Actually, Krishnamurti wrote a book with that title, but I think I want to tickle your mind about the idea, as applied to the dental office.
We are finding that many of our very good patients, the ones who sit and ASK for treatment, our best treatment, are the ones who we often go slow with, and actually don't present treatment too early, or even act too eager to provide care. It isn't really game playing, but there certainly is a lot right about keeping someone in an orthotic, or NTI and gaining their trust through several visits, knowing that your office is helping them to get where they want to be.
It is totally against my nature not to act confident, but I am not talking acting as if I don't know what I am doing. The idea here is that: " We really don't know how you will do with this splint, but I think you will get a lot more comfortable and we can schedule treatment after you are comfortable and know what sort of improvements you want." The patient realizes that they are in charge and are taking part in their treatment.
Certainly, the restorative dental world has a lot to learn about handling people, and Neuromuscular Dentistry has done a great job with having people wear an orthotic to allow repositioning to occur - as have the Bioesthetics dentists, using their MOGO appliance. What I am saying is not that these appliances are the same, but they can act in a very similar way to create a solid bond with the patient and office. There is more trust and friendship, and the patient feels no "push" to get things done tomorrow afternoon! There are therapeutic and psychological advantages to applying these treatment modalities.
My point? That if your patients seem to be less ready to jump on care, instead of pushing harder, why not think about creating systems that allow them to progress to treatment at their own desired rate? For the good patients, or the people who can become good patients, this works wonders, I think. And for the insurance driven, bargain hunting patient who wants those crowns cheap, well, you might not hang on to them, but the other, more grateful and supportive patients will more than make up for it!
What do you think?
Rick
