Sheri's Solutions: 'Who is your dentist?'

"Who is your dentist?"

A seemingly benign question to ask a group of folks gathered for a meeting. But, a very enlightening one. Recently, I was at one of my volunteer board meetings and happened to be talking to a fellow board member. He was asking me about a problem his son was having with the eruption of his permanent teeth. When I asked him the question, "Who is your dentist?" in response to something he related, he said, "I don't remember her name."

"What?" I said, as he searched his smartphone for about 10 minutes seeking out her name.

Sheri B. Doniger, DDS.

Sheri B. Doniger, DDS.

Then, I proceeded to ask the entire group assembled the same question: "Who is your dentist?"

Out of eight people, only three remembered the name of their dentist, including one woman in the room who is my patient!

Interesting, I thought. So, I proceeded to ask the same question to another gathering of a different group of board members. Interesting, the same result. Only three of seven knew the name of their dentist.

Are we that forgettable? Anecdotally, people do tend to forget their dentist's name. This is not a new occurrence. I don't think it is so much as "forgettable" as not available. If you were seeing your significant other once in every 190 days, how much of a relationship would you be having? It is difficult to remember people whom you see on a daily basis as opposed to someone whom you see only twice a year.

This doesn't surprise me on many levels. For the most part, dentists may recall more about what was said during a consultation or treatment appointment than the patient is able to recall. The patient may be distracted by time, nervousness, or discomfort and not completely paying attention to the discussion at hand. A patient's recall of dental advice has been shown to be inversely related to time passed. Seventy percent of orthodontic patients do not recall advice given by their practitioners 10 days after the visit. Forty percent of oral surgical patients did not recall being given postoperative instructions. Finally, let's not even talk about compliance with postoperative medications or oral hygiene procedures!

If patients don't recall the majority of what was discussed during an appointment, how are they supposed to remember their dentist's name? Does this mean we are doing such a great job of taking care of their oral health that they don't have to be concerned with the "whom," since the "what" is doing well?

Where this "non-name recall" fails is for patient referral. We all want to build our practices. If our own patients can't recall our names in a basic conversation, how will they recall them for referral purposes? Yes, the majority of patients do carry around smartphones and are able to readily "search" for their dentist's names, but what about those who are not so technologically tethered?

In my practice, we give each patient a lip balm after each appointment. It is really a portable business card. We give them to patients of all ages from 7 and older (with parental consent for patients younger than age 10). Not only are they great for protecting lips during the harshest of winters, patients usually keep them at hand, more than a business card. We also make sure we have personalized pens. It's great to have something to "take away" as a reminder. Both the pens and lip balm are potentially used daily. The lip balm is easily found at several dental trade shows, and the pens are readily available by several vendors online. I do have a few favorites, so do not hesitate to contact me for some suggestions.

So, the next time you are in a group of nonpatient friends or associates, do your own social experiment and ask the question, "Who is your dentist?" See what your results are!

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].

The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.