Dentistry has a unique space in the medical world when it comes to building relationships with its patients. Tiff and Dana discuss effective ways to create trust with your patients, including the critical foundations your practice can’t do without.

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Transcript

The Dental A Team (00:01.08)

Hello, dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to be here with you today. I have my gal, Dana, on the cast with me today, and I am just so excited. Dana, how are you today? How are you enjoying this heat that we've got coming through? I know up here in Phoenix it's hot down there by you. It's gotta be warm too, but how are you?

 

Dana (00:19.955)

I am actually enjoying this weather. I was out a lot this weekend for sports. I have some wacky tan lines, but I am loving the sunshine and the extra warm weather we've got.

 

The Dental A Team (00:30.958)

I it. I keep getting the like bottom of my legging to my sneaker little I got a nice tan right there on my leg and I think it's the only spot on my legs at all that even knows how to tan anymore. So I feel you.

 

Dana (00:45.779)

Yeah.

 

The Dental A Team (00:47.086)

Today we have a really fun one, docs and teams that are listening and today's just all about relationship building. I really wanted to pick your brain today, Dana, and really see what you're doing with a lot of your practices, what you've done in practice, and very specifically maybe even like our pediatric practices that we have. What are we doing to keep the relationships?

 

with our patients to keep the patient. So how are we investing in those relationships from a doctor's standpoint and really from a team member standpoint as well? I know a lot of my doctors out there, we definitely focus in really heavily on the team side. What can the team be doing? How can the team build the relationships? And that is super, super, super important. But I want to stress the fact that this is for you guys today too.

 

It's very important also that you're building those relationships and that you're showing your team the kind of relationships that you want to have built so that they know what the heck you're looking for. So Dana, I'm excited for this one. I know we've got quite a few pediatric practices between the two of us and Christie's got some pediatric practices as well. So that's a space that I think is really fun in the relationship building area.

 

And it does translate to GP, to oral surgery, all those pieces as well. So if you guys are not pediatric and you're listening, don't fret, this is for you too. But I thought it would be fun actually to pull in some of that pediatric side because it's just so cool, in my opinion, what they do, right? First of all, that they are just serving so many amazing little humans and creating an experience that these patients are forever going to love the dentist, which I think is amazing.

 

but also they've got their hands kind of tied, especially when it comes to this relationship piece, because they're not, they are building a relationship with the patient, but their focus really is making sure that the parents are happy, that the parents understand what services are being rendered, why it's different, why their kids are getting such excellent treatment.

 

The Dental A Team (02:45.666)

Dana, how are you right now? You've got, I know one pediatric practice in general I'm thinking of, you've got quite a few, but one pediatric dentist in particular right now is really working on the new patient acquisition side. And a lot of that comes down to this patient relationship piece. So what do you suggest for your pediatric practices and really your general practices to really get that going and get that spearheaded for those?

 

Dana (03:10.299)

Yeah, I love this part of dentistry. think it's something that is like unique to dentistry as far as healthcare because we tend to see these patients multiple times for years and years. And so it's a unique space for dentistry and it's something that I think is so fun. And you're right with pediatric. I think that it's

 

twofold right they've got the kiddo and they've got the parent and because pediatric relies on volume of patients they've got to build relationships really really quickly too right because they are churning and cranking through patients and parents all day long and the first thing that I always say to any pediatric practice is you have to

 

The Dental A Team (03:39.192)

Yeah. Yeah.

 

They are.

 

Dana (03:50.877)

build the trust to be able to build the relationships. So as much as you can focus on the comfort pieces, the showtell do the walk them through everything. I love a pediatric practice that will pull the parent over and hey, let me show you right like, yes, we want to talk about flossing technique. Let me actually show you as I do it to your kiddo. Let me show you that spot that I'm talking about. Let me take a picture. Let me

 

walk you through it. And as I'm taking the picture, letting the kiddo know exactly what they're going to do each step of the way starts at one visuals, we can't really deny the things that we can see with our own eyes, right? And trust and comfort when we know everything that is going to come next, and what it's going to feel like and what it's going to look like and how we're going to navigate that together. I think that pediatric practices like creating that space is something that's truly magical.

 

and that a lot of general dentists can learn from because no matter what practice you're in, you're gonna have patients who are nervous, who are uncomfortable, who have anxiety. And I think kiddos like top the charts by 10, right? Because they're also little humans who are learning to manage those emotions too. And so if you can take any of those pieces that pediatric practices do really well and incorporate it into your general practice, but just that foundation of...

 

Trust and comfort will go a long way in building any sort of relationship, whether it's with the patient themselves, the kiddo or a parent.

