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Offering Decision Help and Senses of Accomplishment

Published by Dr. Paul Goodman on

What do you say to patients that are too overwhelmed to make a decision?

I would like to tell you about a recent treatment sharing visit with a patient and his spouse to discuss removal and replacement of all of his upper teeth. Understandably, he was overwhelmed and said that they had not planned for this.

We reviewed the three menu options in patient friendly terms, fixed with implants, removable snap-in with implants and removable cover the roof of the mouth without implants. This patient wanted more time to think about it and that is totally okay.

He has chronic structural and bone shrinkage concerns. His dental concerns are bone shrinkage on the upper part of his mouth and structural breakdown of teeth that have spent decades chewing.

“What I value most--treating patients the way I would want to be treated.”

We can end these conversations in an empathetic way and show that we will be there for the patient when they are ready.

Celebrate your SOAs (Sense of Accomplishments)! Dental school does not focus on SOAs. Dental school makes us feel weird to talk about money and it makes things really weird out there in the real world. It doesn’t have to be that way. I encourage you to be proud to sell help. Be proud of yourself. Be proud of your team.

Be proud of your patients and for the LOVE OF GV BLACK, stop calling teeth virgins with a hopeless prognosis! It makes everyone feel really weird inside :).

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