Want to do high end treatments? Learn to communicate FIRST.

As dentists, we get really caught up in doing amazing, perfect dentistry. The problem with this is most patients can't tell one dentist from another as long as it doesn't hurt. You can be the best in the world, but most patients can't tell the difference. Most patients judge how great you are by how much you care about them. It doesn't take much to set yourself apart from other dentists when it comes to caring. Taking those couple of minutes to listen to your patient and have a personal conversation is the best thing because it shows you are human and that you aren't too important to take the time with your patient.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be trying to do amazing dentistry. Don't get me wrong, I want you doing absolutely the best that you can do for your patients. However if you don't communicate well with your patients, you're doing them a disservice because you aren't going to be able to do the best that dentistry has to offer. Not everyone values getting the best that dentistry has to offer mostly because they don't understand what solution the best option provides.

Let's take a crown for example - not a hugely expensive procedure, but for a patient who is used to just getting fillings done, it can seem very expensive. Most dentists will tell the patient what they need, the cost, and maybe go into the details of what the procedure entails: "I'm going to drill off 1.5mm of tooth, cut until the fracture disappears, glue on a porcelain ....." If your patient wasn't turned off by the price, they likely are horrified by the sounds of what you are going to do to their poor little tooth that really isn't bothering them. If you are trying to sell them the procedure and it's $1500 cost, a first time crown patient will often feel you are selling them something they don't really need. Instead of trying to sell them the procedure, address what problem the procedure solves: "Your best bet at keeping your tooth from breaking further and having to be removed is putting a crown on it to support it so that you can try to keep that tooth for a lifetime."

Patients come to you because they are looking for solutions - "this hurts ... that broke ... my face is swollen". They want solutions to their problems. The most common solution patients are seeking is to keep their teeth.

So what can you do starting today to communicate better?

1. Ask the right questions: Ask open ended questions that get your patients expounding on what they want from you and their oral health.
2. Shhhh! Instead of jumping in when a patient is speaking to show you understand them, just be quiet and listen. It's amazing what you can find out when you let someone just talk. Patients like talk - especially when it's about themselves.
3. Assume Nothing: Assume nothing that they say is what you think it means. If they tell you they have a crack in the tooth get them to explain what that means. I had a patient who wanted the cracks in her teeth fixed. She was in her 60's and looking at her teeth while she was talking, there were obvious cracks in her enamel, so I understood exactly what she meant. When she came back to go over her treatment plan, I was talking about how to solve this problem for her. The more I spoke, the more angry she got. Finally, I stopped and asked what I was saying that was so upsetting. She scolded me that I had not addressed her concerns at all. She stuck her long fingernail in between her teeth explaining that the cracks were what she wanted fixed. It donned on me that when she said cracks, she was talking about the diastemas between her teeth not the cracks in her enamel as I had assumed because I didn't take the time to clarify what she meant by cracks.
4. Dig Deeper: If you think your patient has told you everything you need to know about what they want, ask another question. You'd be surprised at what they will continue to tell you more about if you give them the opportunity.

How does this translate to doing bigger cases? What happens most often is we look in a patient's mouth, tell them what we want to fix, and give them a price on the procedure. If a patient doesn't see the problem you found as a problem, they will feel you are trying to convince them of unnecessary treatment - especially if you try to educate them to death about why they have to have it done. Instead, if you know what your patient sees as their problems and you find out what they really want from you for their long-term health, you can frame the solutions they are seeking from their point of view. When done this way, your patient can value the solutions you present and get on board with your solutions. Then you can work out the details of cost and timeline to complete the care.

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