When you join a practice as an associate, don’t be surprised to find the supervising doctor placing limits on the types of clinical procedures you can perform early on. This is a sensible move and you would be wise to embrace it. The fact is, the hiring doctor has not seen your clinical skills in action. S/he needs to assess your clinical abilities, particularly if you are a recent graduate from dental school. This is an excellent opportunity for you to learn and grow as a practicing dentist.

It’s understandable that the hiring doctor wants to ensure that a new doctor treating his patient base is well prepared. After all, the hiring doctor likely has a long and valuable history with his/her patients. Understandably, s/he wants to ensure that they will be cared for in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed.

Additionally, it will serve you well as a new hire to work with an experienced dental assistant. In addition to her/his clinical background, an experienced assistant likely has worked within the practice for some time, and knows the patients. S/he can be an excellent resource in helping you quickly build rapport with patients. Moreover, experienced assistants can be a wellspring of information with regard to proper record keeping ensuring and that you follow the established protocols in your new office.

Eighty percent of practices are losing more patients than they are gaining new patients. It’s easy to assume that patients you’ve had for years will continue to return, and it’s also easy to fall into the trap of thinking that those patients will raise questions and inquire about treatment options without your prompting. What happens far too often is teams fall into the “Transaction Mindset.” The patient is coming in for a routine oral hygiene appointment and exam. Everyone clicks into autopilot, after all this is merely a routine transaction. Wait! Wake up! This is one of only two contacts your office will have with that patient in the next 12 months. This isn’t a mere transaction. It’s your brief opportunity to strengthen your relationship with this patient.

In many cases, the six-month visit is the only time the dentist is going to have the opportunity to sit down with the patient and assess not only his/her their oral health condition, but also the individual’s oral health concerns and interests. What do you do during every routine visit to WOW the patients, further educate them on the importance of oral healthcare, and inform them of the services that your practice provides? Anything? In about eight months, you might be wondering why you haven’t seen this or that patient in your practice for a while. Can you figure it out? Maybe they were tired of being treated as simply just another “routine transaction.”

Consider the unspoken messages you and your team convey to patients, starting with the obvious: your smiles. Every time a patient comes into your practice, they are examining your smile. What does yours say about your dentistry, your team, and your philosophy of care? Case in point: A young orthodontist I know is building his practice alongside two very well established doctors in a mid- size city. He is a nice young man, but I can’t help wondering what impact his own crooked smile has on his patients’ decision to proceed or delay treatment – particularly his adult patients. How often are patients second guessing their decision to pursue $6,000, $8,000, $10,000 in adult orthodontic treatment when they sit down and have a conversation with “Dr. Allen.” After all, even “Dr. Allen,” the orthodontist, doesn’t have perfect teeth – and if anyone can afford straight teeth, they reason, it’s an orthodontist.

You and your team advertise your dentistry. If you’re selling smiles, everyone on your team, including you, doctor, should wear the beautiful smiles that excellent dentistry can create.

Never underestimate the expectations of prospective new patients. From the first phone call to your practice, new patients are judging the professionalism of the doctor and the staff. Right or wrong, they don’t care if you are having a bad day. Patients expect to be treated with respect and professionalism. They expect their concerns and needs to be addressed expeditiously. They expect doctor and staff to offer the perfect balance of control and flexibility. And, like it or not, they expect the quality of the doctor to be reflected in the quality of his/her staff.

Making the new patient experience positive for both the patient and the practice typically boils down to solid, common sense. It’s a matter of looking at the experience from the patient’s perspective, following specific protocols, and focusing on providing the very best service. Patients want to believe they are not just another appointment on your schedule. When they feel respected and valued, they reciprocate with referrals and are more open to accepting higher dollar treatment plans.

Yours may be the most clinically superior practice in the entire region, but how new patients feel about the doctor, the staff, and the experience overall will determine if they are a returning patients.

While there’s no substitute to face-to-face communication, electronic media provide an excellent supplement to total practice/patient communication efforts. Consider this: In 2011, nearly 225,000 text messages were sent every second.

Today, more and more, patients expect practices to communicate with them using email, text messages, and social media. Moreover, they are permission based – meaning that patients give you permission to contact them electronically.

Fact is that more and more people prefer email and/or text message reminders over telephone reminders. And some individuals with particularly frenetic and busy lives will respond better if they have all three – phone, email, and text.

Getting the process in place won’t happen overnight, and while it does take time and some professional guidance, it begins with asking your patients one simple question: May I have your email address/cell phone number so that we can send you appointment reminders and other practice information?

The vast majority of your patients will be more than willing to share their email addresses and cell phone numbers with the office. They may want some assurances that their information will be kept confidential and not sold to any other third party vendor. And there are specific laws and regulations that must be followed when sending email, so seek the guidance of a professional dental marketing service. But if done correctly, email and text messaging can be yet another excellent tool in an ongoing and effective practice/patient communication strategy.