Treatment Acceptance Communication

Transcript performed by A.I. Please excuse the typos.
00:00
Because when it all comes full circle is when the patient looks at you and says, doc, but what do think I should do about it? The cloud up, the sunlight comes through. You know, now you’re an advisor to the patient, not somebody that they should be cynical and distrustful of. Because creating a seamless experience for the patient, what it does is it actually creates a safe place for patients to work through their own problems.

00:28
It’s just that the patient doesn’t care about your answer until they know how much you care about what’s important to them.

00:38
This is Dental All-Stars, where we bring you the best in dentistry on marketing, management and training.

00:47
Welcome to Dental All-Stars. I’m Alex Nottingham, founder and CEO of All-Star Dental Academy. And with me is Larry Gazzardo, our head instructor here at All-Star Dental Academy. And we’re talking about treatment, acceptance, communication. Please welcome Larry. Hey, how are you? Alex, it’s always good to see you again. Yeah, we just saw you at All-Star Live speaking. Happened the crowd go nuts. They had a lot of fun with you. Yeah, we did. Talked about hospitality and taking things up that one extra step. And I think it’s important.

01:18
you know, in today’s economy and with today’s demographics. So, it’s really important. I remember that presentation. It was really good. I liked how you showed different levels of hospitality and what you can expect at where you go and what type of dental office do you want to be? That could be a really good topic at some point too. I’ll have to revisit that one. I like that. And it fits in really well with what I wanted to talk about today is that treatment acceptance communication. Sure. You know what mean? Because just like within hospitality,

01:47
when you’re trying to be more thoughtful in the way that you interact with the patient, in our communication with them, we’ve got to convey that we understand their concerns. And what we have to remember is that they don’t know how to express their concerns. Actually, they think they’re doing it and we think we’re understanding them, but they’re not being real clear and we’re misunderstanding them and they’re really confused about it. And so,

02:17
It starts that whole vicious cycle of communication where we don’t get anywhere. And then people wonder why they just want to run out of the office. Part of it, would say Alex’s is that we’ve got to be better at listening and we’ve got to be better at questioning. But if we listen better, the questions are easy because they’ve already told us their concern.

02:44
We just might not understand what that is or what they really mean by it. And so that’s when we have to learn to say, let me, let me ask you a question and see if I understand you correctly. Um, I kind of use that phrase that you always want to verify to clarify. Because it helps the person feel like you understand them. And, and I kind of liked that technique because I’ve always said that you can be dead wrong in what you think you heard from that person.

03:13
And they won’t be upset with you because you gave them the opportunity to clarify themselves. If I can give you an example, let’s say for instance, a patient is talking and you’re trying to establish what’s important to this person. And they’ve talked about a lot of different things. And so you’re not exactly sure what their concerns are. And so you might say, well, gosh, I’m really glad that you shared all this with me. Let me see if I understand you correctly. Are you telling me…

03:43
that you’re really concerned about the looks of your teeth. And they’re going to clarify or verify that with you like, yeah, I want to have the best looking teeth on the planet. Or they might say, well, yeah, I want to have good looking teeth, but more than that, I don’t want to lose them. You know, I don’t want to end up in dentures. And you’re like, oh, okay, well, great, because I’m going to examine to make sure that I know you’re going to keep your teeth the rest of your life.

04:13
And if I see anything going on in your mouth that I know is going to create you a situation where you could lose your teeth, then how about you and I sit down and talk about that? And so what I’ve done there is I wasn’t sure what they meant. And so I verified it with them. I gave them the opportunity to clarify it. Even in my example, I didn’t get mad at myself when I got it wrong, because I was happy and feeling understood.

04:43
that, okay, so you understand it about my concern to be able to keep my teeth. And of course, yes, if you see something that you know is going to create a situation where I might lose a two, yeah, I want to stop and talk to you about it. Now, now as the dentist, I feel comfortable moving on, on with my exam. you. tell me, what do you find some of the challenges or the mistakes that people make in terms of communication and.

05:11
when comes to treatment acceptance. So you kind of laid out the premise that we want to verify. So where are they going wrong? And then how do we flip it and doing it right? Well, what everybody’s going to hate is, you know, we’re dealing with highly skilled, technical people. And so they actually have all the answers. It’s just that the patient doesn’t care about your answer until they know how much you care about what’s important to them.

