Treatment and Diagnosis Mindset
Ideal Hygiene Check--Producer Productivity
Here Bob goes deep to deliver some practical talk about his methods and mindset around treatment and diagnosis.
“Trust” and “treatment acceptance” start the same way: with the letter T, and with good Face-to-Face.
In this segment, Bob discusses the mindset necessary to get your treatment acceptance to the level you’ve always thought was possible. It’s all about a focus on care — but that doesn’t mean you need to harp on people. In Bob’s words: don’t forget to diagnose their state of mind first.
The Real Barrier to Treatment Acceptance
Because dentists are so well-trained and clinically competent, the hard part about treatment acceptance isn’t about fixing teeth — it’s about understanding that the patient has other needs which must be cared for first.
Take the barriers down. Patients don’t need you to be the all-knowing dentist who will instruct them in the finer points of clinical practice. They need you to be a real person who cares about them. They’ll assume you know what you’re doing if everyone’s happy to be there and in sync.
When the rest of the team does a great job delivering the patient to you already feeling known and cared for, treatment acceptance becomes a matter of building on that trust — telling them what you see, giving them the options, finding out what works for them, and giving them what they want in the stages that work for them.
The Problem With Acceptance Goals
Discussions around treatment acceptance can become complicated when there are conflicting messages. When a dentist tries to hit an acceptance percentage as part of a financial goal, those goals — while making perfect sense on paper — will quickly come into conflict in practice. In order to truly hit 100% treatment acceptance, you will have to prioritize making the sale over what the patient really wants. Because the patient won’t get what they want, they may not return.
In the long run, as Bob has found, showing people the problem areas, presenting treatment options, and doing what works for the patient results in a lifetime patient. Over their lifetime, you have many more chances to demonstrate that you want what’s best for them. Once that trust is established, they will come to you for their dentistry when it’s time. You really don’t need to do anything more than to do what’s best for the patient.
