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This paper describes how a dentist can use a new management tool, a computerized dental practice management game, to plan his or her own practice. After reviewing factors to be considered in planning a dental practice, we briefly describe the game with special emphasis on what it can and cannot do. After identifying the information required to make such an exercise useful in planning a specific practice, the paper gives an example that shows how the game can be so used.

A large number of coded items such as bank checks are initially mixed randomly. It is desired to sort them into k categories using a sorting device with m pockets (m < k). Several possible objectives are noted, and a new criterion oriented to the average time until categories are sorted out is analyzed. A simple strategy is shown to minimize the average number of sorting passes that elapse until an item is sorted out.

This paper describes the structure of a dental practice management game. The game covers a wide spectrum of management decisions in setting up and in running a dental practice. The decisions considered include practice location, the form of practice, staffing mix, salaries, and the purchasing or leasing of equipment. The game also covers major daily, monthly, and yearly decisions including forecasting patient load, economic analysis, and scheduling of patients, workers, and operatories. The paper also discusses the cost and time required to run the game. Many sample printouts are included.