Do you get bogged down with questions?

One of the hallmarks of dentists who talk too much is that they get lots of questions from patients, many of which are completely irrelevant.

Dentists who talk too much tend to explain far too many technical details about how treatment is done.

For sure, patients need to know some technical details so they can give informed consent but they don’t need to know chapter-and-verse about every stage of a root filling.

If you say to them, for example:

“And at the second visit we do this …, then we do this …, then we do this …, then we do this … and finally we do this …”

This will confuse patients. They won’t remember it but they will get the feeling that you are proposing a long, arduous and complicated treatment.

And, when a patient is bombarded with technical details they feel almost obliged to ask questions:

• "Just go over again what you do at the second stage of a root filling."

• "So, how many x-rays do you need to take?"

• "What is the filling material made of?"

• “Wouldn’t it be simpler to pull it out?”

• And so on.

Next thing you know, 15 or 20 minutes has passed and you're running late.

Become aware of what you say to patients and before you open your mouth decide if what you're about to say is necessary.

The information you tell to patients should only be the things that they actually need to know.