 Hello everybody, Andrew Mayeski here with Dental L. So let's talk about mobile hygiene, even just as an independent dental hygienist. Is it worth it in the sense as do we make any money? I get this question all the time, even from dentists that I have known for years. Ask me, you know, well, do you actually make any money because you have all of these costs kind of the same as us? Yes, you don't have your own, you know, like practice where you have to pay, you know, like heat, rent, hydro, all of that, but you still have to buy supplies. It's still you putting your time into it. Do you actually make any money at the end of the day? So let me talk to you guys a little bit because that is a great question. And this is where you have to be careful because number one, you have to think about you will likely need to take out a business loan. Even if you have a mobile practice, yes, you don't have as many expenses as your own actual office, but you still have to pay for your instruments. You still have to pay for your supplies, your car maintenance, you have to pay for that. You have to pay for your uniform. You have to pay for your piezo, your cabotron. If you decide to have a sterilizer in your own house, that is something that's a big expense. Trust me, if you buy high-speed handpieces as a restorative hygienist, if you buy slow-speed handpieces, just everything has a cost. I can't even think of everything at the moment, but you're always buying something, right? But that's, and that just kind of goes into doing business. A practice management software system will cost you a fortune. It's crazy. But after day one, you will not want any paper charts. Trust me, I tried that to save money. Yes, I did. But you're just on the go and it's just messy. In my opinion, it's just messy. Maybe you have a better plan, but I tried the whole paper charting thing and I didn't like it right away. I did not want to spend 5,000 plus on a practice management software system, but you kind of have to because when you're doing probing, charting, the odonogram, it's just a big mess to have to try to use paper or do half computer, half paper. That's kind of a mess in itself too. But all in all, do you make any money at the end of the day? And I would like to say yes. We would not be doing it if we didn't make enough money, if we're smart at it. Are we all millionaires? No, but we do make money. Now I've only been doing this for less than a year, so I can't speak to those who have been doing it for longer, but another thing that I notice also is there's a lot of mobile, even any independent dental hygienists, a lot of them are starting to sell their practice, meaning they're selling everything they purchased. Their sterilizer, their piezo, their supplies, their equipment, everything. I'm seeing that a lot lately. So if I was just getting into this, that would concern me because I'd be thinking, okay, why is everybody selling their equipment? Good for me, because I can buy used, but this can't be a good thing, right? Everybody's selling it. But let me tell you something, you guys. I am very, very busy. I have been doing this for less than a year and I have now got to the point where it's a good problem to have, but I have trouble finding time to see patients because I am that busy. Mind you, I do still work at a dental office two or three days a week, so I don't see patients of my own on those days. So that just kind of limits me to a couple of days a week plus the weekend. So I have not had a weekend to myself since I started the practice, but to me, that's a good problem to have. So yes, I'm making money because otherwise without seeing those patients, I would just be at home. Yes, taking it easy, taking a day off, but I would not be making money, right? I don't see it as kind of making money right now because I'm paying off the business loan to be perfectly honest with you, but the most important thing to say, and this is true, I know it sounds cliche, but it's not about the money. I don't think about money honestly for a second until it's time for the patient to pay me and then I go, okay, how will you be paying for that today, like cash, credit card, e-transfer, that's the only time that I think about the money because I love seeing my patients. It's the nicest thing ever to be able to see your own patients do your own thing. It just makes you, at least it makes me feel good that I'm an expert and I can do that. I just love it. So if I was working at a dental office, depending on where you work, you might make $30 per hour, $40, $45 or more, but when I see my own patients, I make more, obviously, right? For a cleaning, I charge about $150. For a child, it's probably about 65 to 100 depending on how much plaque and charter they have. If I do an exam, that is $30, so everything on top of that, it adds up. So do we make money? Of course we do, but we do have expenses too. Like I probably order from my dental supply companies at least every month because I need more of something. Whether it be toothbrushes, I just ordered some more toothpaste the other day. I ordered some micro brushes the other day. I had to order some more cassettes. I had to order some more instruments because I didn't order a lot to begin with so I wanted to see how many patients I would have. I was seeing maybe one patient a week. That changed to two patients a week and now I'm seeing about two or three patients a day. And no, that may not seem like a lot to you, but I am mobile, so I go from place to place. So two or three patients a day is enough. Actually, the other day I saw six patients a day but two different locations, but that was awesome. But I wasn't even tired afterwards, which was interesting to me. I thought that I would be exhausted. When I work at the dental office for like four hours only, I'm exhausted. Yet when I do my own thing for eight hours, I come home, I'm pumped up. I'm just so excited that I was able to see my own patients. So yes, so everybody's question is always about the money. But once you get started, you will just love it so much. You won't even think about it, but you have to be smart about it too. If you're charging say $60 per cleaning because you wanna stay competitive, you're really not gonna make any money at the end of the day because you have to counter in all of your supplies. If your patients are paying you the difference of what insurance isn't covering, then you have to do all of the paperwork to send everything through to insurance. So that will eat up a lot of your time. So you should charge accordingly. You know, like don't charge people $60 here and there for a cleaning and do not just say, oh, well, you know, we don't have to do an exam. Let's just do a cleaning for you since you don't have a lot of money. I'll only charge you $60, you know. So be careful with that. Charge accordingly. Go by the fee guy. There are a lot of hygienists out there that are charging a lot less because they feel they have to be competitive. But people are not going to come to you. They're not, I mean, they might actually sorry. They probably will. But at the end of the day, you will be exhausted. You will have made no money because you have to pay for all of those expenses. I'm not saying though, charge like $300 per cleaning either. Like don't go crazy, but go by the fee guide. If you guys need help, I am more than happy to help you. This is something that I am so passionate about. I just love it. I see a lot of seniors in nursing homes and like that just makes me so happy. I've seen a lot of kids lately who are like the age two, three, four, or five that have not been able to go to the dental office before because they were just so nervous, so anxious. But me seeing them in their own home, they were fine. I kind of like, I would say to the parents often like is this your son who you were saying had an anxiety attack pretty much. The last time they went to the dentist and the parents are kind of like, yeah, he's fine with you. I'm kind of embarrassed. I can't believe he's doing so well, but then they're so happy that he did so well but that they will keep calling me. Still make sure they go to the dental office for a checkup and x-rays, but let them know you are more than happy to see them for everything else. So again, I will turn back here. Do you make money? Yes, 100%, but you have to be smart about it. If you're taking out a business loan it might take you longer technically. That's the best thing ever to work for yourself. Trust me, you will pay a lot of taxes. You will be in that self-employed area, which is a pain. I talk about that more come tax time but obviously I've been doing it now. I have owned my own businesses for 14 years. If I'm still doing it, if I can still do it you guys you can do it too. So thank you for watching. Any questions, let me know and I'll see you guys in the next one.