Resources for dental offices
Running a single dental practice comes with plenty of moving parts. When you're managing multiple locations, those moving parts multiply fast. From keeping your team on the same page to making sure patients get the same experience no matter where they walk in, the challenges can stack up quickly. Multi-location dental practices are becoming more common, but staying organized and consistent takes more than good intentions. The good news is that there are smart, simple ways to improve your operations and build a practice that runs like a well-oiled machine, even across cities or states. In this article, you’ll find seven practical management tips to help you keep everything aligned, efficient, and growing.
Jun 2, 2025
1. Make Sure Everyone Knows Their Role
When managing multiple locations, the last thing you want is confusion about who’s doing what. A lack of clarity leads to overlap, missed tasks, and frustration for your team and your patients. Clear guidelines, including well-defined financial policy development, can help everyone understand their responsibilities.
Start with a clear org chart. Who handles what at the practice level? Who’s in charge across all locations? Simplify HR processes to make these roles visible and easy to reference. That way, your front desk staff, hygienists, assistants, and managers will know who to turn to for what and where they fit into the bigger picture.
It also helps to assign someone as the point person at each location. This person doesn’t need to have “manager” in their title, but they should be trusted to keep communication flowing and catch issues early.
2. Keep Things Consistent with Simple, Shared Procedures
One of the biggest challenges with running multiple practices is making sure patients get the same quality of care no matter which location they visit. The easiest way to do that is to develop clear, step-by-step procedures for how things should be done. This involves creating comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your practice.
When someone new joins your team, they shouldn’t have to guess how to check in a patient, take X-rays, or handle billing. There should be a system in place that’s followed across the board. That doesn’t mean micromanaging; it means removing guesswork.
Write down these procedures and make them easy to find and update. Involve your team in creating them so the process feels collaborative, not top-down. And if something isn’t working well, tweak it. These systems should support your team, not slow them down.
3. Use the Same Tech Everywhere And Keep It Simple
If one practice uses one type of scheduling software and another uses something completely different, it’s only a matter of time before things get messy.
Instead, pick a cloud-based system that works across all your locations. Something that lets you check patient records, appointments, billing, and performance metrics in real time, without jumping between platforms or calling someone to email you a report. AI in dental management can make this straightforward.
Centralized software helps you catch issues before they snowball. You can see where one location might fall behind, spot no-show trends, or even track how long patients are waiting.
You need one solid system that keeps everyone connected and gives you a clear view of what’s happening.
4. Build a Culture That Stretches Across Every Location
Your team lives the culture every day. When you have multiple dental offices, keeping that culture strong and consistent becomes even more important.
Start by defining what your practice stands for. What kind of experience should every patient have? How do you treat each other as a team? Keep it simple and meaningful. It’s easy for a mission to get lost in the daily grind, so make it part of meetings, hiring, and even how you celebrate wins.
Then, create ways for your teams to connect across locations. Virtual check-ins, joint training sessions, and even casual group chats help staff feel part of something bigger, not just working in isolated offices.
The goal is that everyone feels part of the same story. When your team feels connected, your patients will feel it too.
5. Use Data to Guide Better Decisions
When you're running more than one location, you need data that tells you what's working and what needs attention.
Start with a few metrics: patient retention, appointment cancellations, production per provider, and case acceptance rates. Track these numbers across all your offices. You don’t have to turn into a data analyst overnight. Just look for patterns. Is one location consistently underperforming? Are no-shows higher in one area than another?
Use tools that make these insights easy to access. Most cloud-based practice management systems include dashboards you can check in a few clicks. Consider how AI is transforming dental offices by providing advanced analytics and decision-making support.
Data helps you act sooner. Instead of guessing why one office is struggling or waiting until the problem gets worse, you can jump in with a clear plan. And when things go well, you’ll know what to replicate elsewhere.
6. Solve Staffing Gaps Without Burning Out Your Team
Having a flexible staffing strategy is requisite for success. Instead of scrambling every time there’s a gap, build a system that gives you options. Create a shared pool of float staff who can move between locations, or partner with a dental staffing platform like Teero to get qualified professionals when and where you need them.
The goal is to protect your team from burnout. When staff are stretched too thin, it affects morale, patient care, and long-term retention. But they can stay focused and energized when they know support is available.
A well-staffed practice feels calm, welcoming, and efficient, and that’s the kind of place people return to.
7. Keep Communication Flowing Without the Headaches
Staying in sync can be tricky when your team is spread across multiple locations. Misunderstandings creep in, updates don’t reach everyone, and people start making decisions based on different information.
That’s why you need clear, consistent communication channels. Not a flood of emails, not a hundred group texts; a simple system everyone knows how to use, whether it’s Slack, Microsoft Teams, or a shared internal dashboard.
Hold short weekly check-ins with location leads. Keep them casual but focused. What's working? What needs fixing? These conversations help you stay ahead of problems instead of reacting after things go sideways.
Don’t forget to listen. Open feedback loops let your team speak up, share ideas, and flag issues early.
You Don’t Have to Figure It All Out Alone
Managing a multi-location dental practice takes strong systems, communication, and a team that’s supported every step of the way.
But even with the right systems in place, there will be times when you need extra help, especially when it comes to staffing. That’s where Teero can be of assistance. Whether you need a hygienist to cover a last-minute call-out or you’re expanding to a new location, Teero makes it easy to find qualified dental professionals ready to step in and support your team.
Running multiple practices is a big job. With the right partners, it gets a lot easier.