Effective communication is vital for any successful dental practice. This post will review some of the important strategies your practice can employ to help patients navigate the complexities of dental care.

Be Clear

One of the most important aspects to consider in your patient communication is clarity. While you or your staff may have understanding of a procedure, most patients don’t have a vast knowledge of dentistry, so it’s important to explain things in a way your patient can understand.

Use layman’s terms and descriptions that the average person would be able to understand. Check with your patient for understanding as well, as it may be necessary to explain things differently to some patients. It can be helpful to employ visual aids (x-rays, diagrams, etc.) to help your patient understand a procedure or diagnosis.

Clarity is also important when it comes to pricing. Pricing can be a big barrier to patients when seeking treatment, so it’s important to make sure the patient is clear on what they will owe for treatment. If your office offers financing options, make sure patients are given all the information in order to make an informed decision.

Be Accurate

Clarity and accuracy go hand in hand. Accuracy is incredibly important in instilling confidence in your patients and ensuring they have the information they need to make an informed decision.

If you accidentally give inaccurate or incomplete information, it may be difficult for a patient to have full trust that treatment is necessary. Giving your patient resources that they can peruse at their own pace can also be helpful in ensuring the information they get is accurate.

Be Empathetic

Being presented additional treatment can often be overwhelming, especially if treatment is expensive or done over multiple visits. Giving your patient time to process information and going at their pace can help ease some of the anxiety a patient may be feeling.

If a patient is generally anxious about being at the dentist, it can be helpful to empathize with them about this fear while letting them know that your first priority is their care and health and explaining the benefits of treatment – including additional visits if a condition worsens.

If you notice a patient is having difficulty processing information during your discussion, offer to give them written material or other resources (e.g., websites) to review at their own convenience and let them know they can contact you or your office with any questions or concerns.

Be Concise and Complete

While you want to be clear and accurate in your communication, this can sometimes veer into being too detailed or long-winded. Give patients the necessary information in as concise of a way as possible. Then, if they need additional clarification or details, be there to answer any questions.

When it comes to pricing this is also vital. Giving a breakdown of each procedure and the patient’s responsibility is helpful, but an itemized list may be overwhelming, so much sure that totals owed are clear. For Open Dental users, you can quickly and easily print a Treatment Plan that includes pricing on all procedures along with treatment totals. If there is any possibility that insurance may not cover what is estimated, make sure to clearly communicate this to your patient as well.

Implementing these strategies can help instill confidence in your patients and empower them to complete necessary treatment. If you want to see how the tools in Open Dental can help you with successful communication, visit opendental.com.