In dental school, we learned the importance of treating our patients. We understand how important a treatment plan is—we know what a filling, crown, or implant can do for oral health.
However, our patients didn’t go to dental school. When it comes to patient case acceptance strategies, they’re less concerned about the nuances of oral health and more concerned about pain, inconvenience, and/or costs. While improving their oral health may be important to them, they won’t fully understand how a treatment plan will provide value for them—especially if we present treatment poorly.
There are so many variables to account for when providing a treatment plan to a patient. That’s why, for this week’s blog post, I thought I’d outline what the effective treatment plan presentation should “ideally” look like for you.
What’s the ideal process for generating a treatment plan?
Ideally, this is how the dental case presentation process goes when generating a treatment plan…
First, the doctor has to make the diagnosis before opening up the chart and adding the necessary treatment to that chart (having the doctor do this is essential: it creates less room for error during the handoff and lessens the potential for miscommunication). Meanwhile, as part of optimizing case presentation in dentistry, the assistant and/or hygienist takes notes, adds treatment as needed, and makes any necessary edits to complete the diagnosis.
You should have a hygienist or assistant who can generate a treatment plan from there. After generating the treatment plan, they send the message to the front for review. On that note, one of the most important dental treatment plan tips I can offer is getting a treatment plan coordinator. They should be the point person for organizing a treatment plan, ensuring it’s good to go, and giving that final “thumbs-up.”
Last but not least, you ought to present the treatment chairside in the op. This last step is crucial for optimizing case presentation in dentistry because the setting is a significant factor in case acceptance. The patient is still thinking about dentistry when they’re in the chair. They haven’t gone to the front to start thinking about their upcoming vacation or bills—their eyes are still on the chart.
You may not be at the point where you feel comfortable having your dental assistant or hygienist generate a treatment plan. You may want them to be moving on to see the next patient. That’s understandable. However, results from successful patient case acceptance strategies show that once the doctor has left the room, the assistant should still be helping the patient clean up and walk up to the front desk. The least you can have them do is stick around while the treatment coordinator reviews the treatment plan. That way, if the patient has any questions, they can answer them and clear up any confusion.
Trust me, having that clinical team member nearby is priceless. As part of an effective treatment plan presentation, the patient and the treatment coordinator will be on the same page without requiring the other team members to get their door knocked on and asked to come up front.
What’s the ideal process for presenting treatment to your patient?
Ideally, this is how the dental case presentation process goes…
First, you’re sitting down with the patient and discussing something other than the treatment plan—ask them about their visit or chit-chat about their personal lives. After that, start communicating with them about what happens next. The doctor should walk through what needs to be done from a clinical perspective before the treatment coordinator switches gears to discuss financing, scheduling, etc. The treatment coordinator’s goal should be to hold the patient’s hand and help them understand how they can afford treatment, how many sessions they’d need to come in for, and so on.
Top-to-bottom organization is very important when optimizing case presentation in dentistry because you want to eliminate any potential confusion for the patient. You want them to connect the dots as easily as possible so they can understand the importance of accepting treatment. Successful patient case acceptance strategies avoid throwing a collection of jumbled information or clinical jargon at the patient and telling them things like “ignore this part” and “don’t worry about that bit.”
Implementing an effective treatment plan presentation for more straightforward procedures like a filling or a crown while sitting chairside is pretty straightforward. However, if you’re presenting dentures or implants to a patient, it gets more complicated. Your dental case presentation process needs to adapt—you’ll need to have a more in-depth conversation surrounding financing, scheduling, etc. Chairside is still an excellent place for this, but, in that case, you may need to bring the patient into a consultation room and have your treatment coordinator join the discussion. Having them there to answer any questions about details like out-of-pocket costs, insurance, and so on will be very helpful.
It’s your process to own; get creative!
In a clinical setting, you’re a rockstar. And, like most dentists, you’ve probably needed to learn how to run a business the hard way—through trial and error. And, like most facets of your business, getting your patient case acceptance strategies and dental treatment plan tips down to a science will require making personal tweaks, seeing what works, what doesn’t work, and so on.
I run a community full of dental professionals who can give you some nuggets of wisdom about optimizing case presentation in dentistry and perfecting your dental case presentation process. So, join the Nifty Thrifty Dentists Facebook group and reach out! People from all across the globe will be happy to let you in on their two cents and share what they do to get patients to accept treatment.
