Getting Patients to Say “Yes” to Dental Cases

A young dental student was working with me in my office years ago. All day long, he repeatedly said, “How can your team get patients to say yes to so many cases? What’s the secret sauce?”

His questions astonished me until I realized this: what is obvious to me isn’t obvious to everyone. My way of practicing dentistry involves the use of fundamental human relations principles, and a lot of practitioners out there just don’t realize the importance of this. Here’s the premise: Stop telling people what they need; instead, listen to what they want.

We try to never use the word need in our practice. You need a crown; you need to floss; you need to stop smoking. Need is punitive. Let’s face it: for the most part, dentistry is elective. The better four-letter word is want. After all, it’s not enough to buy CBCT systems, or digital sensors or intraoral scanners. What good is that state-of-the-art technology if your patients don’t want you to use them?

In my presentation at the Global Oral Health Summit this year in November in Orlando, Fla., I will share with you the 10 questions you should ask every patient to boost your case acceptance and, in turn, your office revenue. And if you go back to your office after the Summit and put these questions into practice, your results will be stunning.

I hope you’ve already registered for the Summit. But if you haven’t, I am pleased to offer you some incentive to do it today. Here’s $200 off your registration: Just enter BLOG when you register.

I can’t wait to see you at the Summit.