Written by: Ryan Dunlop, CEO and Founder of Full Arch Masters and graduate from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine
How This Full Arch System Changes Your Case Acceptance
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The 80% full-arch case acceptance benchmark comes from a structured, team-run consultation system, not clinical skill alone.
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The FAM Method assigns every consultation phase to a specific role (dentist, treatment coordinator, surgical assistant, lab technician) to prevent dropped handoffs and lost cases.
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Key drivers include a pre-consult value call, emotional discovery, visual tools like CBCT and smile simulation, proactive financing, and a 90-day follow-up plan.
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Practices using this framework often see same-day close rates rise from 15–22% to 30–45% in 90 days, with total close rates reaching 55–65% as scripts improve.
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Full Arch Masters provides training, scripts, and digital workflow tools to run this system; register for an upcoming course to bring the FAM Method into your practice.
Clinical Foundations and Team Roles for the FAM Method
Full-arch implant restoration replaces an entire maxillary or mandibular dentition with a fixed, screw-retained prosthesis supported by four to six implants. Immediate load means the team delivers a functional provisional prosthesis on the day of implant placement, before osseointegration completes. Photogrammetry uses non-contact optical measurement to capture implant positions with sub-micron accuracy, which removes the dimensional distortion seen with conventional impression materials. exocad serves as the CAD/CAM design platform throughout the FAM Method for prosthetic design and planning. Prosthetic classifications follow the Misch FP scale: FP1 restorations replace only the crown structure and emerge from tissue like natural teeth; FP2 restorations replace the crown and part of the root; FP3 restorations replace the crown, root, and part of the alveolar ridge, usually as a hybrid or bar-retained design.
Four roles carry the FAM Method consultation framework. The dentist leads the clinical examination, CBCT interpretation, and treatment recommendation. The treatment coordinator (TC) manages pre-consult rapport, the financial conversation, objection handling, and deposit collection. The surgical assistant acquires preoperative records, manages chairside digital tools, and supports workflow delegation. The lab technician receives digital records, executes exocad design, and produces the immediate-load and final prosthetic deliverables. With roles defined, the consultation framework runs as a coordinated team sequence instead of a string of disconnected handoffs, which directly improves patient confidence and case acceptance.
8-Step Consultation Framework
This consultation framework transforms how practices convert full-arch consultations into accepted cases. Each step maps to a specific team role and a specific outcome. Practices that execute all eight steps in sequence, instead of improvising, consistently close more full-arch cases, with top performers reaching very high acceptance percentages. Once a case is accepted, it moves into the FAM Method’s separate seven-step clinical workflow for same-day delivery.
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Pre-consult value-building call (TC, 24–48 hours before appointment). The TC conducts a structured phone call before the scheduled consultation. This call raises show rates and lifts close rates on attended consultations by building value and reducing uncertainty before the patient arrives. The call gathers five open-ended discovery questions covering current dental issues, duration of concern, life impact if resolved, primary concerns about proceeding, and a preliminary financial picture. These questions create rapport and reveal emotional drivers the TC will reference during the in-room financial conversation. Transparent price ranges and monthly payment options enter the discussion at this stage so the financial conversation at the consult feels like confirmation, not a surprise. Soft-pull pre-qualification through a lender, embedded in the booking flow, increases same-day acceptance because the financial unknown is resolved before the visit.
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Emotional discovery (TC, first 15–20 minutes in-room). The TC opens the in-room visit before the dentist enters. The focus stays on rapport and emotional discovery, not clinical data collection. Questions explore the patient’s goals, the daily impact of their current dental situation, and what a successful outcome would mean in their life. Full-arch patients are not buying a procedure; they are buying confidence, relief, function, and the chance to feel like themselves again. The TC listens at roughly a 75/25 ratio, with the patient speaking most of the time. Emotional clarity established here makes both the clinical and financial conversations that follow much easier to close.
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Visual tools: CBCT, smile simulation, and physical models (dentist and assistant, 25 minutes). The dentist enters after the TC’s discovery phase and leads the clinical examination. The team captures CBCT imaging and displays it chairside. Showing patients a 3D reconstruction of their own jaw shifts the conversation from “I’ll think about it” to “what do we do next?” Digital smile design software generates a preview of the final restoration adjusted for the patient’s face and anatomy, which turns an abstract plan into something they can emotionally commit to before treatment begins. Practices using intraoral scanners and digital smile design often report higher implant case acceptance rates. Physical implant models that patients can handle and click into place add a tactile element that reinforces the clinical recommendation.