05:42
So that’s why the communication is important. We just want to get into our exam, you know, and we want to get into what we want to do and what we want to talk about. And what we have to remember is that’s not important to the patient, what we want to talk about. Right. We’ve got to talk about what the patient wants to. I think we also get into a jam because we probably don’t pre-block our schedules as well as we could. So we don’t give ourselves enough time.

06:10
to do a good thorough examination. know, people know when you’re rushed and they know again when you’re in a hurry. And so that sends an immediate message to them, you don’t care about me or I guess I can’t ask a question. You don’t have time to talk to me. I see. So by not having their schedule done properly, they’re already set up to having a problem because they’re

06:39
forced by the schedule to rush and so on and they can’t use the proper verbal skills and the patient feels that. so therefore, so structurally the big challenge is having your schedule right. You fix your schedule, then you can fix the potentially the underlying problem or at least create space for it. so, right, so it’s schedule, do your schedule properly. Then what happens, obviously you did mention about the dentist, you kind of know the answer as most doctors do, but if you tell them,

07:08
hey, this is what it is without kind of taking them into account, that can be off-putting. Yes, because you’ve already clarified with the patient. So if I understand you correctly, you’re really concerned about keeping your teeth for the rest of your life. And if I see something that I know will create a problem for you, I’ll want to stop and talk to you about it. So now when you’re in the patient’s mouth and you’re starting to chart all these restorations and everything’s all breaking down and you’re saying all this stuff to your assistant,

07:37
that the patient doesn’t understand, we have to remember we’ve got to be flexible. We’re dealing with a lay person who doesn’t know what we’re doing, but they’re becoming very suspicious because they know you’re up to something. And when they become suspicious, their job now is to make sure you don’t get the upper hand. And so now they’re going to start fighting with you. We have to learn to stop and say, hey, you know, I’m wondering if you’ve noticed something like this before.

08:05
because I see a tooth here that’s cracked or broken. You didn’t mention it when you first came in. So I’m wondering if maybe you weren’t aware of it. know what mean? Again, we’re asking that question. You know, we’re not saying, hey, you’ve got a broken tooth and you need a crown. Cause they’re like, what? See, I told you I wanted to save my teeth. Now you want me to spend money. You know, it’s sort of like, were you aware of this? You know, have you ever noticed your tongue always going up there, you know, all the time? And they’re like, yeah, well, that’s the cracked one.

08:34
Let me show you. Would you like to look at what I’m looking at? You know? I see. So you’re inviting them into the conversation. So they’re participating in the treatment acceptance. They’re participating in it and they’re feeling like you’re collaborating with them and they’re coming to their own conclusion. We have a level of health in dentistry that we want everybody to enjoy. And I wish everybody wanted that for themselves.

09:02
But we have to realize that whether we like it or not, they don’t always look at it the same way. So our job is to help them be as healthy as they want to be, uh, and make it easier for them to make the best choices for themselves. makes sense. Yeah. I guess what was in my mind sometimes is like, whenever you talk to, let’s say chat, she PT, right. And.

09:27
It’s always, it starts with agreeing with you. It’s sort of building rapport, but it’s, I know it’s a robot, but we can learn a little bit. What it’s trying to do is like, okay, it, it, it’s almost like a keto, right? You use the force with you. Like, uh, it’s funny. asked it once, I said, are you just agreeing with me? says, well, yes. And I’m giving you information. So it’s, it’s, it’s, um, I think that when we’re just telling them what it is, it comes across abrasive and.

09:55
You know, part of our great call process, a big part is building rapport. And I think that the chat box, uh, box do that well in terms of they’re taking what you say and then soften it. Now we’re still not there that obviously it’s nice in person, the warm individual, there’s some other things that still humans can do, but we can take a lesson here, which a very simple, uh, arithmetic or whatever algorithm myth.

10:25
whatever method whereby we hear them and we are going to kind of repeat back. said, clarify, this what you’re saying? And then go into their world. Right. And then softly kind of bring them into, you know, what’s interesting is, is again, this is not just a chat box chat box thing. This is a scientific process of rapport building. Psychology is you got to get them into their world. Yeah. Yes. Because what.

