dentistconversationHow many of your patients do you think are walking around today with mouths that showcase the great dentistry you are capable of delivering?

In most dental practices, the majority of patients have dentistry that was delivered under a tooth-based model, funded by insurance, over the course of many years. Many patients have a museum of dentistry in their mouths—a history of the best you could do with the knowledge, materials and techniques available at that time.

You see patients like that every day. Patients with black margins and with aging restorations that you know are on a path to failure sooner rather than later. Even if those restorations could last forever, you still wouldn't offer this as an example of your best work today.

This can lead to an internal conflict because you know that you put it there. It's your work. At the time, it was the best option and probably still functional for the most part.

So, how do you tell them now that it's not good enough anymore? After all, it's hard enough to get them to accept essential care, let alone to pay to replace existing work.

This is an important conversation to learn to master for the simple reason that it does frequently come up in practices. And there are ways to do it. There are ways to let the patient know that their dentistry has served them well in the past, but its age is showing and explain there are many better choices for them today. Essentially, it all comes back to honing your skills in creating patient value – something you can review in this series of online lessons.

The sad truth is that most people have never experienced truly great dentistry based on today's best standards. The encouraging reality is that many more could; all it takes is for dentists like you to show them the value.

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