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Phased treatment presentation (dentist, 10–15 minutes). The dentist delivers one clear treatment recommendation, not a menu of competing options. Any phased care appears as a timeline with defined milestones. The recommended sequence follows co-discovery principles: first help the patient visually validate the problem using their own imaging, then explain the underlying cause, and only then present the solution. When patients build their own knowledge of the condition through co-discovery, they ask for treatment rather than feeling sold. The dentist then exits and hands off to the TC with a scripted introduction that covers scheduling, timeline, and financial options.
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Investment discussion and financing presentation (TC, 15 minutes). The TC leads the financial conversation after the dentist exits, which separates clinical trust-building from affordability decisions. Patient financing acceptance rates improve when the TC offers options proactively during the treatment presentation instead of waiting for a price objection. The TC presents three pre-pulled financing scenarios on a single comparison sheet: a prime lender option (CareCredit), a high-approval secondary option for patients who do not qualify for prime rates, and an in-house or HSA/FSA path for patients who prefer to avoid third-party financing. This approach frames the conversation around monthly payments rather than total case fee. Leading with monthly payment language, for example $399 per month, instead of a $25,000 total reduces sticker shock and serves as a core strategy for closing full-arch cases. Full Arch Masters’ partner ProceedFinance supports extended terms up to 84 months, which makes large full-arch cases manageable for a broader patient population.
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Objection matrix with exact responses (TC, 10 minutes). A small set of common objections accounts for most lost full-arch cases: needing to talk to a spouse, needing to think about it, cost concerns, timing conflicts, desire for a second opinion, and fear of surgery. Each objection receives a specific trained response instead of improvisation. The TC asks for the deposit before the patient asks to think about it. When a patient says “I need to think about it,” the trained response is: “I completely understand. Can you help me understand what part you’d like to think about most? Is it the procedure itself, the timeline, or the investment?” This isolates the concern so the TC can address it before the patient leaves. When a spouse is not present, the TC offers an immediate three-way phone call, an evening video consultation, or a no-charge follow-up spouse consultation. Many full-arch decisions involve a spouse or adult child who is not present, so structured spouse recovery protocols can save a meaningful share of these cases.
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24-hour to 90-day follow-up cadence (TC). Many patients who accept high-value dental treatment decide after several follow-up contacts. Practices that wait for patients to call back lose most undecided cases, and 80% of callers who reach voicemail never leave a message. A structured follow-up sequence for non-closers includes: Day 1 personalized video email from the dentist, Day 3 TC call, Day 7 financing-options email, Day 14 patient testimonial video, Day 30 “what changed in your life this month” email, Day 60 TC call, and Day 90 final-window financing renewal email. This cadence recovers a portion of consultations that walked out undecided.
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Post-acceptance handoff to the FAM Method’s clinical workflow. Once the case is accepted and the deposit is collected, the clinical team moves the patient into the FAM Method’s seven-step digital workflow for same-day delivery.
The FAM Method’s 7-Step Clinical Workflow for Same-Day Delivery
The FAM Method uses a repeatable seven-step clinical workflow to move accepted cases from planning to same-day restoration.
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Preoperative records and data acquisition
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Photogrammetry and intraoral scanning
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CBCT and digital treatment planning
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exocad design
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Immediate-load conversion
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Final zirconia design and finishing
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FP1-specific design, team implementation, and workflow scaling
This integrated sequence takes a patient from no teeth or heavily failing dentition to a screwed-in, same-day restoration in 2–4 hours. Alumni report adding $1M+ per year in practice revenue after adopting this workflow.
Role Mapping and Real-World Conversation Examples
The following role-mapping table assigns each consultation phase to the team member responsible for executing it. Clear ownership prevents the most common failure pattern, where the dentist absorbs the financial conversation by default because no one else feels prepared to handle it.
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Consultation Phase |
Primary Owner |
Supporting Role |
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Pre-consult value-building call |
Treatment Coordinator |
— |
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Emotional discovery (in-room) |
Treatment Coordinator |
— |
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CBCT capture and records acquisition |
Surgical Assistant |
Dentist |
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Clinical exam and treatment presentation |
Dentist |
Surgical Assistant |
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Investment and financing discussion |
Treatment Coordinator |
— |
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Objection handling and deposit collection |
Treatment Coordinator |
— |
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Follow-up cadence (Days 1–90) |
Treatment Coordinator |
Dentist (Day 1 video) |
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Post-acceptance clinical handoff |
Dentist |
Surgical Assistant / Lab Technician |
The objection-response matrix below covers common objections in lost full-arch cases. Each response aims to redirect the conversation instead of arguing with the patient.