 

The Dental A Team (05:20.298)

Yeah, I think that's brilliant. And it translates so well to continuing that relationship as they age. So building those relationships for the kiddos. I love the the sea show tell do right all those pieces of like, this is what we're even just this is what we're doing today. Let me show you let me let me teach you how to do this at home. Let me show you all these pieces. It's the same thing when we become adults, right? We should be translating those similar practices in building those relationships, but really

 

building a firm foundation of comfort for our patients. And part of that comfort level is really the amount of conversation we're willing to have with the patient. Sitting in silence, sitting there with a dental assistant or with a hygienist that's just like, I'm uncomfortable. I don't know what to say. It's awkward. So if they're not the ones initiating and creating the relationship or the doctors coming in and just going straight to work, not like...

 

opening it up, not being introduced to the room, not having those spaces where communication is really abundant can really hold a patient back from being open. And that openness, that vulnerability is what builds the relationship. So I think just as you do with your pediatric practices and then...

 

really taking a step back and reviewing the whole appointment, reviewing all of the information with the parent. We should be doing that in a GP, older adult practice as well for adolescents and adult patients and really sitting them down and covering what are we doing today? What questions do you have? Like let's really thoroughly go through this and make sure that you're comfortable before we start. So I think that's brilliant. I think it's awesome that we start at the pediatric ground level and really make the parents comfortable too.

 

And then for the, you know, GP practices, for my adult practices, if they're getting this kind of care for their child at the pediatric dentist, they're going to change some expectations in my opinion for what they should be receiving as well at their own practice. So really ramping those spaces up is going to be critical.

 

The Dental A Team (07:26.668)

communication is the center focus of it all. So with oral surgery practices, endo practices, perio practices, GP practices, and even pediatric practices, you guys, where does that start? Like consider where does the communication start? And I know I had a call with a doctor the other day that was like, gosh, my front team just still will not put in the notes on my limited.

 

emergency exams and it's driving them a little crazy. And it makes me think right there, right? That's an opportunity. It's a very easy opportunity to enhance and increase a relationship with the person just by letting them know.

 

we paid attention just by caring enough to have that information already ready to go. So if you're taking an emergency call, really documenting what it is that we chatted about or call for a filling that's high or anything at all that's out of the ordinary on treatment that was recommended, a patient might say, I don't know, a patient might even call and say, hey, I had a crown that was diagnosed, I never.

 

I never scheduled and now I'm in pain. Well, that needs to be documented. Schedule the crown, document the pain because when that patient comes in, we can really pour the love and the care and the attention into the situation rather than finding out firsthand. And the patients love that because they feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel valued. And Dana, from your experience even in office and working with practices, where else are you seeing some spaces that practices can really increase or

 

even just like capitalize on what they might already be doing to really build those relationships so that patients keep coming back and they refer other amazing people to our practices.

 

Dana (09:07.347)

Yeah, I've been coaching a lot of practices one thing is new patient paperwork, right? We've asked a lot of questions on that new patient paperwork and we ask them because it's a valuable information and so getting practices to build in part of their exam protocol and their prep for patient protocols We actually look at the answers and we notate them somewhere so that we remember to discuss them I've got a lot of practices that are incorporating smile Raiders to try to you know open ortho discussions and those are great absolutely, but we have to

 

The Dental A Team (09:11.277)

Yeah.

 

Dana (09:36.089)

engage in it. It's not enough just to ask it on a piece of paper. We have to actively look at it, plan, prep, and then actually bring it up and discuss it with the patient. So I think new patient paperwork is a space where a lot of practices have best intentions of getting that information and making it super personal. We just have to make sure that we're looking at it and we're translating it and we're talking about it in the exam for the patient to understand.

 

The Dental A Team (09:45.027)

Go.

 

Dana (09:59.895)

how that information corresponds to their care in your office. Same thing with new patient phone call, just like you gave an example of that limited saying that, you know, hey, I was scheduled for that crown and now I'm in pain, right? And notating the pain. Same thing on the phone call, the questions that you ask to make sure we get that information to the team and the team is prepped and ready so that they can dive in a little bit deeper with the patient and have the patient feel like, hey, man, they asked me those questions on the phone. They heard my answers. The team was prepped and ready.

 

for it and we jumped right in with my main concerns with the things that I'm here for. Even if it is just establishing care, right? Making sure that we are reinforcing that we know that that's why you're here because we took the time to get the information. So a lot of times we take the time to get all the information. We just don't actually utilize it with the patient.

 

The Dental A Team (10:50.414)

And I think that's a great action item you guys is really take that back to your teams of anywhere where we are gathering information making sure that it's put in the appropriate space and you guys that there's Consistency and where that space is so that everybody knows where to find it everybody knows where to put it But having that conversation with them of making sure that that information is put in that space and it's relayed to the next person Huge huge huge caveat here if we're putting the notes in the biggest

 

easiest way to deter a front office team from putting phone call notes in the appointment is for you to not use them. So if you're gonna ask for it, make sure you're using it. I don't know how many times when I was up front, somebody would come and they'd say he tipped it. Is this patient on any medications? Are they taking Tylenol or anything? Like I'm about to go get them. Like what's the stitch here? What's the scoop? And I would look at them and be like, did you read the notes?