10:54
Chatbot will not do is let go of control You know as humans we could realize okay, I’m controlling this conversation or you know, I think I have all the information You know, that’s chatbots not gonna just flow with you It’s always gonna bring you back to but you need a crown Mmm kind of thing and so what human beings want is some give-and-take and some back-and-forth correct that’s in human touch

11:23
The empathy and so on that they want. Yes. And not some fake, uh, potentially, mean, situation. That’s an algorithm, but okay. So, all right. So we’re, we’re kind of getting to their space. step one you mentioned is set your schedule properly. Set your schedule. Step two, make sure that you’re in their space, that you are repeating back, right? What, what.

11:49
they’re talking about and making sure we’re on the same page. Yeah, make sure you understand their concerns. And it’s almost like you’re taking them on a journey. We’re doing a journey together. Let’s look together. And that’s probably also why Interall and photographs and digital and x-rays and so on are able to see what’s going on. And even we’re in the idea or the concept of AI where you’re seeing overlays. had some vendors at our events that show you how they automatically

12:18
Well, you’ll see where the decay is or where things are, just, and it helps with that, and information is there, and so it helps them make a decision. even with those aids, you know, instead of going like, oh, the cavity popped up. Right. It’s sort of like, oh, something’s been detected. Did you see that too? Oh, interesting. You know what mean? Did you notice that and say, well, let’s just take a look at what it’s identifying for us?

12:44
You know, was, you don’t go, oh, there’s a cavity. This is why it is. You say, Oh, look at curious. Cause I used to like that. Remember that. guess it seems old fashioned now, but the old like died. Diagnodate. You know, would do that. Oh, you got a cavity. it’s just like, agents are like, program that, you know, this is like a slot machine and it only pays off so much, know? Right. And so you’ve, you don’t want people to feel like the AI.

13:14
or the jet bot or whatever it is has been programmed to mine these things. It’s a tool for the doctor. It’s like, oh, something popped up that we need to take a look at. Did you hear that? I like just asking that question. So it’s identified something that we should probably be paying attention to. I like that a lot. And considering how in dental offices and all medical professions, there’s a lot of anxiety for most people.

13:41
It’s not like I love going there. It’s not comfortable. It’s that compassion, that empathy is very helpful. Well, it is because a doctor should always be explaining, you know, or asking the question, has anyone ever explained to you how a dentist determines whether you’re healthy or not, or getting into trouble? It’s the same thing with AI tools. Has anyone ever explained to you how these tools identify an area of decay?

14:08
Like what is it looking for in the cells or whatever it is? Has anyone ever explained that to you? Because again, what the patient wants to understand is that they don’t want to feel like they’re being taken advantage of. Like I can’t tell that machine no, but I could tell you no, and I will. So you ask them, because there’s a lot of science behind it. You know what mean? Just like remineralization of enamel and all that.

14:37
It’s not hocus pocus. It’s a chemical reaction. And I think when people understand that they go, I didn’t think of it that way, you know? And so it’s the chemical reaction that rebuilds the enamel on your teeth. But this is what the machine is looking for. And that’s, it’s brought it to my attention. So now I have something to, to decide. walk me through, I guess, kind of as we move towards the end of this podcast is walk me through an example.

15:07
and maybe point where, in terms of treatment acceptance conversation, communication, what’s going on? Okay, well, one thing I do want to mention is that part of what makes all this work is things that we’ve already talked about, but we can’t ignore how important it is that the patient, the tone for the appointment be set up for the patient at that first phone call.

15:33
We can never ignore that. Heather’s gonna like what you have to say. She would beat me up, but she’s also really right at the same time that we have to make sure that we have engaged with that patient, that when we asked for the appointment, we also took the time to describe what was gonna happen when you were there. Because when you do that, it creates curiosity with the patient. And when the patient realizes, you’re gonna check my blood pressure, you’re gonna check me for oral cancer, for gum disease, they become curious.

