Inventory management in the dental practice: how to approach it

A well-stocked supply cabinet feels reassuring, until you notice how much money is sitting on those shelves. Composite that expires, anesthetic cartridges past their date, boxes of cups that last for years: too much stock costs money and space. Too little stock costs even more. An appointment you have to move because the material ran out, or an expensive rush delivery, weighs more than one box too many.

Good inventory management finds the balance between the two. In this guide you will read how to approach it in your dental practice, from the first count to a fixed routine your team follows without thinking.

Map out your stock

Start with an overview of where your supplies are. In most practices that is more than one place: a central storeroom, the cabinets in each treatment room and the sterilization room. Write down which products are in each place, and how many.

That first count takes an afternoon, but it pays off right away. You see which products you have twice, what nobody has used in a long time and what is almost gone. Use the moment to throw out expired products as well.

Classify your products with the ABC method

Not every product deserves the same attention. The ABC method helps you decide where your time goes.

• A products have a high value, like implants and composites. They make up a large share of your spending. Follow them closely and order them in smaller quantities.
• B products are the middle group, like instruments and anesthetics. Most practices check and order them monthly.
• C products have a low value and move fast, like gloves, cups and bibs. Buy them in large quantities so you hardly have to think about them.

The goal is to avoid the many small rush orders. They are not only more expensive, they also make it hard to see how much your practice really spends on supplies.

Set a minimum stock level per product

The most important number in your inventory management is the minimum stock level: the quantity below which you reorder. This is how you calculate it:

Minimum stock = usage per week × lead time in weeks + a small buffer

An example. You use two boxes of size M gloves per week. Your supplier delivers within a week. With a buffer of one week, you end up with a minimum of four boxes. When the stock drops below four, you reorder.

Estimate the usage roughly at first and adjust it after a few months. Take busy and quiet periods into account: in many practices usage is lower in summer, and often higher toward the end of the year. You will find more examples in our article on calculating minimum stock.

Keep track of expiry dates

Composites, bonding agents, anesthetics and medicines in particular lose money when they expire. Two habits help:

• First expired, first out. Put new deliveries at the back of the shelf, so the oldest products get used first.
• Check the A products every month. Anything that expires within three months goes to the front or gets used first.

Agree on who does what

Inventory management often falls between the cracks. The dentist assumes the assistant orders, the assistant waits until someone says something has run out. Make it concrete:

• One person is responsible for ordering, with a fixed backup.
• Anyone who takes the last item from a box records it right away.
• There is a fixed moment in the week when orders are placed, instead of every time something runs out.

Paper, Excel or software?

A list on paper or in Excel works as long as your practice is small and one person keeps track of everything. The downside: the list is only right if someone updates it, and in a busy week that does not happen.

Many suppliers offer their own scanning system. That makes counting easier, but it only shows the products and prices of that one supplier. You tie your practice to one company and lose sight of what other suppliers charge. Rolling it out also takes time: expect a few months before such a system runs smoothly.

Software that is independent of any one supplier does give you that overview. Look at three things when you choose: does it work with all your suppliers, can your team use it without training, and can you count per storage location? We list all the criteria in our article on dental inventory software.

Inventory management with Swyp

In Swyp your stock and your orders are connected, for all your suppliers at once.

• Scan with your smartphone. Swyp creates a QR label for every product in stock. You print a sheet, stick a label on each box and scan what you take from the shelf or receive with your phone's camera. You don't need any extra device.
• Per storage location. Swyp keeps the count for every place: the storeroom, each treatment room, the sterilization room.
• See low stock in time. You set a minimum per product. When the stock drops below it, the product appears on your low-stock list.
• One order with all your suppliers. From that list you create one order. Swyp compares the prices of all your connected suppliers, at the prices of your own accounts, and takes shipping costs into account.

So you start small: with one cabinet or one treatment room, and expand once the routine is in place. Read more about how it works on the page about inventory management in Swyp.

Common mistakes

• Tracking everything equally closely. If you count every box of cups, you have no time left for the products that really cost money. Start with your A products.
• Ordering on gut feeling. "There's still plenty" is true until it isn't. A minimum per product takes away that doubt.
• Stocking up because of a promotion. A buy-3-get-1-free deal only pays off if you use all four boxes before they expire. Also read how to compare supplier promotions.
• Each treatment room orders separately. Then the same product sits in three places while it has run out somewhere else. One overview across all rooms prevents that.
• Never recounting. Even with a good system, errors creep in. Recount your A products every month and the rest every quarter.

How to start this week

1. Count your stock per storage location and throw out expired products.
2. Classify your products as A, B and C.
3. Set a minimum stock level for your A and B products.
4. Choose one person in charge and a fixed ordering moment.
5. Choose how you track what leaves the shelf, and keep it up for four weeks.

After a month you know what you really use. From then on you order what you need, when you need it.