The Importance of the New Patient Exam in your Dental Office!

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.

Few of your patients will have received a complete comprehensive dental exam that includes radiographs, intra oral imagine, 3D imagine and complete explanation of head, neck and oral conditions. Many of your patients will say they have never had such a thorough exam.

Here are some key questions we can ask the patient:

How do you feel about your smile? This is a great open-ended question to engage the patient into a conversation about their teeth and oral health. It's often very surprising what patients will tell you they would like to change about their smile the deeper they get into that conversation with you.
Do they have a concern or problem? Encourage the patient to verbalize their concerns. This allows us to better understand what their perceptions of their problems are.
Do you like the color and shape of your teeth? This again is a question that opens conversation. The patient may not otherwise think to tell you about that spot they always get food caught, or think to ask about whitening for an upcoming wedding.
Rate your smile from 1 to 10. Then follow up with what would it take for your smile to become a 10. They may say they just want to be able to eat what everyone else is eating. Maybe someone has a tooth that has always bothered them because of the shape and or color. Inviting them to share opens the opportunity for conversation about possible treatment options
How have you thought about changing your smile?
Did you know that changing your smile could help you look 20 years younger?

These simple questions can assist you in getting to know your patients so that you can establish their needs and treat them successfully. Talking to your patients in common terms opens the door for conversations that will ultimately lead to comprehensive treatment options.