16:02
And when they become curious, that’s when they commit. So we need them to have that sense of commitment and curiosity, like, what will you be like? What will the office be like, you when I get there? That’s important. Then of course they have the greeting and all of that. But when it comes right down to starting the exam, we always have to verify that I understand what’s important to you. And I’m going keep that in mind as I’m examining you. When I find things,

16:30
I want to say, hey, I’m noticing something that you hadn’t mentioned before you came in. And I’m wondering if you were aware of this, because I see a tooth that’s cracked or broken or maybe something that’s even missing that you hadn’t talked about it. Do you want to take a look at what I’m looking at? Most curious people are going to say, yes, I want to see that. And when they look at it, and that’s why I those cameras that you can have in your treatment room where people can look at what you’re looking at. It’s just like,

17:00
What do you make of this? Ask a question. know, along with people being cynical, they’re also distrustful and suspicious, you know, and they think they know more than you do. That’s why understanding their concerns are important. You know, we’ve heard people say, well, I’m from a family of leaders or, you know, we all have soft teeth. Well, if they think they have soft teeth and you want them to fix a tooth, they’re going to say, what for? They’re all soft. They’re going to break again anyway.

17:28
not understanding how your restoration is gonna make their teeth stronger. So you’re asking them, what do you make of this? Has something like this ever happened to you before? I notice other restorations in your mouth, what happened there? My point is, is you’re talking to them and you’re finding out more and more about what’s important to them. And here, you get confused,

17:55
Like I wonder if they want to take care of themselves or not. I take this from Eric because I love it. Is that he does that little test by it. And he says, you know, is this a good time for us to stop and talk about a plan to correct these problems? I remember what you said about wanting to keep your teeth for the rest of your life. And I just don’t know what it would be like if you lost these teeth or if they broke further or whatever that implication was.

18:23
So the key point there is that you’re really engaging with the patient, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s only complicated when you think I have a script of what I have to do. That’s hard. If you just listen to the patient and always just verify what you hear them saying, they’ll either verify it with you or they’ll clarify it. And then you know that you can move forward. You know what’s interesting? One of the…

18:50
lectures you’ve gave before is about the seamless patient experience. It was interesting today is I had my AC broke and so I call this company and it was seamless. Every step was, was structured, very professional, amazing. I gave them a five star review and from the phone call to the text reminder to the tech was on time, did a great job, explained things to me, showed me.

19:16
Right. Like what you were doing, didn’t tell me, oh, you have to get that. goes, let me, let me try this and see if this, you know, this works. see what’s going on. If that doesn’t work, then we can do that. You know, making sure we’re trying to save money and all that. Uh, and everything was seamless, even credit card. We don’t charge you a fee. None of this nonsense. It was just seamless throughout. And so the same thing here is that I’m glad you mentioned the phone call has to be done well and then scheduled properly.

19:45
And so that’s just setting it up. If you don’t have those two steps, then the doctor’s already behind and now stressed. The doctor and the team has to have good verbiage and a plan that we are going to discover together. on this journey together with this process. So that makes a lot of sense that if any one of those areas is malfunctioning, the seamless experience fails. Yes, because creating a seamless experience for the patient.

20:13
What it does is it actually creates a safe place for patients to work through their own problems. Their problems are their beliefs, you know, because now they realize like, oh, so having soft teeth isn’t a good idea, you know, or I don’t have to suffer from bleeding gums just because the rest of my family does. You see, they were kind of letting it go because they thought it was something that, you they were doomed with. But now they’re working out realizing, oh, you could take care of this.

20:42
Cause when it all comes full circle is when the patient looks at you and says, doc, but what do you think I should do about it? The cloud up, the sunlight comes through, you know, now you’re an advisor to the patient, not somebody that they should be cynical and distrustful of. I really appreciate about this talk today is that kind of reminding about the importance of our online training. lot of this we do in our online training course, and it’s so easy.

21:10
for us to lose sight of the fundamentals. And many of our listeners are members. So I say, hey, go back, make sure you’re doing the program 20 minutes a week and doing it again. And for those that are not members, go to allspendentalacademy.com. could watch a free webinar where I talk about broken appointments. I won’t get you started and phone skills. And then you could always learn about signing up for online training. And then of course, coaching is so key.

21:38
You are a coach and consultant as well, Larry, and just the key of role playing and practicing this. It’s so easy to get pulled into bad habits. it takes effort and energy to keep the proper system going. So it’s a great reminder talking with you today. Thank you so much. Cause it’s so easy to drift and that coach just kind of pulls you back. That’s right. That’s right. Well, thank you, Larry Guzzardo, our head instructor for joining us.

22:07
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22:22
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Dental All-Stars. Visit us online at AllStarDentalAcademy.com.