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The American Eagle Sharpening Calculator

Do you know how much instrument sharpening costs?

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*(12 months of approximate usage for well treated instruments, and replaced with XP Quik-Tipsâ„¢. Suggested Retail Price 2x 31,12 Euro)

The advantages of American Eagle XP Technology®

In addition to the determined cost savings, switching to XP Technology® instruments offers even more advantages:

  • No more sharpening!
  • Thinner tip design for optimized access
  • More comfort and less hand fatigue
  • Also available as interchangeable Quik-Tipsâ„¢ instrument tips

Ready for
the change?

Contact us for your individual offer or schedule a consultation appointment with our product experts.

Sharpening dental instruments: calculating costs

Dentists today not only have to be superb clinicians, but they also run small, sometimes even larger, businesses. Business management skills are therefore more necessary than ever.

The development of the practice setting and increased digitisation, coupled with growing competitive pressure, necessitate increased entrepreneurial thinking and action. However, this is not yet the case in all areas of practice. While a lot has already been optimised in the invoicing process and the procurement of materials, there is often still potential for improvement, particularly in clinical procedures.

The better the internal processes, the more efficient and effective the practice. In particular, the area of prophylaxis often harbours undiscovered opportunities for optimisation. All procedures should be scrutinised, clinical standards reviewed, and treatments carefully documented.

This often results in potential time and thus cost savings, which could be dedicated primarily to patient education and satisfaction. In turn, this often leads to significantly increased practice recommendation rates.

What optimisation possibilities exist in the selection of hand instruments?

In addition to correct clinical usage, the selection of the instruments’ material and thus their ergonomics play a crucial role here. Standard scalers and curettes must be sharpened regularly for optimal results and patient comfort. However, correct sharpening is a fine art, and practice staff must be trained accordingly.

Many practices often lack the time for this, as the prophylaxis session is carefully structured, and, of course, physicians want to spend as much time as possible with the patient. The “unproductive” additional time needed for managing and sharpening the instruments is often neglected. However, a price is paid for this supposed saving in the medium and long term. The organisation of dental instruments in instrument cassettes is the first step. The time required for the sterilisation process is reduced, and the service life of the instruments is increased.

Colour-coded instruments also make it possible to save time during treatment, as the right instrument is practically always selected.

Dental hand instruments: how much does maintenance and sharpening cost?

Here we come to the greatest cost for tartar instruments: inadequate, irregular or faulty sharpening. Patients find the use of blunt instruments extremely uncomfortable, and practitioners have to compensate for the lack of sharpness with increased force. 65% of registered dental hygienists have developed carpal tunnel syndrome at some time [2]. A shockingly high number that not only calls into question a career in dental hygiene/prophylaxis but also results in downtime costs for the practice owner.

[2] SIMMER-BECK, MELANIE RDH, MS. “Noting harmful chair side postures through assessment and observation and making necessary adjustments can make the difference in maintaining a healthy career in dental hygiene”. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, May 2005.

Scalers and curettes: sharpening costs

In the best case, the time required for grinding and sharpening dental instruments is identified from the start, and thus the costs can be determined directly. For this purpose, we have developed two sharpening cost calculators that enable a differentiated calculation of the possible savings potential when using American Eagle XP instruments. These instruments do not need to be sharpened during their service life.

No sharpening required thanks to American Eagle XP Technology®

In many cases, the changeover is already worthwhile after around one month and offers potential savings of several thousand euros. This results primarily from the time gained, which can be used for additional patient appointments.

Many larger dental practices and clinic chains have already analysed these relationships from a business perspective, but there is also potential for optimisation in smaller dental practices.

Calculating sharpening costs: opportunity costs

In addition to the pure wage costs, so-called opportunity costs should also be taken into account in order to obtain an economically meaningful result. This means that additional patients can be treated, or the time that has been freed up can be used for additional appointments with patients.

Besides these identified costs, there are other benefits and factors that are not included in the calculation and can be taken into account in monetary terms. Practice staff no longer need to carry out cumbersome sharpening, and job satisfaction increases. As mentioned above, working with sharp instruments is much more ergonomic.

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