This week, we continue a series of clinical tips we shot in Las Vegas during Dentsply Sirona World. Dr. Reena Patel of Charlotte, NC, is this week's featured clinician, and you can learn more about her here.
Podcast transcript
"I'm Dr. Reena Patel from Charlotte, North Carolina. I am a co-owner and dentist at Chichetti & Patel Dental Wellness, and my clinical tip is, if you see it, say it.
"Over the years, any patient that I have noted a clinical condition on -- even if I feel like they may not accept it well or want to hear it -- I tend to drop like a tidbit here or there, make a note in the chart, come back and say it again, and it ends up resonating with them. And then a lot of times, they'll accept treatment.
"So if it's a patient that needs reconstruction work and generalized wear, abfractions, fractured teeth, just saying it, say, "You know, I think that we've been doing some tooth dentistry for a while, but maybe we need to consider some other options." Maybe you need reconstruction, maybe ortho, and just planting that seed and then continuing to revisit it, and also not putting pressure on them, just having them do it when they're ready, when it's their time. And then they'll come back and they'll keep hearing you. They keep hearing you say the same thing, and eventually they do come back around and say yes.
"As a practitioner, we sometimes get discouraged when we make recommendations and patients don't accept it, but maybe it's not the best time in their life for that. And I've found a lot of clinical success, and just if I see it, say it, and just let it be out there into the ether, when patients are ready, they come on in and have treatment done, and it works out rather well.
