling their husband who will typically back their claims and then start guilt-shaming you with gems like "my wife is so distressed by this. we are both deeply hurt."
Example 4: a patient will randomly decide he will try to leave a bill unpaid, and they will adopt every kind of trick and dark pattern in the playbook. Lies, asking to delay the payment so they can stiff me out of 4 fillings instead of just one etc..this happens multiple times a year.
Example 5: patients taking impressions for, say, a night guard, after being explained the cost and days it takes to make it. We typically deliver then a week later. They will then call a day before their delivery, when the night guard has already been made, saying "doctor I've decided I don't want it any more, I want to cancel the appointment, k thx bye". That is the average message, and I stress the "k thx bye" part where they make it clear they don't even want a reply and it's all said and done (typically because they think they can buy a 20$ nightguard on amazon instead). They will refuse to pay for the nightguard that's already been made and the laboratory has already billed me.
I could go on for hours and cite about 40-50 of these patterns that we see day in and day out, they put you in a very frustrating position where choice 1 is bad and choice 2 is even worse (say, suing the patient for collections as option 1 and taking a direct loss as option 2).
It almost got me burned out and I know several colleagues who either have burned out, or completely changed profession because of the widespread lack of basic respect and fairness from patients.
This happens while, as someone else said, you're in xxx,xxx$ debt, so you can imagine being told unfairly that you have to eat a 1000$ loss for something that's not your fault, tends to make you want to scream. I know I went home shouting in my car more than once asking what I did wrong to be subjected to this bullshit day in and day out.
It's a incredibly abusive profession and it has a very high suicide rate (at like 3x the average for other professions, this is true for most medical professions by the way).
And I won't even talk about the physical toll it has on you because I don't mind working 8 hours even in uncomfortable positions, but seeing the way people lie, cheat and try to blame-shame you tends to take away all faith in humanity.
So yes, there are bad dentists just as there are bad -anything-, but there are also bad patients.
I guess I just wanted to vent and let you see the other side of the coin...we say "no good deed goes unpunished" and it's true indeed
I'm curious: what would your other top 4 most valuable skills be?
I'm asking because I was genuinely unaware of django admin despite being a developer for several years and I wonder how many more "open secrets" I'm oblivious to