Understanding our patient base: an introduction to data analytics in dental practice

Data analytics means taking an inquisitive look at raw data, such as patient addresses, and extracting meaningful information by summarizing, illustrating and analysing the data. Assessing the information in context leads to knowledge and the opportunity to use this knowledge to make decisions based on evidence. Dental practices collect vast quantities of data everyday but usually it is only interpreted as clinical records or for auditing purposes. More broadly across the healthcare sector, data supports clinical decisions, disease surveillance and population health management.¹ Barriers to further analysis in dental practice include poor quality data, lack of analytics experience, lack of time and resistance to change.²

An example of data analytics within a small business is the analysis of a year's worth of daily sales in a clothing shop.³ Plotting a graph of typical sales takings per day of the week demonstrates that, though Saturday takings per hour are the highest overall, sales per customer are higher mid-week (Figure 1).