Louis Malcmacher DDS MAGD Printer Friendly Version

Who Do You Believe?

Common Sense Dentistry

There is a common scenario that has happened in every single dental office.  You present a treatment plan to a patient, whether it is something as simple as a tooth colored restoration or an endo, post, core and crown and a patient goes home to think about it. The patient then comes back to you, or calls you, and says, “My hairdresser thinks that a root canal is a bad idea and I would rather just take out the tooth”. You think to yourself what an idiot this patient must be. Here I went to dental school for four years, have many hours of advanced continuing education, treat patients every single day, and instead of believing me; they are listening to their hairdresser?  How in the world could they compare my treatment recommendation to a conversation that they have with a low dental IQ cosmetologist? 

This scene will repeat itself many times over your dental career. I’ll tell you exactly why it happens. There is an aura of believability that we as dental professionals sometimes don’t project. Think about it – this patient has come to your office, met your entire staff, you as the dentist did the examination and made a recommendation. It was all very clinical and confident, but was it believable?  That connection is absolutely essential to forming a relationship where the patient will trust you and your team more than they will their hairdresser. 

I often say this in my lectures and I know that this does disturb some dentists. Your patients have absolutely no way to judge your clinical skills. They really don’t know if you are a better clinical dentist than the dentist down the street from your office. They really don’t know what all of the diplomas on your wall mean. Truth be told, you go into many dental offices and they all have the same wall hangings of all the continuing education that they have taken.  As a profession, people pretty much assume that most dentists know what they are doing, so how in the world can your office be different from everyone else? 

The answer is in the personal connection that you provide to patients. The easiest and fastest way to establish that connection is with the little chit-chat conversations that your team members have with your patients to get to know them a little bit better, find out about their families, hobbies, interests, and what they do for a living.  These are valuable pieces of information that you can then incorporate into formulating how you are going to approach your treatment plan and making yourself believable and connecting with the patient. 

It’s funny when a dentist tells me that his team talks too much to patients and they waste too much time in the office in conversations about what seems to be nothing.  I point out to them that this can be the basis for building a great patient relationship, which then leads to a loyal, long-lasting patient. 

The other very important piece that I believe adds value to a patient appointment is by pointing out some of the unique things that you do in your office that they may never have done before.  The most valuable words that come out from a patient’s mouth that I love to hear are, “Nobody has ever done that for me before”. 

A couple of quick examples – the patients come in and I tell them that I am using a Waterlase MD laser so that they won’t have to get a shot before their restorative treatment.  Another patient comes in and has a periodontal abscess.  I clean out the pocket and place Arestin by OraPharma.  In both cases if I say nothing to the patient, the patient will not think that anything special has occurred.  But, if I point out that I am using these patient friendly technologies to make the patient’s visit easier, I am different from every other dentist out there and I am unique and uniquely believable. 

Learn the valuable art of connecting with people. It takes only a few moments to be friendly and believable. Then, instead of choosing who to believe, your patients will start referring their cosmetologists to you!

Dr. Louis Malcmacher is a practicing general dentist in Bay Village, Ohio, an internationally known lecturer, dental consultant and author, and consultant to the Council on Dental Practice of the ADA. Interested in knowing more about how to truly enjoy dentistry? Click here.

Interested in having Dr. Malcmacher speak to your dental society or study club? Click here.

To reach Dr. Malcmacher, email him at DrMalcmacher@thedentistsnetwork.net or call 1.800.952.0521.

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