Investing in quality equipment and materials for implant-related treatments is essential for practice success. Dental teams must continuously strive to manage their implant inventory effectively, which directly relates to expiry dates. You’ve taken the time to ensure that your practice invests in reputable implant supplies from certified manufacturers, so why run the risk of these products expiring before use?
Maintaining a proper workflow in your practice is highly dependent on how you manage your inventory. Although each dental practice is different, many challenges they face are pretty similar, and one of the biggest challenges is inventory management. Inefficient stock control causes unwanted stress and problems, and given the high cost of implant components, you could end up with a significant hit to your bottom line.Â
Have you considered how overstocking and understocking implant-related supplies affect your practice? The importance of finding an appropriate balance of inventory is the first step to avoid operational challenges, and automated implant inventory management could be the solution. It’s understandable that practices want to be well-stocked and prepared to offer implant treatment at the patient’s earliest convenience, but imagine realizing the supplies you require during an appointment can’t be used? When inventory becomes poorly managed with an overstock of implants, you risk these components expiring before their intended use. On the flip side, understocking can limit the number of implant-related procedures should your inventory become low on products the patient requires for treatment.Â
Potential problems, as listed below, can arise when your implant-related inventory becomes inefficiently managed, but digital implant inventory management software can provide simple solutions.
Unnecessary wastage
Practices that offer or specialize in implant procedures must maintain a balance of implants, abutments, membranes, bone grafts, and more. Manually managing these supplies can be overwhelming, and if mistakes happen, wastage is likely. Mindful ordering is mandatory, and having the ability to easily view real-time data to check stock levels with a customizable implant table can provide significant benefits. As mentioned above, it’s essential to find the right balance between overstocking and understocking. Inventory management software offers team members real-time data visibility to ensure the practice isn’t wasting supplies, time, and money.Â
Expired products
All implants have expiry dates, and if your practice tends to over-order on implant-related supplies, it’s important to remember that these products can expire before use. Practices need to be conscious about what they are ordering in bulk. Even though you can’t control the expiration date, the best approach would be to learn how to order implants around the listed expiry date, as they can cause shortages even when your inventory is fully stocked. With an implant inventory management system in place, these dates will not be a concern with help from low level and expiration alerts.Â
DowntimeÂ
A highly efficient practice operates smoothly and avoids operational challenges with practical strategies. If inventory becomes problematic due to oversupply, undersupply, expiration dates, and more, it affects the overall workflow, team members, and valued patients. Downtime due to inventory-related issues means less productivity as a whole and, more importantly, decreased revenue. Automation in your practice, particularly for inventory, can avoid unwanted downtime and ensure that patients are treated promptly and efficiently.
