"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn."

These words come from one this country's founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, and they feel just as profound and powerful now as I'm sure they did more than 200 years ago.

I think we all recognize the purity of the wisdom here because we have all experienced it ourselves. We all know what it feels like to be truly immersed and engaged with discovering something new – that exhilarating feeling that comes when you really get it.

We see that here at the Spear campus all the time in our hands-on workshops, where our faculty members and mentors work with every participant to ensure that they are getting it; that they are not just absorbing theory, but are putting new knowledge into practice in a way that engages and excites them.

The same goes for you and your patients. We talk a lot about patient education, but that education shouldn't just be a lecture. It shouldn't just be you standing in front of the patient and telling them what ideal dentistry is all about. You have to show them, with compelling visual aids. You have to ask them questions, and get them asking questions. You have to get them involved. That's the whole philosophy behind Spear's Facially Generated Treatment Planning approach. It's all about finding ways to engage and involve the patient.

You know you have done it right when it feels like you and the patient have worked together to arrive at the right treatment plan. In fact, the biggest investment any patient can make with you and your practice is the emotional investment they make when they become a full participant in their oral health care.


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Commenter's Profile Image John Sweeney
February 13th, 2013
right on Imtiaz! As Frank says, when a patient becomes a full participant in their care, they are committed. Committed patients are happy to pay and excited to start treatment. This is much better than the "compliant" patient.... Two totally differenty mindsets.