Rachel Wall, RDH, BS

I was scared. My confidence was immediately stripped away. I sat in front of my computer staring at a page FULL of computer code. You may have seen this 'code' before. It looks a little like this:

//`35 height x 123width//b///"http:///www....inspire.//www.lwooohgy.com~

I was expected to know how to navigate through all the symbols and letters enough to type in my articles and announcements into areas that were barely visible. I was used to a simple template with big open boxes for me to fill with content.

How am I ever going to do this, I thought. Am I supposed to understand this code or is it normal for me to feel this way? I had invested my money in this design. I had told him I wanted a 'custom' template. I felt I had made a huge mistake.

Of course, the designer looks at this every day. This is his language. He couldn't figure out why I was making such a big deal of this. He's trying to walk me through it and I'm just not getting it. At first, he didn't notice. And then all of a sudden, I think it clicked with him. He immediately went to back to the design and created something I can work with. All the code is hidden and now I see a nice clean template. It's something I understand. Something I'm excited about!

Sound familiar? How often do we go into our technical explanation of how we do a crown prep or scaling and root planing? We use technical terms because that's our language. I've done it a million times. What we have to remember is to talk to our patients in their language, not in our secret 'code'.

Remember:

If patients are confused, overwhelmed or don't feel confident, they won't say Yes!

Here are some translations to keep in mind. Some of these I created and some I've learned from mentors and clients of mine. If you have some 'translations' that work well for you, please send them along and we'll share them with everyone.

• Scaling and Root Planing becomes Disinfection
• Probing becomes Measuring
• Periodontal Disease becomes Active Bacterial Infection in the Gums and Bone Surrounding your Teeth
• Prophy becomes Disease Prevention visit
• Exudate becomes Pus
• Perio pocket becomes Area of Infection
• Site specific becomes Isolated or Localized area of Infection
• Diagnodent becomes Laser Cavity Scanner
• Recurrent Caries becomes Cavity Under the Filling
• Fistula becomes Pus Drainage Site

You get the picture. Break it down. And LISTEN! Resist the temptation to just 'keep going' because you have another patient. Sit the patient up, sit knee to knew and explain just what's happening in their language. Chances are they'll get it and say YES!

Have fun!