I’ve been told ever since dental school that if I just use the right words I can get any patient to accept any treatment. At the very core of this narrative is that patients can afford the treatment that we propose, but they choose not to. They’d prefer to buy cell phones, new cars and cable. But if we’re good enough (and if we take their course) we can motivate them to forgo these luxuries for the glories of comprehensive dental care.
It never seems to occur to those folks that the value that we put on complete dental health is a value judgement that patient may not share. I’ll go even further and say that it’s O.K. if patients don’t value their teeth. Because I’d much rather work on a patient that already values having healthy teeth and gums than one I’ve convinced that they should value it. Perhaps the one I’ve talked into receiving my valued service is the one who’s more likely to have buyers remorse.
I have a friend that is really good at case presentation. He takes lots of photos, fully mounted study models and CT scans. Often he’ll have the photos digitally enhanced to let the patient know what his proposed treatment might look like. He does big cases. Lots of them. The kind of cases that much of dental continuing education explains that we should be aspiring to. He’s a very skilled and conscientious dentist.
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