 

I'm happy to have a conversation with you if we have to like that. I'm fine if you need clarifications, but I'm not I'm not going to double dip. So I'm either going to put the notes in or I'm going to talk to you every single time. I'm not I'm not going to double dip because I am not a person that will

 

work harder than she has to. So I'm not going to duplicate my efforts. I'm just going to do the path of least resistance and whatever is going to be the most efficient. And if they're not, the notes aren't being used for me, that's an inefficiency. I'm working for nothing. And so I'm going to reduce and remove the inefficiency and go with whatever the rest of the team is going to accept. So I would stop making the notes and then they'd get frustrated. So you just have to stick with it for an office teams.

 

Remind them, refer them back to the notes. They've got to get used to it. And back office teams and docs, just make sure you're utilizing those notes in the best ways you possibly can. On the notes of really building the relationship, I want to remind everyone that our words truly matter.

 

The Dental A Team (12:43.8)

The words that we use, the way in which we use them make a difference because the person you're talking to is interpreting those words and they're gonna interpret them however they see fit in that moment. So if we're not very careful with our words, we could turn a situation into something totally different. And it doesn't mean it It could be catastrophic, but it doesn't mean it's gonna be catastrophic every time. It just literally changes the tone.

 

in slight variances, dependent on what you're doing. And I have to tell you this story, Dana, and everyone listening, I have to tell you this story.

 

Aaron and I were out on Saturday. We went to our favorite little golf club, you know, restaurant, and he had just passed this really, really hard, crucial, studied for a year test, and we were celebrating him, and I was just so excited. And we're at the, we decided to sit at the bar because we did not make a reservation, and it was wild in there. But regardless, we're sitting there so I can hear other conversations going on. And the couple next to me, they wanted a recommendation on wine.

 

and they asked the bartender who came over, hey, which one do you think we should get? And the bartender, like it wasn't wrong, but immediately my brain was like, my gosh, I can fix this for you. It wasn't wrong, but the bartender said, well, I don't really drink wine, but I can tell you which ones are most asked for, which ones are the most popular.

 

And in my brain, I thought you just planted doubt in their minds on your recommendation because you told them an unnecessary statement. They didn't ask which wine would you drink. They asked which wine do you recommend? You planted a seed of doubt in the recommendation by saying that you don't drink wine. So the first statement was a negative. It was a defense to defend if you don't like the wine. It's not my fault because I don't drink wine. I know nothing about it.

 

The Dental A Team (14:41.646)

but let me give you a recommendation anyway. So he planted the seed of doubt in this couple's mind instead of just saying, oh yeah, for sure, let's take a look so I can tell you what our most popular wines are, what most people drink here at the restaurant. And if their follow-up was, what about you personally? Fine. But the statement out the gates was, I don't drink wine.

 

but I can tell you and I thought I looked at Aaron because my brain cannot ignore it and I looked at Aaron and I was like why is it so hard? It's not that was unnecessary. So my point in that is we sometimes say things that are just unnecessary statements to fill space.

 

And that space filler, just like corn and everything that we eat, is unnecessary and it's harmful. We have all these foods with all these fillers that are harmful, but it makes it look better. So you fill the void and you fill the statement with something that makes you feel better about how the outcome is going to happen. And what it can do is it can hurt the conversation. So I want everyone to really like...

 

Let that sink in and think about how what you say, the words that you use, and the way in which we state them really make a difference. And think about, I don't really drink wine, but what I can do is tell you what our most populars are compared to, my gosh, yeah, absolutely. Let me tell you what our most popular wines are, the ones that people are really loving right now.

 

It's a totally different situation because of trust. You lose trust when you start on a negative. So if a patient says, I'm off on Fridays, you had said, what day of the week works best for you? Knowing you were only open Monday through Thursday, you said what day of the week? Your patient says, I'm off on Fridays. That would be fantastic. And you're like, gosh, well, we're not open on Fridays. Is there another day? Well, now you just told me no. And I'm like, well, it's my day off.

 

The Dental A Team (16:45.292)

So now I'm in a different state and a different mood than I would have been if you had said, we're open Monday through Friday, which day in that portion of the week would work best for you. Now I know that's all I have to work with. And it just like...

 

Dana, that conversation, overhearing the conversation, like, I can't get it out of my head. This was days ago and it's still in my head. Like, I just want to help this man sell more wine. Like, he's gonna, he would sell so much more wine if he just changed the sentence slightly. He's still giving, he's not lying. He's not changing anything except removing the seed of doubt because the recommendations are gonna be the same either way.

