Are you still telling patients what they need provided! No longer is telling a patient enough we must start to explain why treatment is necessary for their overall health and wellness

Is your practice treating disease in the patient’s mouth? Or, are your patients not presented with clear-cut periodontal symptoms and are they just getting a cleaning?

Are you ready to be able to use diagnostic codes if you are not thinking why a patient needs the treatment?

If you’re not thinking about why a patient needs the treatment, you might be doing a disservice to your patient. Don’t leave it up to your patient to guess why they need to go to the dentist or hygienist.

If your practice doesn’t treat disease, hygienists can make it happen with the right tools. One such tool is a thorough examination, including diagnostic codes and comprehensive health history.

If you don’t properly explain the reason for treatment to the patient, they’ll never recognize that there’s a problem to fix. It will be an unpleasant surprise when they get the bill. It’s a bad situation when no one explains to the patient that there’s a problem and how they can fix it. It would be much better to tell them this is what’s going wrong and how it’ll be fixed. Then tell them there are things they’ll need to start doing at home. Be clear that this visit will be more expensive but the extra care will prevent them from having to pay this same bill again.

The patient ultimately suffers because they never get the opportunity to recognize there is a condition and correct their home care (and hygiene schedule) accordingly. Because there are no consequences for the patient and no proper explanation of what’s happening, there’s no motivation for the patient to change.

Join Janet Press RDH Las Vegas help you grow your practice with the tools of change at the INSURANCE EXTRAVAGANZA TO LEARN HOW YOU AND YOUR HYGIENIST CAN CHANGE YOUR OFFICE WITH INCREASED KNOWLEDGE THAT ALLOWS YOUR HYGIENEIST TO BE HAPPIER AND THE PATIENTS HEALTHIER.

Dr. Giddon at Harvard has been fighting to have your office name change from Dentist to Oral Physician. Lets take a vote and see how you want to be called with the additional systemic issues that are no involved with all your billing. Please send a message to ctaxin@links2success.biz to show him his fight is not over.

Regards,

Christine Taxin Adjunct Professor,