Accelerate My Practice Blog

You've been in practice for 10, 20 30 years now and you claim to know your dental patients inside and out, right? Think about it though, when was the last time you modified your dental case presentation or your financial presentation based on your "filters" (Judgements)? If money and dental insurance was not an issue, if you could remove all of your "filters" and present IDEAL Dental treatment, would you?

Imagine this, you just lost your job through no fault of your own. You enroll into Medicaid due to the situation you are now in. Shortly after this, you inherit a million bucks from Old Aunt Myrtle! Some time later that week, you need to go to a dentist due to busting a tooth in half! Ouch! When you get there, present your Medicaid card, you are READY TO DO THE WORK and YOU HAVE THE CA$H TO DO IT!!! You are told by Dr. Jones the tooth needs extracted, but are given no additional information on replacement and restoration of that area because, "your insurance won't cover it"! WHAT??? You weren't even offered anything but what insurance would cover! Are you mad? I would be!

It's about that time of year again, Holiday and Crazy Families. Don't get distracted and forget to have your dental team talk with you dental patients about end of year insurance! What can you do to drive end of year insurance benefits and end of year business? What is the best methodology? Pushing to use remaining insurance before the end of the year is not a new concept and probably isn't new to any of you but it's our methodology in how to notify your patients that can make all the difference!

How are you communicating with different types of patients that come into your dental office? How about when that elderly patient calls for an appointment, do we immediately offer a discount because of their age? Do we communicate differently with them? Are we willing to slow down and speak to their level of hearing and responding? Can they even hear us the way we hear them?  

Often times the elderly do have unique oral needs. Can they care for their mouth effectively? Is their diet high in carbohydrates? Combine that with an inability to effectively brush their teeth. Yikes! 

The New Patient Exam can be the core of your dental practice and can better enable you to provide comprehensive care to all off your patients. A comprehensive dental exam allows the dentist and dental team the time needed to begin building a relationship. It allows the team to build trust that will result in loyal appreciative patients.

We know that sitting down and getting to know more about our patients allows them to become more comfortable with your team. During the New Patient exam we have the opportunity to establish confidence and trust. Sitting down and getting to know more about your patient then opens the door for them to become more comfortable in your practice. As a result, you will have a better chance of providing comprehensive treatment for those patients. No one wants a stranger to treat them. People like to have a friend, someone they can trust, to place the care of their health with.

Everyone has been there right?  The dreaded request for a second opinion.  What do you currently do when your patient tells you that they want to get a second opinion? Are you scrambling for the right words? Are you getting upset at the patient for not trusting your recommendations? Unfortunately this a lot because most practices are not prepared.

These reactions will rarely end in case acceptance.  Accelerate My Practice can show you how to change your mind set on this topic and take you from dreading this scenario to welcoming it and not killing the opportunity.  Unfortunately the former happens a lot because most practices are not prepared.