How to Make an Impact When You Step Into a Room!

Callie Ward

Have you noticed how certain individuals can walk into a room and instantly captivate everyone present? What qualities do these individuals possess that make them so memorable, and how can we emulate them? As dentists, it’s crucial to make a lasting impact when entering a room, especially during recall exams. Here are five key strategies to help you achieve this and enhance your patient interactions.

1. Confidence: Confidence is key. Patients come to you because you are the expert. It’s important to exude confidence in your diagnosis and treatment recommendations. Provide a clear diagnosis and a comprehensive plan to address their dental issues without hesitation.

2. Positive Energy: Establishing a positive connection with your patients is essential. Before delving into dental matters, take the time to connect with them on a personal level. Show genuine excitement to see them and find common ground through simple questions about their life, interests, friends, and family.

3. Active Listening for Authenticity and Empathy: Active listening is crucial for building trust with your patients. Ensure that you and your team actively listen to the patient’s concerns and health history. Acknowledge their worries and address them with genuine empathy, showing that you truly care about their well-being.

4. Comprehensive Examination and Treatment Plan: After understanding the patient’s needs and concerns, provide a thorough examination and treatment plan. Discuss all available options, prioritizing the best care first while considering the patient’s preferences and financial situation.

5. Empathy in Decision-Making: Empathy plays a vital role in understanding the patient’s perspective and needs. Work with the patient to develop a treatment plan that aligns with their preferences and financial capabilities. Show genuine concern for their well-being and guide them through the decision-making process.

Confidence cannot be emphasized enough! The patient is there because YOU are the dentist. You are the expert. We want our dentist to exude confidence in what needs to be done and how to do it. We want clear diagnosis as well as a solid game plan to solve the problem. Don’t worry about the cost when you diagnose, the patient deserves to have the BEST solution to their problem. I find it effective to ask the patient before the exam if you have their permission for sharing the best solutions with the longest lasting solutions first to get them healthy. When you have their permission, you can diagnose as if it is yourself or your loved one. The patient needs to hear your confidence, they need to hear that you would do the same thing if it was you. When you offer the best care first, the patient is in control of how they want to move forward. If there is any challenge from them choosing the best option, you can move on to sharing other options while always highlighting the value of the best option. We all want the best; your job is to work with the patient to find what the best is for them.

Positive energy is a must for connecting with patients. We need to quickly connect to them as human beings before we go to dentistry. We need to be excited to see them and make connections. We want to walk into the exam and connect with the human behind the teeth. How can you quickly make connections, and by connection, the patient also must know something about you! My favorite way is to use LIFE to ask my questions

L - Where do they LIVE, where did they go to school, what is their “location” in life and do you have any connections to these?

I – What are they Interested in? What are their hobbies, what do they do in their spare time? What brings them joy? Can you find anything similar to yourself?

F- Friends and Family – do they have children, do they have pets, what does their family life look like and can you draw any similarities to your own life?

E - Entertainment – What is their favorite genre of movie or books?

When we are able to find 2 to 3 connections with someone, they feel like they know us as a human too. Now we have a friendship or relationship that extends from the Doctor Patient. This relationship increases trust. It increases the ability to communicate and to share “concern” for them. You earn this by connecting as humans and it will carry you much farther than “educating” the patient ever will.

Active listening is the next big hurdle. Ideally, after you connect with your patient you look to your hygienist and ask them what they have discussed with the patient. Now your hygienist has the opportunity to share with you what the patient has already talked about. We love to make sure that we are talking about the patient’s concerns first. This is the problem that they want solved.

Next, it is ideal to have your hygienist review any health history changes or concerns. Do they have heart issues, do they take medications that cause issues with their mouth? Sharing these in front of the patient shows the depth of your exam and concern and it increases their trust. Then your hygienist will review the extent of the patient’s risk for dental concerns. They will touch on their occlusal, perio and restorative findings, are they at a high risk for problems? You will then know already what your hygienist has educated the patient on. Did your hygienist ask the patient to “rank” their smile and see if they are interested in any aesthetic possibilities?

Now, you can put the patient chair back and complete your exam. The hygienist took the time to listen actively to the patient and then you actively listened to the hygienist. The patient heard their concerns and their trust is now with you to solve their problems. This is a very important step to make sure that the patient hears all of this.

When you are connected to your patients you are more authentic in your concerns for them. If they are a high risk for perio and they take heart medications, it sounds much more sincere that you are concerned for their health and that they need to complete a “deep cleaning”. You are not trying to educate them about a “deep cleaning,” you are concerned about their health as their friend and you are able to have frank conversations that come from your heart, not whether their insurance will cover the procedure or not. We need to be ourselves; we need to care about our patients and find ways for them to be able to get the necessary treatment.

The last skill to walk into a room and make an impact with your patient is empathy. To be empathetic is to care and understand where the patient is at. The great news is that they are in your chair. You know that you can help them get healthy. The trick is to find the way. Do they want to move forward with everything at once? Do they need to phase the treatment to be able to afford it? When you take the time to understand the patient’s concerns, you are being empathetic to their needs. If you leave the exam and let your team figure out how the patient is going to move forward you are not being empathetic. Your patient needs you to drill down and find the pace that they need to move forward with. Empathy is not offering a filling when you would do a crown if it was you. Don’t make assumptions that they want the lesser choice due to finances–ask questions. Find out what they need from you and how you would solve the problem if it was you. We need to help them find a reasonable starting point before we leave the exam. We need to be empathetic to their challenges and help them find a solution!

Patients are coming to you to solve their problems. They do not know all of the solutions, nor do they know the consequences of not moving forward. When you walk in the room and exude confidence, they feel like they found someone to help. Someone who knows the way and has done it successfully in the past! When you have energy and excitement to meet them and make them your friend, they feel more taken care of then even their physician makes them feel. Your ability to have systems in place for your team to hand off the patient to you, reiterating their concerns doubles their trust in you. They feel seen and heard and they are much more likely to move forward with their treatment. Now you can easily share your concern and be empathetic to the obstacles in their way and be their advocate to help them solve those problems. Your goal is to have that patient refer their friends and family. When you connect and see the person behind the dentistry, you get permission to be so much more in their life.

Callie, a dental industry veteran of 30+ years, excels as a consultant, leading offices to profitability and team alignment. With a track record of up to 18% ROI for clients, she fosters stress-free environments. Her positive, confident approach attracts the right clientele while promoting work-life balance. Callie’s passion lies in creating enduring friendships and profitable practices for her clients.