Teeth...and People

     In school, dental students are taught to treat teeth. In the real world, it is the people attached to the teeth who will either agree or disagree with the proposed treatment. If they agree with the proposed treatment that's great; but what if they don't? In private practice those patients will typically never return.

     How can we help patients want what we know they need? First, we must attempt to give them what they want. Then, we attempt to teach them to want what they need.

     Unfortunately, this concept contradicts traditional dental education where every patient is similarly treated. Dental school attempts to standardize dentistry in order to make it comprehensible and repeatable for students. This is a fine academic approach but the recent dental school graduate in private practice will quickly learn that people are not similar. The school teacher and the investment banker, the actress and the housewife, the store owner and the assistant store manager, may all have the same dental problem but may want it treated with a different technique and with differing interpersonal skills.

     There are four main skills which differentiate master clinicians from typical general dentists: diagnosis, treatment planning, case presentation and actual treatment. The ability to master this unique set of skills will be one of the most important determinants of success, or failure, in private practice.