"I don't understand why some patients leave. We develop a great friendship over the years and all of a sudden, poof, they're gone. What happened?"
Interesting question. I was just at my local FedEx office and mentioned that I was a dentist in case anyone was looking for a new dental home, and one of the women in the office said, "I haven't been to the dentist in years. I hate her."
Sheri B. Doniger, DDS.Now, "hate" is a strong word for a dentist. I could understand "dislike" or "not happy with," but hate? So I probed (no pun intended) further. She said she had been going to this dentist for many years and that the dentist said things to her, especially while she was working on her, that made her uncomfortable. Things like, "You have enough saliva to fill two rivers."
The woman went on to say that since she had been seeing this particular dentist for years, she thought they were friends and acted as such. But the dentist had been saying things, "embarrassing things," to this young woman and she finally had enough. So she decided not to return to the practice.
How many of these patients have you lost lately?
I think we say things out loud that we should filter. Maybe a random comment to the chairside assistant, or something that was meant to be a joke but truly was not. This woman was obviously distressed that she was "called out on" (having an excessive amount of saliva). I also believe that, while we do see patients potentially two, maybe three, times a year, we may cross over the line of acting more "friend" than professional. I have never allowed my patients to "friend" me on Facebook or Google+. They may "like" me on my Facebook page, but a line has been drawn between patient and professional.
We may let our guard down and open the door once in a while, but we need to remember to close it. Patients are truly most vulnerable when they are in our chairs with their mouths open. They cannot be part of the conversation, nor do we want them to be.
Patients leave for many reasons: change of location, different benefit structure, nonpayment of professional obligations, disagreement over a treatment plan. But for the most part, we do not know why our patients leave our practices. Remember that when you see a new patient, they have most likely been to another dentist. Listen, listen, and listen more to the reasons they left that practice. Although it would be great to give "exit interviews" to all of our patients, most will not be compliant in responding.
To retain the patient population we have, the golden rule is to treat them as we would like to be treated in any of our other professional settings.
Sheri B. Doniger, DDS, practices clinical dentistry in Lincolnwood, IL. She is currently vice president and president-elect of the American Association of Women Dentists and editor of the American Association of Women Dentists "Chronicle" newsletter. She has served as an educator in several dental and dental hygiene programs, has been a consultant for a major dental benefits company, and has written for several dental publications. You can reach her at [email protected].
