The Dawson Academy Blog

You only get one chance to make a first impression, so you have to make sure to get it right when a new patient calls.

I have two general rules for talking to patients on the phone.

The first rule is be positive.

And, of course, this means answering the phone with all the proper etiquette, like having a smile on your face and using the caller's name. But I mean that you should literally be positive. There is almost always a way to give an affirmative answer to a question without compromising your policies.

So I want to talk today about a few ways that you can introduce patients into the complete exam in your practice. In our practice, we primarily have three doors that the patients can enter through.

Transcript continued below...

In this 45 minute dental webinar, the Primespeak team will talk through the real reasons why patients delay or avoid treatment. You will learn how your own communication causes patients to mistrust you and avoid saying ‘yes’ to quality dental treatment.

As Dawson-trained dentists, one of things that is most exciting and fun for us is going over specialty treatment. Taking our patients to records and going over the checklists, the photos, and the Wizard, and figuring out a long-term treatment plan for them.

The problem is, that we experience at our office, is getting our patients to records. Some of the terms that we use are confusing and we lose them in the process.

As Dr. Dawson told us, a word such as equilibration is a word we should never use. There are a lot of ways, both Dr. Dawson and the lead faculty communicate to patients in layman's terms to help simplify the process.

By Dr. Kent Johnson
 in Park City, UT

By Daniel Midson-Short

By Daniel Midson-Short

Can you tell the difference between a genuine patient and one who is making excuses?

No matter how skilled or experienced you are as a dentist, it's likely that you cannot.

A dentist can bond well with a patient, develop a rapport, and they can spend a lot of time in the exam explaining the treatment that they recommend. They can even bring the patient back for an extra consultation and have a beautiful treatment plan prepared.

Despite all this, the patient may not really be interested in the treatment. But, because of everything the dentist has said and done, the patient is now too embarrassed to give an honest ‘no.'

Instead of honesty from the patient, we get polite evasion. They use a range of tactics to defer treatment indefinitely:

• "I need to think about it"
• "I need to talk with my wife"
• "I need to check finances"

Since the obstacles and excuses sound real, the biggest problem for the dentist is that there is no way to distinguish between real obstacles and polite evasion.

This puts the dentist into chase mode, trying to convince or cajole patients into treatment. The more we try to get a patient to have treatment, the better they become at avoiding us; it ends up feeling like a game of cat and mouse. The good news is the whole situation can be avoided if we start with a different approach.

By Daniel Midson-Short

As a dentist, when diagnosing problems, there is always the chance of patients reacting negatively.

Often, it is about the price of the treatment. Other times, it is because they didn’t realize what is actually happening in their mouth.

There are also larger risks: patients posting negative reviews online or seeking litigation against you for being misinformed.

The key to reducing these risks comes down to clear communication. By using these 4 important techniques from Primespeak you can reduce the risk dramatically.

By Daniel Midson-Short

For most dentists, their typical day consists of around 7 or more appointments with their patients. All have some sort of discussion around treatment, or at least the suggestion that the patient should consider taking better care of their mouth.

One of the most common responses you hear as a dentist whenever you suggest a course of treatment is the phrase ‘I’ll think about it.”

While this might seem encouraging, it is also a smoke screen given by patients so they can sneak out the door of your practice without committing any money or time towards treatment.

Why do so many patients say “I’ll think about it” when what they really mean is “No, I don’t want to”?

By Daniel Midson-Short

When dentists think about the reasons why patients don't accept treatment, they don’t expect that they may be a major cause to the issue.

Let’s consider a typical new patient exam scenario:

You are seeing a new patient for the first time. There seems to be good rapport and friendly conversation.

Being a professional, you have spent a lot of time explaining the treatment plan you see would be best for the patient. The patient seems to understand the treatment plan and is acting as though they are interested in proceeding with it. They are nodding and agreeing to the treatment details and costs.

However, the moment they leave the exam room, they immediately reverse their position. They ‘change their mind’ at the front desk, and tell the front office person they need time to ‘check finances’ or ‘look at their work schedule.'

Why does this happen?