Getting Patients to Care: From Booking to Follow-Up to Oral Health Engagement, Here Are Some Things That Work

It is no secret that getting patients to care physically and emotionally is challenging for any dental practice. Today, we explore booking and follow-up tactics and oral health engagement tips that any dental practice can use.

Tactic #1: Leverage the Functionality of Your Dental Office Communication System

One way to get patients to care—at least regarding their physical presence—is through technology. Your dental office communication system has different features that connect various parts of the practice, enhancing patient scheduling, communication between staff and patients, and overall dental care processes.

For example, automated appointment reminders reduce no-shows and cancellations, improving scheduling efficiency. Telehealth and teleconsultation advancements allow for remote assessments, saving time for both patients and dental professionals. Patient portals offer secure access to records, treatment plans, and communication with the practice. Electronic health records (EHRs) provide immediate access to patient records, ensuring the dental team is well-prepared for each visit and elevating the patient experience.¹

Practice management software integrates all these tools, creating a unified system for dental office operations. It enables efficient scheduling, integrates EHRs, automates reminders, and fosters direct patient communication while ensuring data security. By utilizing practice management software, dental practices can create a seamless, patient-centric communication system, enhancing the overall quality of care.¹

Tactic #2: Choosing Your Words Carefully

Dental hygiene educator and international speaker Katrina Sanders, RDH, agrees that clear communication is essential. Sanders is a periodontal hygienist who often treats the various stages of gum disease. If the patient has a condition that requires multiple treatments and ongoing maintenance, she says it's best to establish that when they get started. Otherwise, patients tend to think of periodontal treatment as one-and-done.

Additionally, Sanders encourages leaving the scientific language out of the conversations. Most patients do not respond appropriately to it. However, setting up the condition and procedure as a disease you are treating makes patients more receptive to ongoing care. Sanders often tells patients that she hopes to move them from a state of active disease to a stage of remission.

"I love using the word' remission.' It aligns with the AAP [American Academy of Periodontology] staging and grading guidelines," Sanders explains. "So now I'm telling the patient, 'I want to put you back into remission, and if I can get you back into remission, then our next step is to continue working together to keep you in remission.'"

Sanders says that the idea of a partnership is integral to getting patients to care. She also ensures that she takes a full medical history to get the full picture of the patient's overall health. Then, she can see if the patient is at an elevated risk for disease showing up in different ways, whether that is from chronic issues with general health, medications the patient takes, or the patient's age. She explains that these factors can potentially complicate the work she and the patient are doing together.

Moreover, it is important to emphasize that some oral health conditions persist beyond the initial treatment. A common misstep Sanders sees in this conversation is that post-treatment instructions often focus on the immediate management of the first one or two weeks after treatment. However, she says it is important to communicate that the dental team needs to see the patient back to see if the body responds favorably to treatment.

However, the conversation should not feel scripted. Sanders thinks that scripts get in the way of genuine conversation.

"A lot of times when we talk about communicating with our patients," Sanders explains, "We feel like we have to have a script like we have to do all the talking to educate them and to bring awareness to them. And I'll tell you, I love a good script. I'm a theater kid. I grew up reading scripts, but scripts are for the theater. They are not for communicating with human beings about a customized approach."

Tactic #3: Book the Appointment as Soon as Possible.

Speaker and educator Jeffrey Lineberry, DDS, AAACD, owner of the Carolina Center for Comprehensive Dentistry in Mooresville, North Carolina, thinks setting the schedule at the time of diagnosis is key. Sanders agrees, adding that the same policy applies to surgical follow-up appointments.

"No patient should ever leave an active surgical situation without the next appointment set," Sanders says. "If we know the patient is going to be sedated, we schedule that reevaluation before the patient undergoes treatment."

In his practice, they start by showing the patient photos and telling them what they are seeing in the image. Once the patient decides to treat the condition, the team repeats the diagnosis and treatment plan for charting, and Dr Lineberry confirms and asks the patient if they have any questions.

After answering any patient questions, Dr Lineberry sends the assistant and hygienist with the patient to communicate the diagnosis and treatment plan to the scheduler. He finds that having the people with the patient in the room for the conversation creates a sense of community for the patient, which makes it easier to move forward with the treatment plan.

