Your Hygiene Perio Percentage: The Number That Builds Trust

Every week, a dentist tells me their hygienist will not treat the disease. That same week, a hygienist tells me their dentist will not let them.

Same patient. Same mouth. Two people, each sure the other is the problem.

When I walk into an office stuck in that loop, I do not start with a feelings talk. I start with the numbers. Not production or revenue: the procedure codes. They show what is happening in the chair, not what anyone thinks is happening.

The number I look at first is the perio percentage: how much of your adult hygiene care is gum disease treatment. It is one of the most useful hygiene numbers you can track, and most teams have never calculated it. None of us learned how to run a report in hygiene school, and many dentists did not either.

Screenshot from Practice by Numbers. One office, one month. Perio patients range from 33% to 65% depending on who is in the chair. Either their patients are very different, or the standard is.

Your perio percentage is not a grade. It is a conversation starter. When one hygienist’s number is far from another’s in the same office, ask why.

I put everything you need to find your own numbers, the codes to pull and the formulas, in a free one-page download called Know Your Codes. It comes with Part 1 of my series Built on Trust, on my Substack, Your Next 1%.

Get Know Your Codes: Read Built on Trust, Part 1

Want help putting this in place in your office? That is the work I do with dental teams through Next Level Dental Hygiene. Learn about consulting

Here for your next 1%,
Dr. Kelly