The Art of High Case Acceptance

You're listening to the Phil Klein Dental Podcast So today we're going to address the age-old question, how do we increase patient acceptance of our treatment plans? Now, there's a lot behind this, including quite a bit of psychology, of course. So to help us put this all in perspective is our guest, Ella Mullokandova. Ella has over 16 years of experience as a dental hygienist and is what she calls a restorative dental partner. She is the co-founder of Converge Dental, a company that helps dental practices succeed and grow, emphasizing the importance of an organized, systematic approach to improve patient care and profitability. We're looking forward to speaking with Ella, but first... If you're looking to raise the bar with your adhesive dental procedures, you should definitely be looking into Bisco. Bisco is a great company that has an unparalleled track record. I can unequivocally say adhesion is their passion. They are genuinely dedicated to understanding and improving the ability to bond dental restorations. Bisco is a company that places tremendous value on research and scientific knowledge to benefit you and your practice. Being an endodontist myself, my favorite Bisco product is Theracal LC, which hands down is one of the best materials to use for direct and indirect pulp capping procedures. It not only seals the dentin, but offers significant calcium release, which stimulates hydroxyapatite and secondary bridge formation, which is exactly what we're looking for in these kind of procedures. So check out their entire product line of premium adhesive products at Bisco.com. Ella, thanks for joining us on the show. Thank you so much for having me. It is my pleasure to be here. So why would practice owners need to consider training the team on the art of communication in patient education? That is a fantastic question. When your practice focus is the patient. It is super important for the team to know how to communicate with them, how to understand the patient as a whole. It is important to be able to identify through utilizing motivational interviewing skills, for example, to identify what the patient values are. What are their fears? What are the possible roadblocks to treatment acceptance or motivations and desires for dental or general health? So understanding that patient as a whole will give the team an ability to guide the patient in the right direction. But in order to understand that, they need to have the art of communication, understanding what it means to utilize those motivational interviewing skills. It's what we teach our teams to be able to get to that point of scheduling for treatment. So there's no question, Ella, in order to boost case acceptance, you need to be a good communicator, right? You need to be a good communicator with your patient. And we all know that every patient is different in their own unique way. And there's so many different kinds of people that come into our dental practices. So how can we improve patient communication so that it's patient-centered? In other words, it's specific to the person that's sitting in the dental chair. I'm going to define what patient-centered communication is so everybody is on the same page. It's a communication approach that acknowledges a person as a whole. You look at their personality. You look at their social life and their... life history, that you look at their anxieties and fears. A lot of people come into a dental appointment, like in dental office, with fears to be sitting in that chair. So identifying those fears is super important. That will allow the team or the team member to create and develop goals together with the patient. identify the barriers to treatment and the wellness of the patient, and then develop and share an understanding of whatever problems the patient might have as well. So what are the key elements that make up patient-centered communication? Part of the motivational interviewing is using skills like small talk, active listening, and asking open-ended questions. Small talk, that's an opportunity to establish connection with a patient. It will allow to build that connection on a social level. It helps find common ground and brings people closer together. And then you have an opportunity to identify those fears and the barriers. Find out what their past experience has been like. Why are they fearful of being in the dental chair? And it also provides opportunities. You can understand why the patient or what the patient would like to do as far as elective treatment. Creates opportunities for more elective treatment during those small talk opportunities. Active listening, for example, that gives the patient the feeling that they are heard. Because as a clinician, you're sitting there and you are truly listening to where the patient is coming from. You are actively engaged and you're giving them the feeling of being valued and heard. Open-ended questions is a very important skill to use because it gives you unlimited answers. Sometimes you ask open-ended questions and you get so much that you are not even looking for, but it's pertinent information to, again, identify that person as a whole and what's important to them. We're going to be getting right back to Ella in a second, but first, as dental professionals, we want our crowns and bridges to be strong and beautiful, but it seems we've always had to sacrifice one for the other, until now. With prime zirconia, you get a revolutionary material that provides the strength for splints and bridges, and the