“Motivate Patients To Care For Their Gums. 5 Hacks For Young Dentists.”
Young dentists face many challenges, and one major challenge is building trust with new patients and existing patients. Convincing patients that we are there to help can be difficult, when we don’t have the years of experience that seasoned dentists have. Read below for 5 hacks to help young dentists motivate their patients to care for their gums.
Gum health is whole body health!
Motivating patients can be difficult, especially for young dentists. By knowing what oral hygiene tools to recommend, showing patients that we care, and applying these hacks, young dentists will encourage their patients to be proactive and preventative when it comes to caring for their gums.
Explain The Benefits
Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory disease with links to other systemic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimers. Reducing the inflammation in our mouth is often overlooked, and explaining the link between our mouths and our bodies motivates patients to improve their overall lifestyle.
2. Ask The Right Questions
Ask and then listen. Find out your patient’s hobbies, interests and work life. Ask about their family history, and get to know them. Connecting and empathizing with our patients on a deeper personal level builds trust. Once our patients trust us, they will trust our professional opinions and trust that we also care about improving their gum health and, by extension, their systemic health.
3. Learn Their Current Routine, and Build On That
Shopping for oral hygiene homeware products can be overwhelming. There are many toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and additional tools on the market. Find out what patients are currently using, what they have liked/disliked in the past, and also financial constraints. Not all patients can afford electric toothbrushes, but not all electric toothbrushes are priced the same. Using the right tools for each patient’s mouth is just as important as using the tools correctly. If you know a patient’s home and work routine, you can help them prioritize time and be wise about the time they are spending on caring for their gums.
4. Use Key Words
When educating our patients about gum health, using words patients can understand like inflammation, infection, and bacteria is the key to good communication. Relay what we know as dentists in a way our patients can understand, and then move forward with forming good hygiene routines that patients can follow.
5. Believe In Them
We are here to help. Reinforcement and encouragement has been showed in perio studies to increase patient compliance. Motivating patients, being understanding of their home and work commitments and helping them prioritize their oral health is what we are here to do. Remember that patients are coming to our dental offices for help; it takes courage and vulnerability to do that. Patients will be more enthusiastic about caring for their oral health if they know we are there to root for them (no pun intended).