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“I need to think about it.” “I completely understand. Can you help me understand what part you’d like to think about most, the procedure itself, the timeline, or the investment?” Isolate the specific concern and address it before the patient leaves the chair.
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“I need to talk to my spouse.” Offer an immediate three-way phone call, an evening video consultation, or a no-charge follow-up appointment that includes the spouse. Send home a printed summary and a financing pre-approval letter.
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“It costs too much.” Reframe around monthly payments and life impact: “What would it be worth to eat comfortably and smile with confidence? Many of our patients find that $389 per month, less than a car payment, makes this very manageable.” Present three pre-pulled financing scenarios immediately.
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“I’m afraid of the pain.” Acknowledge the concern directly: “That’s the most common concern we hear before treatment. The most common feedback we get after is that it was much easier than expected.” Present IV sedation as the standard of care for full-arch cases.
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“I want a second opinion.” Validate the instinct: “That’s a completely reasonable thing to do for a decision this significant.” Provide a written treatment summary and imaging the patient can take to any provider. Follow up on Day 14 with a patient testimonial video.
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“Can I just do a temporary fix for now?” Present the long-term cost comparison between repeated temporary interventions and a definitive full-arch restoration, using the patient’s own CBCT to illustrate ongoing bone loss risk with delayed treatment.
Common Challenges and How to Fix Them
Cost objections create the most frequent barrier in full-arch consultations. Patients facing a $30,000 full-arch case most often decline due to cost and financing concerns rather than doubting the clinical need for treatment. The solution is proactive financing presentation, using the monthly payment framing described in Step 5 before sticker shock occurs.
Spouse involvement often derails full-arch cases. Offering immediate three-way phone calls, evening video consultations, or no-charge follow-up spouse consultations helps recover cases where the decision-maker’s partner was not present. Building a spouse-inclusion protocol into the standard consultation flow, instead of treating it as an exception, reduces this type of attrition.
Financing friction drops when practices maintain a two-tier lender stack: one prime lender with high brand recognition (CareCredit) and one secondary lender with broader credit approval (Sunbit or Proceed Finance). Sunbit reports 85%+ approval rates on dental financing applications, which makes it an effective second-chance option for patients who do not qualify for CareCredit.
Workflow bottlenecks between accepted case and same-day delivery resolve with the FAM Method’s seven-step digital workflow. Practices running hybrid analog-digital workflows experience the most friction at records acquisition and design. Full integration of photogrammetry, intraoral scanning, and exocad design into a single repeatable sequence removes the multi-day appointment model and the discomfort of sending patients home to swollen tissue.
Measuring Full Arch Consultation Performance
Case acceptance rate alone does not tell the full story. The following KPIs give a more complete picture of consultation performance.
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Close rate by consultation attended measures same-day acceptance as a percentage of completed consultations. Target 45–55% same-day and 70–80% within 90 days.
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Average days to decision tracks median time from initial consultation to signed case acceptance. Shorter cycles signal stronger pre-consult qualification and in-room financial execution.
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Revenue per consult equals total accepted case value divided by total consultations conducted, including no-shows and non-closers. This metric reveals the true production value of the consultation system and shows whether marketing spend attracts qualified leads.
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Show rate reflects the percentage of scheduled consultations that patients attend. A pre-consult call protocol can lift show rates.
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Follow-up recovery rate measures the percentage of undecided consultations that convert within 90 days through the structured follow-up cadence.
Tracking case acceptance by dollar value rather than procedure count exposes production leaks in high-value treatments and shows whether breakdowns occur in the clinical, financial, or follow-up conversation. Once KPIs are tracked consistently, the team can refine and scale the system.
Scaling Volume with Advanced FAM Method Strategies
Practices that stabilize their consultation framework at a 60–70% close rate usually hit a new constraint, which is volume. The FAM Method’s team-based delegation model scales full-arch volume without consuming the dentist’s chair time on non-billable tasks. Surgical assistants trained in records acquisition, including intraoral scanning, photogrammetry, and CBCT capture, remove those steps from the dentist’s workflow. Lab technicians who execute exocad design in-house eliminate turnaround time and communication friction with off-site labs.
Refining delegation requires clear role documentation and regular team review of consultation recordings. Recording consultations with patient consent and reviewing one per week with a coach can lift close rates. The same review process reveals which objection types appear most often in a specific practice’s patient population, which allows the TC to refine scripts for local market conditions.
