How to Ensure They’ll Leave With a Smile

Let’s face it, you’re a dentist not a salesperson. As a healthcare professional, you’ve dedicated your life to the art and science of helping people. Your credentials are impeccable, your skills top notch. But it’s also important to make sure your patients feel warm and fuzzy. This is often why there’s such a disparity between the ads dental patients see on television and what actually occurs when they walk into a dental office. To close this gap, you have to take a hard, honest look at the entire dental experience–from the patient’s point of view.

Good or Bad, People Will Talk About Their Dental Experience

If you want patients to say good things about their dental experience, if you want them to spread the word about you at luncheons, parties and before and after business meetings, you’ll have to treat them like you really care. After all, most people don’t look forward to visiting a dentist. Which is why you have to be more than a root canal, painful gum injection, boring x-ray or mouthful of uncomfortable cotton spacers. Like most other providers that patients deal with, your dental patients want a long-term relationship, a partner in oral health, someone they’ll look forward to seeing and talking to.

Perception is Reality

Let’s try to wrap our heads around exactly what the typical dental patient perceives during his or her dental experience. The  scent of Eugenol, a preoccupied receptionist with a robotic manner. A seemingly endless wait in a sterile looking room that lacks any personality. A bored staff member who coldly struggles with your patient’s name before silently guiding them back to the your chair. Dental patients take all this in and it gives them the excuse they need not to come back. The gauntlet of bad experiences continues as patients are forced to wait still again as their dentist dashes into a room with a quick, “sorry, I’m late,” and gives them a painful injection without another kind word. After the emotionless procedure, they’re shuttled out to the receptionist who appears only to want one thing–payment for their experience.

A Realty They’ll Respond to

To turn things around, you’ll need to create a memorable experience. One that begins the minute they walk in the door. Starting with a dental office tastefully decorated with interesting pictures, perhaps even a waiting room video that entertains and informs about oral health in a fun way. Next, a warm greeting by the receptionist who compliments them on their appearance, inquires about their family or recent vacation, and perhaps even offers them a beverage while waiting. After a short wait—and it should be a short one—the your patient should be escorted to the treatment room, ideally the staff member should walk next to the patient, not in front. Next come the personal touches that make patients feel even more welcome and at ease–a neck pillow based on the patient’s previous preference, a friendly review of the patient’s health where you listen, then explain any test results or procedures. This is done in a way that educates the dental patient so they can make informed decisions about their oral health.

When your patients enter the exam room, a two-way conversation should take place. One that further clarifies the patient’s treatment choices. After the procedure, the two-way conversation should continue on any additional procedures and follow-up care. Here, too, any at-home care should be fully explained to the patient, giving him or her the feeling that you and the hygienist care about the patient’s oral health. Before the patient leaves, your receptionist should ask the patient about his or her treatment experience, professionally collect payment and schedule a future appointment. The hygienist may then hand out a free sample packet of toothpaste, toothbrush and other educational materials that further explain any upcoming procedures. (Many patients are often too nervous or preoccupied with other matters and may have “information overload” to digest everything in a dentist’s office.)

Proper Communication is Key

If you want a dental patient to come back, and praise you to their friends and relatives, you must learn to communicate with them in a meaningful way. That means listening to the patient regarding the reason for the visit, their oral health complaints, and any perceived demands or expectations they may have. You should also avoid any inappropriate or negative comments and attitudes that may cause anxiety. And don’t allow your personal beliefs to interfere with your professionalism as an oral health care provider. Keep in mind, you are building a partnership with a fellow human being, so you don’t want to be seen as judgmental. Engage the dental patient, show genuine interest, make eye contact and use a little appropriate humor on occasion. Express concern for their views and personal circumstances, and respect their rights, beliefs, cultures and dignity. In short, be a mensch.

The role of empathy in the dentist-patient relationship is an important and often neglected attribute. A study involving 90 patients receiving emergency care from 13 different dentists showed that patients’ satisfaction was mainly influenced by the communicative behavior of the dentist.

Your Dental Patients Didn’t Go to Dental School

A major communications problem many dentists unknowingly harbor is their use of dental jargon. This may simply be due to habit, since jargon serves as a form of shorthand. Dentists regard it as a simple, straightforward way of communicating specific procedures, not realizing that dental patients have a general fear of the unknown. Another, more self-serving reason may be that having specialized knowledge can make some people feel superior to others. This translates into negative feelings people have about many oral health practitioners. To counter this, dentists, hygienists and office staff should avoid the use of technical terms and, instead, find words that are clear, accurate, and commonplace. For example, instead of as restoration, say, filling, in place of dentition, say set of teeth, and rather than, occlusion, simply say how your teeth come together. This removes a critical barrier to effective communication and sets the stage for open dialog between patient and the dental office.