Dentists provide dental care in every country in the world. Lean and Six Sigma methodologies help improve dental practice. We’ll look at applications from the UAE and India, and finish with a video of digital dentistry.
Applying Lean Six Sigma to Improve Dental Registration Process and Service Quality: UAE
In a case study titled “Improving registration process and service quality in dental care department in a UAE hospital using Lean Six Sigma methodology,” authors Amal Obaid Al-Shamsi and Muhammad Usman Tariq discuss the use of Lean Six Sigma to improve the dental registration process and service quality.
The case study includes:
- Project Charter
- SIPOC
- Registration Process Flowchart
- Value Cycle Time Analysis of Registration Process Flowchart
- Fishbone Diagram of Long Registration Process
- Pareto Chart of Controllable Causes
- Pareto Chart of Most Missed Information on Registration Form
- Risk Assessment Matrix
- 5s Application
- Identified Problems and Solutions
- Improved Registration Process Flow
- Monitoring Plan for Registration Process
As a result, the project registration time was reduced from 15 minutes to 5 minutes.
You can access the case study here.
Using Six Sigma to Reduce Local Anesthesia Complications in Dental Healthcare: India
In a paper titled “Reduction of Complications of Local Anesthesia in Dental Healthcare Setups by Application of the Six Sigma Methodology: A Statistical Quality Improvement Technique,” authors Syed Akifuddin and Farheen Khatoon discuss the application of the Six Sigma Methodology to reduce anesthetic complications in dental healthcare.
The paper includes:
- SIPOC
- Complications and Frequency of Occurrence
- Pareto Analyses of Systemic and Local Complications
- FMEA and Recommended Actions
- Comparison of FMEA RPN scores between the Analysis and Control Phases
- Binomial Process Capability Analysis of Incidences
Before pre-improvement, the cumulative defective percentage was 7.99% and decreased to 4.58% in the control phase.
You can access their paper here.
Lean Six Sigma and the Optimization of Dental Chair Side Time: India
In a study titled “A Study On Optimization Of Chair Side Time (CST) - A Lean Six Sigma Approach In A Dental Hospital,” authors K. Farheen Khatoon and B. Krishna Reddy discuss the application of Lean Six Sigma to optimize dental chair side time.
The study includes:
- Analysis of Factors Affecting Chair Side Time
- Ishikawa Diagram of Chair Side CTQs
Before implementing Lean Six Sigma, the average chair side time was 30.5±10.0 minutes per patient. After improvement, it was reduced to 25.96± 7.26 minutes.
You can read the study here.
Learn About Digital Dentistry
Watch an overview of Digital Dentistry from the American College of Prosthodontists in this video.
You can view the video here.
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