How many times in your professional career have you heard a patient say, “Why have never told me about this before?” or, “My gums never bleed at home; they only do when I come in here?” We know that for years we have been telling Mrs. Jones she needs to floss more due to “some bleeding” or we have informed Mr. Smith that “we need to watch this tooth with the large amalgam”.

This brings to mind something Dr. Phil says all the time … “You can’t change what you don’t own”. So maybe that is the problem: we haven’t involved the patient enough in the information gathering process of their appointment, allowing them ownership of their disease. It is time we make this a real priority and truly allow our patients to own their disease. Watch my short video with tips on how to involve the patient during the probing piece of our exam.

Stay Inspired,
Jamie