For your day-to-day operations and those times when you’re bringing in another doctor as an associate or temporary staff to cover vacations, your patients deserve to have minimum standards that are consistent within your organization. When there is a lack of minimum standards, chaos grows for patients as they are diagnosed by one doctor and…
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The confirmation process is at the heart of any successful practice. Without solid, unwavering, and detailed plans, patients fall through cracks, which can send teams into tailspins of stress as your practice’s revenue plummets. The mistake teams make around the confirmation process is that they care more about the patients than they do themselves. By…
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Hygienists think they communicate every day, and yet when asked what is the most challenging thing about dentistry, many of them say, “Team communication!” Communication is a complex and delicate process. To say one communicates with others and then still complains about the level of miscommunication says something about the kind of communication occurring and…
Read MoreYou’re sitting next to the patient, waiting for his response. You’ve done it right. Showed your patient all the x-rays with the bone loss. Described the hygienist’s findings of 5 to 6 mm pockets, bleeding, the pus. Providing a pamphlet of periodontal disease and the oral-systemic consequences was the final touch in gaining the buy-in…
Read MoreNo matter what the cost of the initial treatment plan is, remind your patients that this treatment will be far less expensive and require far less time than anything they might experience later. Pointing this out to patients just might be the turning point necessary to accept the treatment they need. One statement your treatment…
Read MoreAssumptions plague the doctor-patient relationship because “dentists don’t feel comfortable talking about money,” said every doctor ever. After a brief hiatus from writing for DrBicuspid.com I’m returning as a contributing author and very excited about it. In my newest blog, I talk about the biggest obstacle dentists have with case acceptance, which is that they…
Read MoreThe dental community is among the first line of defense when it comes to early detection of disease. And with oral cancer being one of the highest-ranking killers, the ADA has assumed the task of increasing public awareness about this often underrated disease. Their efforts include taking a more aggressive approach to the importance of…
Read MoreIn observing thousands of patient exams and case presentations, I’ve come across the singular, biggest obstacle dentists have with case acceptance; they assume. They assume patients only want to focus on one thing or they assume patients want to focus on everything. They assume patients don’t have time or they assume patients can spend the…
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When you are torn on how to proceed with a patient’s treatment to either perform a restorative/elective procedure or giving the patient a chance to correct the condition with home therapy, it can be difficult to determine which is right for the patient. Instead of doing nothing in the face of making the wrong decision,…
Read MoreFearful Patients Fear and dentistry seem to go hand in hand. Whether the fear comes from childhood experiences or is solely psychological, fear is a real thing that patients often bring with them to their appointments. Here’s what most dentists and their teams fail to remember: people have two biological, automatic reactions when dealing with…
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