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This week, Andrew and Michelle welcome Dr. Matt Allen to the podcast for an in-depth discussion about Motivational Interviewing (MI). Among his many roles, Dr. Allen serves as the President of M David MI Inc., the CEO and co-founder of differentkind, a part time volunteer faculty member at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, and he still remains active in clinical practice. In addition to all this, he is the only US-based dentist member of MINT, the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. As you will hear, Dr. Allen’s passion for teaching, coaching, and mentoring other dental professionals to engage with and support patients along the road to oral health is fully evident during the conversation today.

 

Dr. Allen begins by sharing his professional background including his journey to working with MI, and then he explains exactly what MI is and where it fits best within the dental visit. Along the way, he shares some of the tools and techniques of MI, how it can be implemented with patients and colleagues alike, its impact on clinicians’ feelings of burnout, and building it into dental professional education programs. Dr. Allen's extensive experience with MI generates a great deal of wisdom and advice for its use in many areas of life, and particularly in the dental world. Destined to be even more important and effective in a post-pandemic world, we would all be well advised to implement it as a best practice now, and Dr. Matt Allen shows us how in this informative and inspiring conversation here today.

 

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

 

Interview starts: 8:25

 

 

-   Dr. Allen’s background and how he got into motivational interviewing (MI)

-   What MI is and where it fits best in dental visits

-   Dr. Allen’s analysis of Michelle’s MI example

-   Open-ended questions, change talk, self-management goals, choice menus, social determinants of health

-   MI with more challenging patients

-   Tele-dentistry and technology affecting change behavior with MI

-   Using motivational tools and techniques in inter-colleague relationships

-   Compassion, Autonomy, Partnership and Evocation (CAPE)

-   Small wins and the power of affirmations

-   MI’s impact on clinician burnout

-   Building MI into dental professional education programs

-   Findings of a study of what dental patients value

-   Asking permission to make suggestions with patients and colleagues

-   ‘Setting the table’ at the beginning of every appointment

-   Where to learn more about MI

 

QUOTES:

 

“I feel like, right now, I have 7 jobs, I think.”

 

“It is a way of being with people that’s pretty profoundly different.”

 

“I want to be better at this, and I screw it up every single day.”

 

“What we want is for them to think they’re coming up with that idea themselves.”

 

“What’s most important for you to talk with me about today?”

 

“Motivational interviewing increases the likelihood of change.”

 

“We can take these skills and apply them to our relationships with each other and I think we’ll be better humans with each other.”

 

“That’s what being a good leader, I think, is about in a lot of ways, is letting go and letting the person actually take ownership.”

 

“Patient safety is one of those things where it’s not really about motivation, it’s about compliance.”

 

“People just wanted help taking control of their own oral health.”

 

“I want to use those 2 hours the most effectively that I can. I think MI helps us do that.”

 

“I’m asking you to agree to come along in the conversation with me.”

 

“I think we need more people doing this work.”

 

LINKS:

 

A Tale of Two Hygienists homepage - https://ataleoftwohygienists.com/  

 

AToTH on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/aTaleOfTwoHygienists/  

 

AToTH on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ataleoftwohygienists  

 

AToTH on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/atoth/?originalSubdomain=ca  

 

 

 

Reach Dr. Allen:

M David MI homepage

 

differentkind homepage

 

Motivational Interviewing for Leadership: MI-LEAD

 

Experiences of dental care: what do patients value?

 

Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers  (MINT)