The equation that drives dentistry: How often you get to deliver ideal care is going to depend on what patients choose to accept. It's one thing to diagnose and create a plan for what you see in a patient's mouth, but what drives acceptance is what's on the patient's mind.

You have to know how to communicate your clinical understanding of the patient's condition in a way that resonates with their desires. Sure, you will always have some people who choose to respond to nothing more than reactive care concerns. But at the same time you'd be surprised how many will commit to ideal care, if you take the time to work on your presentation and value creation skills.

Too often, dentists believe that success lies in attracting the right kind of patient; those who are predisposed toward accepting high-level dentistry. But the simple truth is most of those so-called “quality” patients already have a long history of accepting a high standard of dental care, so your improvements with them are usually going to be incremental.

If you really want to elevate your game, you need to connect with those patients who don't have a history of valuing dentistry, because that's where the real gains are made. That's where you can change lives. That's where your opportunities are to perform rewarding, challenging and comprehensive work.

You don't have to go to great lengths to find the “right” patients. In fact, if between you and your hygiene team you're seeing about 20 patients a day, I can almost guarantee that at least two have the means and the inclination to embrace ideal care if you can close this value gap.

The question is, can you identify those patients? Are you holding yourself accountable to reach out to these people and give them the opportunity to enjoy ideal dental health, regardless of your preconceptions about what they may accept?

Remember, they may not say yes to everything today, but you owe it to them – and to yourself – to begin the education process. Many patients come around slowly, but they do come around, if the message of value is consistently reinforced.


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