superior aesthetics and translucency for anterior cases. Prime zirconia discs are made with a state-of-the-art gradient technology that creates Y3 strength where it's needed, as well as Y5 translucency for aesthetics. So thanks to Ivoclar, you can finally choose a material that offers the strength of zirconia and the aesthetics of lithium disilicate. That's why top clinicians around the world are prescribing prime zirconia to their labs. Your patients will be thrilled, and so will you. To learn more, visit Ivoclar.com, or to locate a lab near you, Check out the link in the description. Yeah, I recently had a friend that went to a dentist. It was his first visit, and that dentist literally was telling him all about the vacations that he was planning for the summer. And we spent the first 10 minutes where this dentist was telling the patient everywhere he and his wife were going to go for the summer. And it's like, you know, I'm really happy to hear this, but I got a lot to do today, and I came here to get my teeth examined, and I'm the one that's paying you. So the active listening thing that you're talking about is really important because when a dentist listens attentively to the patient, the patient, I think, is much more likely to agree upon where the doctor wants that patient to go with treatment because that patient feels that the doctor is very caring, compassionate, attentive to their needs. The doctor is not kind of like pushing stuff at the patient. Correct. It is very important. This is part of why you need to understand the patient as a whole. We've got to understand what their values are and what's important to them. And as the clinician presents the treatment, you create that emotional connection of why this treatment is important to be taken care of now. If somebody has a tooth that has an abscess, for example. It's important to not just say, oh, you got to do a root canal and here's a referral and you're done. There's no emotional connection to the patient to say, I really have to take care of this. It's how you communicate that, what the finding is and why it's important to take care of it at this point. What will happen if the patient chooses? to wait for a little while. And some patients do. Some patients choose to take antibiotics and just wait on it. Some patients see the need to take care of it now because they value maybe their health and they see the value in taking this step faster than waiting six months and see what happens. So it's how you present that information so the patients can make educated decisions for their own health. So talk about trust for a second. How does the dentist establish that trust? Because we know that a trust-based relationship with a patient is so key in order for them to accept treatment plans. So does all this just create that trust factor by following the techniques and protocol that you instill in your education? That's exactly right. And this is something that has been proven over and over and over again with our clients, myself in the practice as well. When you establish and are able to use these skills effectively, patients feel that, number one, they are heard. They feel the trust between the clinician and them. They feel like the clinical team is their advocate. And that's when they say, okay, maybe this is right. Maybe this is what I need to do. My focus is always on patient education. Take the time on your schedule to educate the patients on their needs, on your findings, and why what you found is important to take care of. If the patients fully can comprehend and understand the need for what you proposed, they will most likely... accept the treatment. The ultimate thing is when they go up front and they ask about the finances, when you have that team member as a restorative dental partner that can talk to them about finances and how to make it possible to pay for the treatment, find whatever way is possible to do it, that's when patients feel like they are really advocating for me, not because it will bring revenue to the practice. So when you create this environment where patients feel like they are the core focus of the practice, that's when you're going to see flourishing practice. That's when you're going to see that treatment plan acceptance rate go up. And these loyal customers will again come back to your practice and bring many more with them. Yeah, you've got me sold. I'm ready to come to you. I know you're a hygienist, you're not a dentist, but if you were a dentist... that I work with, which is great. Come on over. Yeah, come on over. Where are you located? Kansas City. Kansas City. Yeah, a little far from Austin, Texas, but yeah, you've sold me. Okay, so I think we've covered everything really well in this podcast. So Ella, before we wrap up this podcast, what is the best way for our audience to reach out to you if they want some more information about the training you provide? Definitely. You can go and visit us at our website, convergedental.com. You can contact me directly at Ella at convergedental.com. Feel free to reach out for a free discovery session with us. See if we are the right fit for you and if you're the right fit for us. You articulated it beautifully, Ella. Thanks so much. And we look forward to having you on more podcasts in the future. Thank you. Sounds great. If you're enjoying this podcast, please leave a review or follow us on your favorite podcast platform. It's a great way to support our program and spread the word to others. Thanks so much for listening. See you in the next episode.