Do You Refer Out & Why?

Hey everybody, Dr. Lepore here again with another question I think that I get asked every single day. So I wanted to bring it to a video topic for you.

“Do I refer things out or do I try to keep as much as possible in-house?” And I think that is a very loaded question. It’s worth some time to talk about it. Over the last few years, I wanted to instill some confidence in you that I have not just got a bunch of referral pads from people to buy me lunch every single day or try to earn my trust. I have assembled a team of people in different specialties in dentistry and in medicine that I would go personally see or send anybody I love and care about.

But why do I do this? And I think of an analogy of contracting on a house. I want my plumber doing the plumbing. I want my electrician doing the electricity. I don’t want my plumber doing the electricity work. And if you think about it from that perspective, my dad used to say, you can only be so good with so many things. It’s really impossible to be excellent at a ton of things. So what I’ve done over the last couple of years is I’ve gotten a root canal specialist, periodontist, someone to move your teeth like an orthodontist, pediatric dentist or primary care physicians, all on a team that I could call at six o’clock at night or eight o’clock in the morning to really plan your case custom for you to get the best treatment for you.
I’m a big fan of staying in your lane, so while I take a ton of continued education, I take it in certain disciplines and I stay in that lane and I make sure that I’m the best possible caretaker for you in that lane. However, I have a team of people that might be better at certain things, and I think it’s really important to humble yourself as a professional and as a practitioner or more importantly, to make sure that your treatment is truly the best. And what is the best? The best means that it’s going to look good. It’s going to feel good. And it’s going to last a long time. So if I know in my heart of hearts that I need a specialist to do my work, if I would go to an orthodontist to handle my braces, if I would go to a periodontist to handle my gums, then why should it be any different for you as my patients?

So have confidence when you get that referral piece of paper that it’s not just me saying, “Go see this person, they’ll figure your problem out”. They’re just gonna be part of your clinical team to get you the best comprehensive care that you possibly can to make things last as long as possible. I hope I answered this question. I hope you have confidence in the team that I’ve taken so much care and time in trying to assemble over the last couple of years, because I know that that’s who I would go to.