After booking the appointment, the scheduler confirms with the patient. Dr Lineberry has the team tell patients how long the appointment will be and that the time scheduled is set aside for the patient. So, if they need to cancel or reschedule, the scheduler asks them to give them 48 hours' notice. Dr Lineberry says that knowing the time is scheduled specifically for them makes patients assign more value to the appointment—and also makes them more likely to show up.

But What About Getting Them to Care About Their Oral Health?

Getting people to fix a problem with their oral health is one thing; getting them to care about how the problem occurred could be quite another. Patient engagement about their oral health and the patient's role in it is a challenge in any dental practice.

Getting patients to care about their dental health also means empowering them with knowledge. Effective communication in a dental practice involves ensuring that patients understand the information provided. Often, a gap exists between what the dentist explains and the patient comprehends. Patients typically do not retain new information after hearing it once. Technology-facilitated communication and building relationships are essential but not usually enough to ensure comprehension.¹

The "Rule of 7" suggests at least seven exposures to new information are necessary for retention. Therefore, providing patients with resources they can review at their own pace, such as brochures or app-driven instructional videos, helps bridge this gap. These resources enhance patients' understanding of dental procedures and conditions, leading to better dental outcomes.¹

Dr Lineberry says getting people engaged in their overall health requires determining what they value and what their currencies are. By slowing down and discovering why they are doing what they are doing, what past experiences have influenced this behavior, and what misconceptions they may or may not have, you can engage with patients in a real conversation about oral health.

"There's an old saying, 'People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care," Dr Lineberry continues. "That's where you start figuring out things. The bottom line is that in this busy world, we all know that most people breeze over stuff, and it's in and out to get things done, and some patients need that type of interaction. But also, there are a lot of patients who have stories, and they need to be heard."

Discovering where patients are regarding their engagement with their oral health means avoiding assumptions and asking open-ended questions. The answers patients provide allow the clinician to go deeper into relationship building, which will lead to trust.

For example, instead of asking patients if they are flossing daily, ask them what they do at home to maintain their oral health. Dr Lineberry says reframing the question this way allows patients to answer you without simply telling you what they think you want to hear.

"It's about going there in a deep, deep-seated question and staying in the question and finding out, really connecting with patients on a higher level," Dr Lineberry says.

Sanders agrees that you will encounter varying levels of dental IQ in your chair. Some patients grew up going to the dentist every 6 months and value routine care, while others did not. The amount of exposure to oral health information also varies, leading to different ideas and understandings of how to approach oral health care.

Therefore, she thinks it essential to discover what type of patient you have in front of you and what their goals are for oral health. Then, the patient starts the conversation, and the clinician can guide them.

"We have to know what that goal is, and we have to remind our patients that we are with you alongside those goals, whatever that might be," Sanders says.

Additionally, Sanders thinks that dental professionals should be a bit more assertive regarding their continuing education and practice investments with patients. Many patients are interested in wellness and want to know that their dental team can help them in that area.

"Patients want you to tell them that you are reading the research and what you're giving to them is the newest research as you have it," Sanders says. "Dentistry shies away from that sometimes."

Sanders says there is an opportunity for dentistry as a collective to be more confident in how they share recent findings with patients and how that changes their approach to patient care.

For example, Sanders thinks explaining to patients that you take the full medical history is important because of the connections between oral health and overall health. Many patients might not know about those connections yet and how their genetic and family history plays a role in their risk for disease. As a periodontal hygienist, Sanders wants to know of any risk or history of systemic conditions that could complicate their gum disease. This conversation and awareness make their gum disease more relevant to the patient.

"Patients want innovation. They want the research. They want to know that you are looking at them as a unique individual, not as your 10 o'clock patient who's here to complete these CDT codes today," Sanders says. "And that's a reasonable patient who wants to trust what you're putting in front of them."

Reference

1. Optimizing Your Dental Office Communication Systems. Spear Review RSS. Published January 25, 2023. Accessed June 7, 2024. https://www.speareducation.com/spear-review/2024/01/optimizing-dental-office-communication-systems