 

And it's just been driving me crazy, Dana, driving me crazy. And these are spaces I know that you see in the practice too. So there's, you know, the one hand of scheduling, but where else do you see it? Like treatment planning, billing, like where else are you seeing that?

 

Dana (17:26.259)

Yeah.

 

Dana (17:38.013)

yeah, I see it in treatment planning all the time. We want to fill the space with we automatically jump to their financial concerns. And truly, it could just be that the patient's thinking about their work schedule and when they can find an hour of their time, right. So It happens in treatment planning all the time. It happens when we're bringing on a new doctor, right? It's a scheduling thing. But it's like, well, you know, are you willing to see this doctor? Do you want your doctor you always see? Well, you just like They probably would have had zero.

 

The Dental A Team (17:48.503)

Yeah.

 

Dana (18:02.589)

zero hesitation, they said they loved their appointment. They didn't complain at all about the new doctor that they saw, but you just planted that seed in their mind that it should be something that they should consider or be upset about. And so we do it all the time in dentistry. And I love love that you pointed that out and like truly be careful of those things and watch your words because again, that is part of relationship building, right? If if I make you feel like everything that you went through today was successful.

 

right? And that you won your visit, you got the doctor that you love you all those things. And then I plant that little bit of a seed, right? It's like you just chopped that relationship down. And you gave them something to be upset about or concerned about. And so I love that you pointed that out, because I don't think we often connect like our words with that relationship building, but it truly can impact an experience.

 

The Dental A Team (18:43.17)

Go.

 

Dana (18:58.971)

with something so simple like that.

 

The Dental A Team (19:00.926)

I totally agree. totally agree. Erin tells me constantly, babe, you're such a great communicator. I agree. I have taken a lot of communication courses. I can agree. I can figure out some dang good communication. But mostly, I'm choosing my words really wisely. And I'm manipulating how I form my sentence to get the results that I'm after. And the result that I want is that we stay in good communication, that we both stay in a positive state, even if one of us can't give the other what you want.

 

or it looks a little different. I'm here to ensure that the words that I use and the way that I structure my sentence and my statement doesn't put any negative feelings on you. I'm going, my best result is that we both walk away still happy, even if we didn't get what we thought we wanted. That's the result I'm after. I'm not here to talk anybody into anything they didn't want. Never. I could.

 

use my words to do just that. But my result is we're both leaving happy, no matter what the situation actually turned into, because we communicated so well through it. I might be telling you that I can't give you exactly what you asked for, but I'm going to find a solution around it to get as close as I can so that you still feel taken care of. And that's why communication to me is so...

 

so important and why the structure of the sentences, of the statements, and the words combined can make such a drastic difference. I don't know how many times I've heard people on the phone, no, actually we don't take that insurance.

 

We bill to them on your behalf, but we don't actually work with them. I'm like, my gosh, just say, goodness gracious, we have so many patients that come with that insurance. We know exactly how to work with them while we're out of network. We still obtain and receive as much of your benefits as we possibly can, and we work really hard on your behalf to ensure that you're happy. I don't know, say anything else, say anything under the sun different than what just came out. Just practice.

 

Dana (21:03.323)

Yeah.

 

you

 

The Dental A Team (21:08.174)

Practice getting the results that you want and let that result be that no matter what, we both walk away still happy.

 

Dana, this was fun. I love talking communication. I love relationships. I love diving in on it. And I think wrap us, I'm gonna let you wrap us up. Wrap us up on some, I know, I haven't shocked you with anything lately. So there you go. No, wrap us up with some like quick action items that you think I let you mostly talk about that or asked you to talk about the fetal stuff and all that. So what are some action items that our doctors and our teams can take away from today and really push forward with?

 

Dana (21:30.962)

No.

 

I see.

 

Dana (21:46.833)

Yeah, I think biggest thing is build trust focus on relationship building. I love that you said watch your words, make sure we're focusing on how we can win with the patient versus putting roadblocks in front of them. And the biggest thing as far as structure and systems is notes. Where are we putting the things that we find out about patients? How are we reviewing the intake of their paperwork or the phone call information that we get from them? And then where are we using that in our exam flow?

 

The Dental A Team (22:15.926)

Love it. Beautiful. Thank you.

 

Okay, you guys heard it from Dana. You heard it right here. Thank you so much, Dana, for being here with me today. You know I'm gonna pull you in for some more, so y'all will be hearing her voice in no time at all. Thank you everyone for being here, for being constant, just superheroes for us in this world and sharing us with everyone you know. We truly appreciate that. We are always looking to help and reach as many people in the dental community as we possibly can. So share this podcast with a friend. If you're a current client, thank you so

 

much. Share us with all your friends. If you're a soon-to-be client, we cannot wait to meet you. And for those listeners who are just on the fence and out there wondering, keep listening. We're here. We're always going to come back and we are always here when you're ready for us. So for now, we'll catch you guys later.