How many times have you and/or your team not implemented a new protocol or system based on your fear of patient rejection? You attend a great CE seminar and the whole team wants to start utilizing what you just learned and you are met with “failure to launch” based on your concern of what your patient’s reaction may be. This could be anything from implementing a new cancellation policy to performing blood pressure screenings.
One of the biggest concerns our private coaching clients have is “how do we recommend perio therapy (something different) to our existing patients and not have them lose faith and trust in us?” Here are two common questions patients ask following your perio therapy recommendation along with a GOOD response you can come back with.
1. PT–How come you haven’t told me I had this disease before?
HYG-Well Ms. Jones, I understand why you may think that we have never talked about this before, but we actually have been discussing your bleeding gums for quite some time now. We have discussed flossing more, your technique and I have even recommended a water-pik. We have taken the conservative approach and your body just isn’t responding like we had hoped. It is time to do something different. THE GOOD NEWS IS…
2. PT– Can’t I just start flossing and that will take care of the disease so I don’t have to have this therapy done?
HYG-That is a great question Ms. Jones. Unfortunately your disease level is now at a point that we need to be more progressive. While your flossing is very important, you now have pockets depths that are unmanageable for you to keep up with at home. Your floss and water pik can only get to about 3 mm below the gumline. You now have 4-5 mm pockets and I need to use my special instruments to get to the base of those pockets. I also need to spend more time disinfecting and removing the resistant ‘bad bugs’ at the base of those deeper pockets. THE GOOD NEWS IS…
I hope these two common patient objections will help you. I know there are a million more that we could address. The main thing to remember is that our patients will never value our services more than we do.
If you’d like to learn more about the potential of your hygiene department, click here to request a complementary Discovery Session.
