Helping Your Patients Understand Why Treatment Is Necessary
Posted by Administrator at 8:15 PM on Nov 28, 2016
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Are you having difficulty with getting your dental patients to schedule appointments for follow-up treatment? If you, the problem may be with the type of language you’re using to explain your patient’s dental problems. If you’re using terminology that is too clinically correct with your patients, it may go right over their heads. It is important to work on your treatment presentation in order to help your patients understand why treatment is needed.
Helping Patients Understand The ‘Why’ Behind Their Treatment
As a dentist, it’s important to remember that your patients did not attend dental school! They won’t understand the clinically correct explanations regarding their dental problem and the treatment necessary to fix it. If you go into a detailed account of what exactly is wrong with their tooth and why it needs a crown, they may only hear two things – something is wrong, and it has to do with an X-Ray. However, if the patient isn’t in pain or the treatment sounds pricey, your patient will likely walk right out of your office without scheduling an appointment.
Instead, you need to let your patient know that he or she needs a crown in order to treat a dental cavity, or tooth decay. Make sure he or she knows that, even if there isn’t pain right now, the problem could get worse, causing more pain and a potentially more expensive procedure to fix. Use this simple langue and your patient will get the message. The odds that a follow-up appointment will be scheduled increase quite a bit.
Communication is important in any workplace, but it is absolutely critical in the medical professions, including dentistry. Be certain to explain the problem to your patients in easy-to-understand language, and be available to answer any questions they may have regarding their dental problem, and the treatment needed to fix it. When patients understand why they need treatment, they’re much more likely to schedule for it!
For more information on keeping your office running smoothly or for any of your dental bookkeeping needs, please contact Dental Bookkeeping today!