The Dawson Academy Blog

So one of the questions that I've asked myself, is are my patients understanding what I'm saying when they don't get to see what I see? And I feel like this is something that we all fall into: we love to talk and try to educate, but the patient's not having the same visual as we do. So how do we overcome that?

So one of the problems that I face in my practice is how do I talk about all these things, the signs of instability and the requirements of a stable occlusion, in a hygiene visit? And I used to try. And I would watch my patient's eyes kind of glaze over and I was feeling the pressure from my hygienist. She's like, "Hey, hurry up. We've got to stay on time."

And I realized I have to do something different here because they weren't accepting to come back to do their bite analysis or their smile analysis. Most people would get up there and be like, "No, I'll just see you again for the next hygiene."

So creating a network of specialists is not an easy task for a Dawson dentist.

Seek specialists that share the same philosphy.

It presents with a lot of challenges of finding the people that you want to work with, that have the same philosophy, that have the same personality, potentially, as you do, that your patients are going to feel welcome going to.

One thing that I have introduced lately into my office is an office tour. And it has been fantastic for the excitement in the office.

We have a front desk girl that is very bubbly, and excited, and fun to be around, and so she will greet the new patients as they walk in the door. And she will walk and greet them with a handshake and just say, "Hey. Let me show you around the office. Let me give you a tour." And she starts in the waiting area and just gives a little brief description of what is going on there, offers them a water or a coffee if they would like. And then she will bring them in the back.

So one quick tip that I've implemented into my office that had been successful is implementing a patient gift when they walk in for the first time.

These can be super simple and not very expensive, but I've found it to be very successful for the patient feeling welcomed to our office and feeling a part of our team. And that's the new patient gift.

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So my quick tip is about immediate non-occlusal load temporaries for implant restorations.

I love doing INOL temporaries.

I just think it's a great value for patients, but what I found was that there's a lot of chair time involved in doing these. I've done many of them in my office and the patient would come over from the surgeon's office, implant was placed that morning. They come to me. I have my stent ready. I fabricate the INOL temporary and it looked great, but it took me an hour or an hour and a half to do it. And there's a lot of bleeding involved, and tissue involvement that just becomes very frustrating to work with when you are trying to deal with a temporary material.