Tips to Improve Dental Patient Education and Communication

One of the most important ways to ensure dental practice growth and patient compliance is good communication with your dental patients and making sure they are educated about your dental practice and the services you can provide. These simple tips will help you ensure that your dental patients are educated and informed.

Make a great first impression – If you don’t already have a web site now is the time to set one up. If your dental practice isn’t represented on the internet you are not only missing the opportunity for potential patients to find you, but you are also aren’t providing existing patients with a valuable resource. A dental practice website can provide information for dental patients about you and your staff and the services you provide.

Give new patients the star treatment – Before a new dental patient meets with you have a staff member give them a tour of your office.  Showing off your well maintained dental office can help make a great first impression on a new dental patient.  When you first meet with a new patient make sure you note what the patient’s primary concern and objective is. This way you can address any concerns they have up front and know what they expect out of treatment

Keep it simple – When presenting treatment plans to a dental patient use simple language and make sure to focus on the patient’s previously stated concerns. It is also important to be upfront about fees so that dental patients don’t feel like they are getting the bait and switch. If a patient states that they would like to think about a treatment plan rather than immediately saying yes don’t panic. A high pressure sales approach in this type of situation may just turn a patient off and send them to another dental practice. Simply asking if there is a reason they aren’t ready to start treatment may open up a line of communication between you and the dental patient.