How to Make a Long-Time Patient New Again

Dentists tend to love new patients because a new face in the chair represents new possibilities. Here is someone who has never been exposed to your approach to dentistry before, someone with no history of challenging mindsets or bad habits, and someone who has never said no — yet. In that sense, every new patient is a fresh start.

It doesn’t take long, however, for a new patient to become a not-so-new patient. Once you have presented your recommendations from that first exam and the patient either accepts or declines, they often end up being absorbed into the existing routines of the practice. They undergo a cycle of regular recare, typically visiting during hygiene check-ups, where you look for any new and urgent issues. These are what I call “parked patients.” You have made certain assumptions about them and the level of dentistry they desire, and they have probably made assumptions about dentistry as well.

But of course people do change over time; their circumstances can change; your diagnostic and clinical skills change; dentistry changes.

This is why I recommend having a strategy for re-engaging long-time patients. Identify the ones who have been parked for five to 10 years or more and allow them to update their vision and rediscover what dentistry can be about. Schedule them for a comprehensive re-examination, using much the same approach as you would with a new patient (keeping in mind that you now know more about them than you do for any new patient you see).

Getting these parked patients moving again is a great way to grow efficiently by expanding your relationship with the patient base you already have.