How to Choose Dental Equipment That Drives Growth and Reduces Costs

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Beyond the Price Tag

When evaluating equipment for your practices, what criteria matter most? It’s common to focus on the price—after all, budgets matter. But the initial cost is only one part of the equation.

Every decision in a group practice has a ripple effect. From patient care to teammate satisfaction, the tools and systems you choose help shape your success. How do you calculate the long-term value and lifetime costs of your equipment?

The Big Picture

To look at the bigger picture, ask yourself how the equipment you’re considering might impact the following important factors:

Employee Retention: Does this equipment simplify tasks and minimize burnout?
Workflow Efficiency: Can it boost efficiency and help your team serve more patients with ease?
Risk Reduction: Can it reduce risks associated with non-compliance or human error?
Lifetime Costs: Can it save time and money through durability, simple maintenance and minimal downtime?

It’s natural to prioritize high-visibility, patient-facing investments, but don’t overlook the unseen heroes of your practice. Sterilizers, for example, play a critical role in safety, efficiency and compliance, yet they’re often viewed as just a box to fill a need. What if the sterilizer you choose could profoundly impact your team’s morale, your patients’ experiences and your bottom line?

Why Sterilizers Matter More Than You Think

As one of the most highly trafficked and labor-intensive areas of the practice, the sterilization center has the potential to either create bottlenecks or drive productivity—and your sterilizer sits at its core. With the right technology, your sterilizer selections can help improve teammate retention, reduce lifetime costs, minimize compliance risks and standardize performance.

Did you know? Your dental team may enter and exit the sterilization center 80 to 120 times per day based on average dental practices.¹

Improving Teammate Retention

Retaining and recruiting a full clinical team is one of the biggest challenges facing group practices and DSOs today.² The American Dental Association, reports that over 85% of dental facilities find it very or extremely difficult to recruit qualified dental assistants and hygienists.³ Burnout from stress and heavy workloads often leads to turnover, which disrupts operations and strains resources.⁴

How can you reduce stress and burnout for your teams? Improve one of the most stressful workflows of your practice—instrument processing. This highly regulated, time-consuming, labor-intensive task can be a primary source of stress for many team members.

That’s why next generation Midmark^® Steam Sterilizers are designed to help make instrument processing as easy and automated as possible. On-device tutorials help reduce the burden of training while intuitive touchscreen prompts lead your team through a standardized process. Automated cycle recordkeeping, mechanical monitoring and chemical indicator reporting help streamline compliance.

Retaining skilled teammates in group practices requires more than competitive pay; it’s about creating an environment where team members feel supported and valued. Providing advanced tools and technology can enhance their skills and job satisfaction, making them more likely to stay.

“Using the new Midmark sterilizers, we’ve had a more overall streamlined experience. It makes the process quicker and more user-friendly.” —Paula M., Lead Sterilizer Operator

Reducing Lifetime Costs

The real cost of equipment extends far beyond its purchase price. Cheaper sterilizers may seem like a smart financial choice, but frequent maintenance and breakdowns combined with missing essential features like routine care reminders and automated recordkeeping can lead to greater long-term expenses—and stress.

35% of dental respondents found sterilization recordkeeping at least moderately frustrating.⁵

In contrast, durable, low-maintenance equipment like next generation Midmark Steam Sterilizers can reduce long-term costs and keep your practice running smoothly with:

Fewer Replacements: With a completely re-engineered chamber, Midmark sterilizers deliver 2.5-times longer cycle life than previous models at 25,000 cycles. An extended lifespan means fewer replacement purchases in the long term.
Lower Maintenance Requirements: Each Midmark sterilizer can save you up to $11,800 over its lifetime simply by requiring less frequent technician-performed service compared to competitive models. How quickly would that savings multiply across your organization?
Lower Associated Costs: Save even more with lower average water consumption per week than other sterilizers and no costly vacuum tests, air filtrations systems or water filtration systems (or replacements) ever.

For the routine care required to keep your equipment running smoothly, choose sterilizers with best practices built right in. Instead of just receiving a device care manual, Midmark sterilizers provide the manual plus reminder notifications, onscreen guidance and automated care history recordkeeping, making routine care easier for your team.

“Capturing routine care completion is great so we don’t have to manually record anymore.” —Lora O., RN

By considering only the initial cost of your sterilizer, you might end up spending far more on repairs, training and maintenance over the long term. Save time, money and effort with sterilizers designed for durability and user-friendliness.

Minimizing Risks

The CDC reports that, according to one study, 68% of respondents believed they were sterilizing correctly but were not following proper procedures.⁶ The CDC also notes that another study found operator error caused 87% of sterilization failures.⁶ Missed steps and preventable errors in sterilization don’t just slow you down—they can harm patients, erode trust, and cost you penalties and downtime.

Is more training the answer here? It may help, but piling training responsibilities onto your team’s already busy workload can exacerbate feelings of overwhelm. Instead, an advanced, easy-to-use sterilizer can make a significant difference.

Next generation Midmark sterilizers are designed with on-device tutorials, preset cycle options and step-by-step prompts to help simplify sterilization. Automated reminders, notifications, and recordkeeping help keep you audit ready without burdening your team.

Standardized steps and automation make it easier for teammates to get the job done right, every time. You can’t put a price tag on patient safety, but preventing compliance issues and safety risks is invaluable. Risk mitigation is crucial, not just for patient safety, but to protect your reputation and avoid costly penalties.

Increasing Efficiency + Growth

In a busy group practice, efficiency is key to same-store growth. In today’s competitive landscape, that growth isn’t just about seeing more patients—it’s about serving them better. Efficient workflows in your sterilization center can improve patient care by reducing wait times and freeing up your team for meaningful interactions.

Midmark sterilizers can help streamline operations by automating compliance documentation and standardizing workflows. Over time, these small gains add up to big wins: happier patients, a more efficient team and a healthier bottom line.

Smarter Choices for Your Practice

Equipment purchases can be either a box to check or a strategic investment in your team, your patients and your success. By investing in advanced solutions like next generation Midmark sterilizers, you can create a safer, more efficient and more enjoyable environment for your team and a better point of care experience for your patients. Designed with your team in mind, these sterilizers are more than just a tool—they can be a strategic partner in your growth.

Are your sterilizers working as hard as they could be for your practice?

Visit midmark.com/dental or call 1.800.MIDMARK today to learn how Midmark Steam Sterilizers can help transform your practice.

Sources:

1 HuFriedyGroup – https://www.hufriedygroup.com/blog/your-dental-sterilization-area-setup-efficient-or-bottleneck

2 Group Dentistry Now – https://www.groupdentistrynow.com/dso-group-blog/dso-procurement-survey-findings-2024/

3 American Dental Association – https://www.ada.org/-/media/project/ada-organization/ada/ada-org/files/resources/research/hpi/feb2023_hpi_economic_outlook_dentistry_report_main.pdf?rev=4fcaf08e3bb84ea2b5fd98984a02720c&hash=2963BA5185958B90A4511D3F062FBF9B

4 Decisions in Dentistry – https://decisionsindentistry.com/article/managing-burnout-perfectionism-dentistry/

5 Midmark Research Survey Result – data on file

6 CDC – https://www.cdc.gov/infection-control/hcp/disinfection-sterilization/healthcare-equipment.html