Last week, as I had my 16 year old daughter in my chair, receiving her PAST DUE recare, I thought to myself “am I past due as well?” Sure enough, I was almost 8 months over!

During her exam, I mentioned to my doctor how hard it was to believe that we were both overdue and how it seemed like we both had just had our teeth cleaned (sound familiar?). He then mentioned that he hadn’t had his teeth cleaned in quite some time as well! I thought to myself “here we are, constantly encouraging and even sometimes preaching to our patients about the importance of regular dental visits and we, the dental care providers aren’t even walking our own talk!”

We do everything possible to help our patients stay on track and receive high level care, and we are often neglecting ourselves and our own family’s health. See below some important questions and suggestions to help you avoid falling into this unhealthy walk.

Are You Walking Your Own Talk?

Between the above mentioned situation last week and working with my private coaching clients, it is obvious to see how easy it happens to unintentionally not “practice what we preach”. Another words, are there holes in our own philosophies? Here are some questions to ask yourself and some “FOOD FOR THOUGHT” to help keep you and your team in stride with WALKING YOUR OWN TALK.

• Can YOU look yourself in the mirror and say that you are following the same daily homecare recommendations that you give to your patients? Day in and day out we are educating our patients about the importance of good oral health care, how healthy are your tissues and bone levels?

• Are you past due for your hygiene visit? Start prescheduling the next hygiene visit just like you do for your patients. This helps avoid the quick “drive by cleanings” that often lead to the neglect of good care and chance of not gathering and updating important documents like health histories, full mouth probes and FMX’s. It will also help keep you on schedule with the proper recare interval.

• Are you diagnosing active disease and following the same treatment recommendations and services for yourself and team that you are providing to your patients? There is a lot of credibility that comes with your treatment recommendations when it is obvious to your patients that you and ALL of your team have healthy smiles and good oral health!

If you or any of your immediate family or team members can’t answer YES to all of the above questions, make it a priority to get everyone scheduled and treated. Get complete and current documentation and treatment recommendations. Give yourselves the same attention to detail and quality of care that you offer your patients and get back to WALKING YOUR TALK!