GAP Australasian-Dentist-May June 2019

Category AustrAlAsiAn Dentist 113 ColuMnIsts The consultation. there are three stages of the initial discussion where we take charge of the conversation. it’s important to do it in this order. 1. Just listen. let the patient do the talking. listen to him or her as he or she gives you their perspective of their teeth and past dental experience. talking about yourself triggers a pleasure sensation in the brain, so when we get the patient to talk about themselves, they instantly become more invested and feel more attached by the experience of the consult. 2. Rephrase what they’ve just said. it demonstrates that you’ve understood them. 3. Ask questions last. For a more detailed approach, a helpful resource is the Calgary-Cambridge communication guide. it provides a structure for effective and appropriate communication with patients. it breaks the consultation process into a series of stages: initiating the consultation; gathering information; understanding the People with a passion. That’s the Credabl way. credabl.com.au 1300 CREDABL (1300 27 33 22) Practice Purchase • Commercial Property • Goodwill Loans • Overdraft Facilities • Home Loans • Car Loans • Equipment & Fitout Finance The issuer and credit provider of these products and services is Credabl Pty Ltd (ACN 615 968 100) Australian Credit Licence No. (ACL) 499547. Our specialist lending team has deep experience in the dental sector so we understand what you need. We’re here to support you at every step of your professional and personal journey. From building your practice to growing your investments, discover the difference that Credabl can deliver for you. patient perspective; providing structure to the consultation; building the relationship; and closing the consultation; it uses well- defined actions at each stage. People don’t always remember what we’ve said to them but they remember how we made them feel. Make your patients feel good about themselves. let’s say a patient comes to you for a check up and you can see they don’t brush as well as you’d like them to. start with a compliment. “Your teeth look great.” And then talk about the issue at hand, “but your gums are inflamed and need a good clean.” then finish off with a positive comment: “otherwise you have a beautiful smile so let’s make sure it stays that way.” Make them feel good with your positivity so that they will want to come back to see you and recommend their friends and family to you. When patients ask for our opinion about their previous dentist’s treatment. Patients will sometimes blame their former dentist for complications that occurred with their teeth. Quite often they will ask us for our opinion and anticipate that we will agree with them. While it’s good to show empathy that they have had an unpleasant past dental experience – “i am sorry to hear you weren’t happy with your previous dentist” – we don’t want to criticise another clinician’s work. the wisest response is for us to state that, “i’m sorry i cannot comment on another dentist’s work because i don’t know what your tooth looked like before the treatment was done.” the patient will respect your non-judgmental response. The key takeaways are: u a good first impression involves greeting the patient in the waiting, referring yourself as ‘doctor’ and shaking their hand u the 3 steps of the consultation are to listen, rephrase and ask questions u the importance of making your patients feel good about themselves u refrain from judging another clinician’s work u