Open Your Eyes and Talk About What You See

Peter Gardell

14 years ago

Give your hygienist permission to talk about other areas of the patient's mouth than just the gums. They spend a lot of time talking to and evaluating the patient; if they don't, be sure to give them enough time to do that. They educate the patient, and the patients usually listen to the hygienist since a lot of times they think that when the doctor recommends something it is because they have a car payment coming up.

Hygienists have the clinical knowledge and the ability to evaluate restorations. Get them to start the dialogue with the patient when they see a large defective restoration. The patient needs to be aware of the situation and they need to "own" the problem. Have your hygienist talk about the benefits of all-ceramic restorations, and of the single-visit all-ceramic CEREC restoration versus a large "plastic" filling that will usually have a short clinical life. Let them plant the seed in the patient's mind so when you come in and make the recommendation to the patient, they accept that they have a problem and it needs to be addressed. Hand this committed patient off to the scheduling person so they can be put in the book promptly. A delay can give the impression to the patient that it may not be as important as the hygienist and the doctor made it seem.