Do patients consider dental professionals healthcare providers?
BY Total Health Screens – 3 years ago
Sitting with a group of dentists and dental professionals a few weeks ago, we all were talking about how much education it takes to become a dentist, hygienist or any dental professional for that matter.
We discussed university days and how dentists qualify as a surgeon and even perform dissections on cadavers; aspects of a dentist’s training that most patients will have no idea about. This is an opportunity to show patients the care that is available to them.
The hygiene team’s studies include physiology, nutrition, radiography, pathology, medical ethics, anatomy, patient management, and periodontics, which is the study of gum disease.
Dental Hygienists by their very definition are preventative specialists.
Dental professionals need to market how much preventative care the hygiene team provides. Show patients the science and the connection to general health.
Dental Nurses study from 12-24 months to qualify as a nurse. Dental nurses are the backbone of the patient experience. They set up the surgery for all types of dental procedures, disinfect the surgery before and after each patient visit, prepare patient notes and always pre-empt the dentists.
The dental patient journey would very limited without the dental nursing team.
Why do we not show our patients how much medicine, science and biology dental professionals know?
Dentistry is one of the oldest medical professions dating back to 7000 B.C. with the Indus Valley Civilization.
In the middle ages the profession was considered ‘barbershop medicine’ as barbers would extract teeth during a hair appointment.
The dental profession has come a long way but still many people see dentistry as only about teeth and not about preventative healthcare.
Show patients that dental professionals are healthcare providers not teeth technicians.
Watching this video has many benefits for your patients, team, profession and practice growth.
This video shares the 6 steps on how to build the most value and trust with your patients and will help you show that dental professionals are healthcare providers.
Do you want to see a demonstration on how other practices are implementing preventative health screens and using a total health approach to their patient journey?
Scheduling a demonstration call offers you some great insight to increasing team morale, patient engagement/satisfaction and how to implement a service that not only increases the growth of the practice but changes lives, healthcare and the future of dentistry.