FP1-specific cases, where the prosthesis emerges from tissue like natural teeth, require a distinct design and surgical approach that differs from FP2 and FP3 workflows. Practices that add FP1 to their case mix gain access to a higher-margin, more aesthetic restoration option that many full-arch workflows do not address. The FAM Method includes FP1-specific design instruction as a dedicated curriculum track, with lab technicians receiving focused FP1 design training that runs alongside the clinical instruction.
Frequently Asked Questions
What close rate can a practice expect in the first 90 days?
Most practices implementing a structured consultation framework for the first time, with a trained treatment coordinator running the pre-consult call, in-room financial conversation, and 90-day follow-up cadence, see same-day close rates move from a 15–22% baseline to 30–45% within the first 90 days. Total 90-day close rates, including follow-up recovery, typically reach 55–65% once the TC completes initial script refinement. The 80% benchmark maintained by Full Arch Masters’ in-house treatment coordinator reflects a fully optimized system with consistent objection-handling drills and weekly consultation review. Practices that attend the Treatment Coordinator Bootcamp alongside their TC return with the same closing system and scripts used to produce that benchmark.
Should the entire team attend training together?
The FAM Method is built around full-team execution, with one team running one workflow. A dentist who returns from training without a trained TC, surgical assistant, and lab technician cannot operationalize the workflow at volume. The Flagship Course is structured for the full team, so the dentist, lead assistant, treatment coordinator, and in-house lab technician attend together and leave aligned on the same operating system. Team-member pricing is built into every course ($2,500 per additional team member for the Flagship Course), which keeps full-team attendance financially realistic. Practices that send the whole team from day one consistently report faster implementation and higher case volume in the months after the course.
What CE credits do Full Arch Masters courses provide?
Full Arch Masters is an AGD PACE-approved continuing education provider. The Flagship Course, Live Surgical Course, and Design and Finish Course each carry 32 AGD PACE-approved CE credits. The FAM Fellowship, which bundles the three core courses plus a fourth course of the practice’s choice, delivers more than 90 CE hours across the full program. AGD PACE approval means state dental boards across the United States accept these credits for license renewal.
How does the FAM Method’s digital workflow differ from a typical “digital” workflow?
Most practices that describe their workflow as digital still run a hybrid model with partial intraoral scanning, off-site lab work, multi-day appointments, and patients sent home to swollen tissue before provisional delivery. The FAM Method uses an end-to-end integrated system that includes intraoral scanning, photogrammetry via the iCam4D system, CBCT imaging, exocad design, 3D-printed immediate-load conversion, and same-day final delivery, all executed as a single repeatable workflow by a coordinated team. The patient arrives with missing or failing teeth and leaves the same day with a screwed-in restoration in 2–4 hours. Integration and repeatability, not individual digital tools, create the difference.
Which financing partners does Full Arch Masters recommend?
Full Arch Masters partners with ProceedFinance as its primary patient-financing integration, supporting extended repayment terms up to 84 months for high-ticket full-arch cases. The Treatment Coordinator Bootcamp covers the full financing conversation in depth, including how to present multiple financing scenarios on a single comparison sheet, how to apply the monthly payment strategy covered in the core framework, and how to use soft-pull pre-qualification to resolve the financial unknown before the consultation begins. Practices are generally advised to maintain a two-tier lender stack, with one prime lender that has strong brand recognition and one secondary lender with broader credit approval, to serve patients across a wide range of credit profiles.
Conclusion and Next Steps
The gap between typical full-arch close rates and an 80% close rate reflects a systems problem, not a clinical problem. Missing pre-consult calls, an untrained TC, reactive financing conversations, and a lack of structured follow-up all contribute to lost cases. The 8-step consultation framework above closes that gap by assigning every phase of the consultation to a specific team role with a specific outcome, then handing the accepted case to the FAM Method’s seven-step digital workflow for same-day delivery in 2–4 hours.
Full Arch Masters teaches the entire system, including the consultation framework, digital workflow, lab design and finishing, surgical technique, and team delegation, as a single integrated curriculum. The revenue impact is substantial, and practices consistently report seven-figure annual increases after full implementation. Every attendee joins a community of hundreds of FAM-trained dentists, lab technicians, and team members, gains access to the KOL (Key Opinion Leader) buying group at no recurring cost, and receives a complete digital resource library that covers everything from surgical room setup to treatment coordinator scripts and consent templates.
